“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith…”
1 Peter 5:8-9a
The Error of The Modern West
In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters, the entire story revolves around a secret set of letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew demon, Wormwood, concerning a human “Patient” whom they are trying to win over to Satan. While the initial plan fails because the Patient becomes a Christian early in the book, the demons switch their prerogative to tempting and hindering the Christian in his walk, that somehow they may prevent his fruitfulness for the Lord. In this story, the Christian God is called the “Enemy” and the situation is a war—not of flesh and blood—but of souls.
While these letters are utterly fictional and not supported explicitly by Scripture, Lewis’ sanctified imagination gives us a glimpse into how the demonic realm perhaps may work. Published in 1941—exactly 80 years ago—the insight Lewis offers unto how a Christian should be aware of the workings of Satan are timeless. Read the following advice from the Preface:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.
Analyzing this quote within our cultural milieu of skepticism and naturalism, most would agree that the average Westerner does not think much of Satan or demons throughout their everyday operations. Yet, go to some parts of the Caribbean, Africa, or Southeast Asia, and you will find Voodoo practitioners, seances, and tribal rituals invoking spirits to possess people. For us in the West, to even think these things really happen in the world is countercultural! Our “modern” culture says these beliefs are superstitious and outdated—crazy, unrealistic, backwards. Indeed, this is the same criticism lobbed onto Christians today who supposedly believe in a God akin to the “tooth-fairy” or a “Spaghetti monster,” as atheist Richard Dawkins famously refrains. In our day, belief in the supernatural is viewed as antithetical to progress: it is even irrational, bigoted, and intolerant. The belief in a pantheon of gods, demons, or even an omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent God are unacceptable to the modern mind. On the two extremes, then, we have Atheism and Animism: an outright denial in anything supernatural versus an unhealthy invocation of demonic spirits, which occurs in most indigenous religions. Both lean on the “errors” that Lewis warned us of. Here in the West, the devil has what he wants: an obscure curtain to hide behind as he directs and plots a storyline telling people to be the “main character” of their lives—that they don’t need God. Little do they know, this play ends in death, for the devil is the director. Yet in other countries, the devil has his cake too: he takes center stage of the story as people bow down, worship, and call upon demonic spirits as the means to salvation, health, and happiness. Neither are how God calls Christians to respond to Satan’s workings.
“Practical Atheism”
Unwittingly, most of us in the 21st century have likely fallen into the error of “disbelief” concerning Satan and his demons, contrary to having an unhealthy interest in them (although there are certainly people here who have an unhealthy obsession with Satan). Even as believers, we may know we have an enemy who is plotting against us, but we are not aware of how that exactly plays out in our everyday lives. How often do we get up, get ready for the day, quickly become overwhelmed by the tasks ahead, and suddenly find ourselves crashing back into bed—seemingly unaware of how our day has gone by so quickly—yet frustrated at how it went? If we look back on the day, how often did we pray, recite God’s Word to ourselves, or meditate upon God’s character? More likely, we simply reacted to our day. We didn’t prepare for the war, so we lost the battle. And unsurprisingly, we are confused as to where God is at.
I surmise that most American Christians today, while confessionally believing in God’s providential actions in their lives, in actuality have fallen prey to a form of “practical Atheism” in which they say God is personal and knows the number of hairs on their head, yet live as if He has no intimate workings in their day-to-day lives. In shorter words, we don’t practice what we preach. We all say God is good, yet we struggle to see how that is true when our spouse nags us about the chores as soon as we walk in the door after a long day of work. We say God is near yet cry “Why have you forsaken me?” when that one coworker (we all have him or her!) corners us during our lunch break to talk about things we really don’t care about. We say God is our peace, yet live with crippling anxiety when another task is laid upon our already-too-long list of errands. The result: we get confused at God. So we leave Him for Sunday mornings and try to go about the week on our own. For the Christian today, the looming temptation is to abrogate God’s presence to a Sunday morning while excluding Him from our work, family time, and hobbies, as if God doesn’t care about those things. “Oh, I give enough time to God on the weekends. I’m good.” Even among devotional Christians who have their 30-minute “quiet times” everyday, the common result is that we hit the bed at night struggling to even remember what our quiet time was about in the first place!
