1 Pedro 5

1 Pedro 5:8

Guzik - Satan is a lion who may roar but who has been de-fanged at the cross (Ed note: see Colossians 2:15-note). Yet the sound of his roar - his deceptive lies - are still potent and he has the power to devour souls and rob Christians of effectiveness. (Commentary) Now why is this lion roaring? If a lion wants to eat someone you'd think it would sneak up on them instead of roaring. In fact that's the way the devil is described in other places: he's like a snake. It's subtle. It can fasten onto your heel before you know its there. It doesn't roar. It hides and slithers. The devil is like that. He's dangerous sometimes because he is subtle and quiet and hidden. But that's not the case here. He is dangerous for other reasons. A lion is dangerous not mainly because it sneaks, but because it's so strong. Even if you know it's there, you're a goner unless you have some power more than your own -- like a rifle, or a gigantic net, or God. Spurgeon on Satan's roarings... 1. Perhaps Peter here alluded to the roaring of persecution. How Satan roared with persecutions in Peter’s days! There were racks and gibbets; there was the sword for beheading and the stake for burning; there was dragging at the heels of the wild horse; there was smearing over with pitch and then setting the body still alive to burn in Nero’s garden. There was nothing for the Christian then but banishment and imprisonment; these were the lowest penalties. 2. But there is another kind of furious attack, the roaring of strong and vehement temptation. This some of us have felt. Do you know what it is to be caught hold of by some frightful temptation which you detest, grid yet the clutch of the hand is seconded by an arm so terrific in its strength that it drags you right on against your will. 3. Satan can roar also in the Christian’s ears With blasphemies. Oh! the terrors which Satan has sometimes caused to God’s people by saying, “Ah, you are not a child of God, or you would not have so vile a nature.” Whereas you never thought it at all. It was his suggestion, not yours; and then, having laid his sin at your door, he has turned accuser of the brethren, and has sought to cast down your faith from its excellency, by making you imagine that you had committed the unpardonable sin. Now, if he roars against you, either with persecution or with temptation, or with diabolical insinuations, take the language of our apostle here-“Whom resist steadfast in the faith,” etc. (1 Peter 58-9 Spurgeon) Seeking (2212) (zeteo) means to go in search for, to strive to find or to try and discover. Zeteo is present tense indicating that our adversary's "search and destroy" mission is constant, that he is always looking for an opportunity to trick us, trip us up or overwhelm us. He is not playing games but has as his aim to sow discord, to break fellowship, to accuse God to men, to accuse men to God, to accuse men to each other, to undermine confidence, to silence confession and to get us to stop serving God. The devil will continually do all he can to strike back at God by staining our lives and spoiling our witness. He is looking for any weakness which he can exploit and sometimes he attacks through an area we thought was our strength. An enemy once took Edinburgh Castle from its steepest side because the occupants assumed that no one would try to do that. All their defenses were placed on what they believed to be the weakest approach, the more gradual slope, and they were deceived and defeated. Be on the alert, for it is true that the devil can even use against us those characteristics which we believe to be our greatest assets. Thomas Watson... Consider Satan's diligence in tempting. He neglects no time. He who would have us idle—is always busy himself. This lion of hell is ever hunting after his prey! He compasses sea and land to make a proselyte. He prowls around—he watches where he may throw in the fireball of temptation. He is a restless spirit; if were pulse him, he will not desist—but come again with a new temptation. Satan's diligence in tempting, is seen in the variety of temptations he uses. He does not confine himself to one kind of temptation—he has more plots than one. He has many tools to work with. If he finds one temptation does not prevail—he will utilize another. If he cannot tempt to lust—he will tempt to pride. If temptation to covetousness does not prevail—he will tempt to extravagance. If he cannot make men profane—he will try to make them religious formalists. If he cannot make them wicked—he will tempt them to be erroneous. Error damns as well as vice. Vice pistols; error poisons! Satan has acquired long experience in the art of temptation. He has been a tempter for as long as he has been a devil. Having such experience, he knows what the temptations are, which have foiled others, and are most likely to prevail—as the fowler As