I’d like to remind you of a true story that soberly depicts an unseen reality of our situation in this world. Some of you have seen the old movie about it.

The Tsavo Man Eaters

It was the year 1898, a British engineer, Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson, was given the task by the British government to lead a large party of Indian laborers in constructing a railroad bridge across the Tsavo River in Kenya, Africa. The landscape in that area is very hilly and much of it covered with tall sweeping grass. It’s home to Tsavo lions, which are distinct from other lions because of their smooth pelt and very large size. The male Tsavo lions do not have a mane like other male lions, and unlike other male lions, they actively participate in hunting.

The terror began immediately as Col. Patterson and his company arrived. One of their men, a porter, went missing. A search for him quickly found his mutilated body. In Patterson’s own words, he described the find this way:

“On reaching the spot where the body had been devoured, a dreadful spectacle presented itself. The ground all round was covered with blood and morsels of flesh and bones, but the unfortunate jemadar’s head had been left intact, save for the holes made by the lion’s tusks on seizing him, and lay a short distance away from the other remains, the eyes staring wide open with a startled, horrified look in them. The place was considerably cut up, and on closer examination we found that two lions had been there and had probably struggled for possession of the body. It was the most gruesome sight I had ever seen. We collected the remains as well as we could and heaped stones on them, the head with its fixed, terrified stare seeming to watch us all the time, for it we did not bury, but took back to camp for identification before the Medical Officer. Thus occurred my first experience of man-eating lions, and I vowed there and then that I would spare no pains to rid the neighbourhood of the brutes.”

From what I’ve read about it, the next day a party set out to hunt the lions and stumbled upon other corpses, who were the missing men of previous expeditions. Very soon, a second of Patterson’s men went missing. Within a month the count of missing men was seventeen. And that was just the beginning.

It was just two lions that were preying on the work party. There were some natural factors that probably contributed to the unusual behavior of these lions. Drought and disease had led to a decline in the lions’ normal prey. One of these lions suffered from a jaw injury and dental problems making it more difficult to take its usual prey. Humans are weaker and slower and taken easier.

The lions would come at night and go into the tents of the laborers and drag them out into the grass and then rip them to pieces. The men built large thorn fences around the camp called bomas and built fires. But these two lions burrowed through the thorns and still drug men out of their tents. They set traps, which the lions escaped. They tried to hunt them, with no success. The lions kept coming night after night. The natives called one of the lions “the ghost”, because he was just there, and then you were dead before you knew it. And they called the other lion “the darkness,” because out of the darkness he would spring and before they knew it they were gone. The victims were just like rag dolls thrown into the brush.

As you can imagine, gradually workers fled the site. Construction on the bridge came to a halt. This went on for 9 months. When it was all said and done, Patterson claims 135 men had been drug off into the brush and killed. It’s possible that Col. Patterson exaggerated his number a bit. But some modern research has been done on the hair and bone of these animals. I guess they can tell what an animal had been eating by its hair and bone. The study results said that one of the lions had definitely eaten the equivalent of 10.5 humans, and the other had eaten 24.2 humans. So they ate at least 35. But they may have killed many others just because they enjoyed killing, like how the cat is at my house toward mice. She’ll kill them and leave them on the porch for us.

Coronel Patterson finally killed the lions. This is the first one he killed. He was shot in the hindquarters one morning by a .303 Enfield rifle, but escaped into the brush. That night, shot through the hindquarters, this lion came back and did his best to kill again. Patterson shot him again, this time penetrating his heart and they tracked him the next day and found him dead in the grass.

The second lion continued to hunt them. Patterson built a platform near a goat kill the lion had done, and when the lion came for the goat, he managed to shoot it in the shoulder with the same caliber rifle. But it ran off. Ten days later, it was back at the camp at night stalking a man sleeping up in a tree. Shots were fired, but missed and it just scared him away. The next morning they could see his tracks and that he had gone from tent to tent in the camp looking for someone to kill. But the tents were empty because most of the laborers were gone by this time. The next night Patterson decided to set up in that same tree the man was sleeping in the night before, and sure enough the lion came back. Patterson managed to shoot him twice that night. The next day they tracked him and found him hiding in the grass and shot him again, he charged. They shot again and it knocked him down. With uncanny determination he got up and kept coming. They had to shoot him four more times. Patterson claims he died gnawing at a fallen tree branch, using his last breath to try and kill again.

That’d be terrifying, wouldn’t it, to be one of those workers camping out there?

Well, according to the Bible…

We are camping on the home turf of a man eating lion who is not yet dead.

I Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He’s stalking us all the time, looking for his chance to get a hold of us, drag us away from God’s camp, and devour us.

And it’s not just him stalking us. He is like the alpha male of a huge pride of lions. Paul describes him as “the god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4) and “…the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). But Paul also said, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12). It’s Satan’s pride of lions. Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in spirits? I do. That’s what those are, spirit beings. I don’t think they’re like the ones in the movies. These ones are smarter. These ones don’t show themselves so much. It is to their advantage that people don’t think they’re real. If they appear, they probably won’t look as vicious as they are. II Corinthians 11:14, “…Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” The Bible speaks of the time in which we are living as night time, that we’re in the darkness. There’s so much to God’s creation that we can’t yet see. And in the darkness of the night the lions are hunting.