In addition to forgetting who God is the normal bustle of the day, I posit that the corollary to this is a sheer lack of awareness as to how Satan is scheming, attacking, and placing snares throughout the “normal” paths of your day: at work, in the home, within culture, and in the world. As Lewis said above, Satan would rather have you completely unaware of his workings, mindlessly and mechanically living life apart from the knowledge of who God is and the spiritual war you are in. If he can get you to do that for days on end, your Bible will have so much dust on it that you’ll sneeze the next time you pick it up! And your heart will become so hard that you’ve developed spiritual allergies to the soothing medicine of God’s Word. All the while, you will be degrading spiritually, starving your soul of nourishment, life, and fellowship with your Savior. A downward spiral. And from what? The error of living our lives as if we do not need God.
If we’re honest, a lot of the times we live as “practical atheists”—denying God’s immanence and involvement in our daily lives. The consequence? We react to the world, succumbing to the stresses, attacks, and sins which so easily “crouch at the door” of our lives (Gen 4:7). Satan is pleased with this, laughing at how we stumble throughout our days, discouraged, depressed, and anxious—wondering where God is.
The Unseen War
I have yet to touch the Scripture reference quoted at the beginning of this post, but now it is time to do so. What is the solution to our “practical atheism”? I believe the book of 1 Peter gives us a great picture for how to be aware of the war we are in.
1 Peter was written in the AD 60’s to Christians dispersed all over the area of Asia Minor during heavy persecution. Peter’s refrain is to stand firm in suffering and to “be holy” as exiles. He describes how we have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” and have been given an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” (1:3-5). Peter assures believers that God is guarding them until Jesus comes back (1:5). Even amidst various trials, God will preserve believers so that their faith will be refined and genuine (1:7). Thus, believers should “not be surprised at the fiery trial” that has come upon them (i.e., at this time, heavy persecution under the Roman government), but should instead “rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings” (4:12-13). The end result is that “those who suffer according to God’s will” should “entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (4:19). In sum, the believers whom Peter addressed were likely discouraged, confused, and wondering when Jesus was coming back, thus struggling to see how God was working in their present circumstances. The temptation was to become a “practical atheist”—living as if God wasn’t near and indulging selfishly in the passions of the flesh.
In light of the gospel truths found in the first chapter, Peter declares in chapter 2 verse 11:
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Notice the language. You are sojourners. You are foreigners to this present world. Your citizenship is in heaven now (Phil 3:20). Because of this: stay away from the passions of the flesh! Don’t give in to your old sin nature!
Why? Notice the language again. This is a war. Your passions (and this world), wage war against your soul. This is unseen, but it is real. As Paul echoes in Ephesians 6:11-12:
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
The New Testament is clear. We are in a spiritual battle, and there are, right now, cosmic forces we cannot see working against the people of God. We do not know how all of this works, but we know it is real. As 1 Peter 5:8 declares, you have an enemy—Satan—who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. The picture above perfectly captures this imagery. The devil is actively looking for some weak believer to catch in his teeth. He preys on those who are defenseless. He preys on the ignorant. He preys on those who do not pray for protection against temptation and deliverance from evil (Mt. 6:13). While Jesus is the conquering Lion of Judah over sin and death, Satan is the counterfeit lion of deception inciting sin and death. Much like Scar and Mufasa in The Lion King, there is an active rebellion from the lesser lion seeking supremacy over the True King. Satan desires glory; he hates when Jesus receives glory; so naturally, that means he hates when we worship and obey the King of kings.
The Weakest Spots Are Where He Attacks
It is no surprise then that Satan prowls around to deceive and detract us in any way from living for the Lord. Practically, he often will target the areas of sin you struggle with the most. Do you struggle with gossip? Then he will probably put someone around you (even in the church!) who just loves to tell you every story about every person and what they have done! Do you struggle with lust? Then he will put every ad in your way displaying women or men dressed crudely. Do you struggle with pride? Then he will place constant affirmation your way—desiring to give you a bigger head than you could ever balance.
Do you see the point here? Lions prey on the weakest gazelle in the herd. Satan is no different: he attacks you where you are weakest. And in the moment you fall for the bait, he goes for the jugular. So what are your “besetting sins”? Where (and when) are you the weakest? For in knowing that, you will have a good idea as to how Satan works against you.
It is exactly this image—that of Satan as a lion—which causes Peter to tell us to be sober-minded. The word carries with it the connotation of being free from intoxication. You are level-headed, aware of the war you are in. Peter also says to be “watchful.” Like a good navigator of the African plains, your eyes are trained to see behind the camouflage of the spiritual lures. In the tall grasses of life, work, church, and alone time, your eyes are trained to see where Satan is lurking.
In real life, this may present itself as seemingly “normal” occurrences throughout your day. Remember the error of the modern mind? Satan would rather you not know he is even there. So what if it is something so simple as a traffic jam to tick up your anxiety before getting to work, and when you arrive, your boss piles on you more work than you can do in the average 9-5? What if it is in a cold you catch the weekend before a big ministry event or a conversation you were going to have with a lost friend about Jesus? What if it is that jogger on the road after you and your spouse just got into an argument, drawing your eyes to lust, fantasy, and a “better life” with someone else?
What I am not saying is that every single problem you have in your life is Satan attacking you in a specific way. I think that is arrogant, as if Satan cares about you and me anyway! Rather, he desires to detract you from being fruitful for the Lord, his true enemy. Within this paradigm, though, there are clear times when through the Spirit you can discern an attack from the enemy.
A practical example from my own life. I have just moved to begin a new position at Wingate University. My team and I have been praying relentlessly for this campus and for our church to be a gospel-sharing people. We have taken it upon ourselves as a staff to keep each other accountable for sharing the gospel. Thus, it is no surprise that Satan desires to oppose us. One Sunday after church, I was hit with a strong depressed mood and lies about my call to ministry, my worth as a child of God, and my reasons for moving. In other words, there were discernable lies of condemnation, guilt, and doubts about my identity as a child of God that are in direct contrast to what Scripture says. This was an attack from the enemy.
The day after this, still feeling somewhat depressed in spirit, I went to the gym, and, frankly put, there were many women there dressed in not-the-most-modest clothing. I fought to bounce my eyes and felt wearied at the battle of lust, which is a besetting sin struggle of mine (as it is for any honest man). Again, this was a clear attack from the enemy.
The following day, I began to get sick. I developed a throat cold that has persisted even to today. With this, my stomach has abruptly been aching at seemingly random times. My roles in ministry have been accelerating—and the timing has not been welcoming. My throat was sore the week before I was to sing at church and preach a sermon in our Residency Program. Not good timing.
Yet, the Lord has been faithful. I have seen these attacks, but I have also realized this: the Lord has allowed them. Just as He allowed Job to suffer seemingly random events that led to suffering, so the Lord has sovereign purposes in allowing Satan to attack us in seemingly random ways. Again, let me emphasize that not every problem we face is Satan personally attacking us. Our sin nature may be the root cause, or it may be the effects of living in such a fallen, broken world. Yet—it is clear that Satan attacks us, and we must be on guard to see where and how he is attacking us individually and as a body in our local churches. He attacked me in two of my weakest areas: despair and lust. Where does he attack you?
Gird Up Those Loins!
We can often become overwhelmed at the seemingly endless trials we face as believers. What is the solution? Peter tells us in chapter 1:13-15:
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
The Greek phrase behind “preparing your minds for action” is literally “girding up the loins of your mind.” This imagery is like a soldier getting ready for war, strapping on his armor. Again, we see this principle in Paul’s writings when he tells us to “put on the whole armor of God.”
And what is our armor? Peter tells us it is the “grace that will be brought to you” at Christ’s coming. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that we have “righteousness,” “salvation,” “truth,” “the gospel of peace,” the “shield of faith,” and the “sword of the Spirit,” which is the Word of God. What is our help? It is God’s grace. It is His Word. Do you hide His word in your heart? Do you have it ready to recite at any moment the battle ensues?
We must gird up the loins of our mind daily by remembering the gospel, preaching it to ourself, declaring our righteous standing before a holy God because of the shed blood of Christ—and resting in the fact that “there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” (Rm. 8:1).
Second, we must be aware of the abiding presence of Jesus in our everyday moments. We know that the Spirit lives inside of us, and that Jesus is with us “always, even until the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20). We also know that the King we serve has “all authority on heaven and earth” and that He holds the keys of “death and Hades” in His hands (Rev 1:18). Daily we must bow to our King’s lordship over our lives and His gracious initiative to save us and redeem us into His Kingdom.
So, child of God, how will you prepare for this war you are in? As a citizen of the heavenly King, you have been given everything you need in the strong gospel of Jesus Christ, your Savior, Shepherd, and Great Commander. March forth, therefore, remaining watchful as a pilgrim journeying to your heavenly home. And remember: watch out, for you have an enemy.