The Schemes of the Devil

I think our naturalistic, unspiritual culture sort of dulls us to what we’re talking about this morning. In a number of other countries, the majority truly fear demons or the unseen spirit entities. But we’re made to feel crazy or delusional if we think demons or spiritual beings are actually at work in our lives. We’re told everything that happens has a scientific explanation and is strictly the result of natural processes, chemical reactions, and chance. According to our culture, nobody is sick because of Satan or a demon. They’re sick just simply because they were exposed to this harmful chemical or were sneezed on by someone with the virus. Nobody is depressed because of Satan or a demon. It’s just simply because of a chemical imbalance due to genetics or other natural factors. Nobody dies because of Satan or a demon. It’s just simply that they stayed up too late and fell asleep at the wheel or a naturally developed tornado blew their house in on them. But according to the Scripture, much of what’s happening in the world and in our individual lives is due to the influence of unseen spiritual beings.

Let me list a few things here that Satan is given credit for in the Bible. We could call these his methods of attack or his tactics. The apostle Paul calls them “the schemes of the devil” or in the KJV, “the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

• First, Satan can come after us with lies and deception. “The devil is a liar, and the father of lies.” I have met some expert liars in my life and they were so persuasive. Some of them were car salesmen. But Satan tops them all. Jesus said in John 8:44, “The devil is a liar, and the father of lies.” Revelation 12:9 says he is “the serpent of old… who deceives the whole world.” He began with Eve. He convinced her God’s threat of death for disobedience was an idle threat and that God did not have her best interest at heart in His command to not eat of that tree, and that God wanted to withhold good things from her. And he has convinced the world of the same lies, that God’s threats are idle and that God doesn’t have our best interest at heart and of many other lies. He has caused all kinds of confusion about God and His will all over the world. He has convinced many even there is no God. If we buy into his lies, we’re being drug into the grass.
• Another one of his tactics is suffering. The devil has incredible power to hurt people physically, emotionally, and circumstantially. You remember he caused all of Job’s oxen, donkeys, sheep, and camels to be stolen and most of his servants killed. He cause a great wind storm that hit the house in which all ten of Job’s children were killed. He even afflicted Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head

Paul had some physical problem that he called a thorn in the flesh. And he also called it a messenger of Satan to torment him (II Corinthians 12:7). Satan caused him some kind of physical painful problem.

Luke 13 describes a poor lady, who for eighteen years suffered a sickness that caused her to be bent over double. And Jesus said “this woman… Satan has bound for eighteen long years” (Luke 13:11,16; cf. Acts 10:38). Some of you I think may be experiencing Satan clawing at you. That’s maybe why you’re sick, why you’re experiencing pain. If you let the suffering embitter you against God, then Satan is no longer clawing at you, he is dragging you off into the grass.

• Another tactic is to cause relationship problems. Did you know Satan can actually incite human beings against other human beings? The book of Revelation teaches that the devil incited the Roman Government against Christians, and caused the Romans to kill thousands of Christians. Satan instigated all that.

John 13:2 says the devil put into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus.

I Thessalonians 2:18, Paul speaks of how he tried and tried to get back to Thessalonica to encourage the new Christians there who were being persecuted by their community. But he says Satan hindered us. Satan can stop encouraging people from getting to the people who need encouraging. He can keep you lonely and surrounded by negative influences.

II Corinthians 2, Paul talks to the Corinthians about a brother in their church whom they had dis-fellowshipped, but who had since repented and it was time to forgive him. And Paul said we have to forgive him so that we are not taken advantage of by Satan. Sounds like he can even put people in your life who are difficult to forgive. I know some of you are having a hard time forgiving certain people, some of them in this room. That’s one of the lion’s tactics. And if he has managed to put a grudge in your heart, then he is dragging you off into the grass.

It appears in Scripture he can cause all sorts of relationship issues to hurt us, to discourage us, to divide us, to make us to hate, to make us jealous, to make us bitter, keep us from helping each other, etc.

• Another of his tactics, of course, is enticement. The Bible sometimes credits Satan with making really appealing offers to people to disobey God. To Jesus in the wilderness when He was weak and hungry, he took Him up on a high mountain and showed him the kingdoms of the world and all their glory and said, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. If you worship before me, it will all be Yours.” I believe he can offer us lots of money or a woman or man that we might want. He can offer us escape from our troubles or friends or fame or an exalted position to lure us to go against the will of God.

And I think we could go on and on about his tactics, and we could talk about distraction and cultural expectations of us and persecution and even success and prosperity. Sometimes he drags people away by means of those things. Like a baseball pitcher who can throw a knuckle ball, curve, slider, fastball, change up… Like a fisherman with all sorts of baits and lures and flies, even nets… Satan has a variety of tactics he can use.

And like a lion crouched in the grass, he is studying us to see which tactic may be the most effective on us. He did it with Job. God said to Satan, “Have you considered?” Or, “Have you been studying my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” It was really a rhetorical question. Satan had certainly been studying Job. And after watching Job, Satan thought “I bet Job just serves God because it pays, because God is blessing him so much.” So the tactic Satan took, with God’s allowance, was to take away the blessings, all of his wealth and all of his children, and later even his health. I suspect he’s studying you and me to see what may work on us.

How do we survive the lion?

Let’s just quickly notice Peter’s instructions for that.

First, in I Peter 5:8 for the third time in the letter, “Be of sober spirit.” And similar to that, he says, “Be on the alert,” or literally, “Stay awake.” I think Paul put it best in II Corinthians 4:18, when he said, “we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen“. He’s talking about staying aware of the unseen realities the Lord has revealed to us, and that involves staying aware of the fact that we are being stocked by lions. Don’t fall into the thinking of the world that there’s no danger in chasing money or holding a grudge or looking at that stuff on your computer or giving your life to meaningless hobbies. When we quit seeing the danger, then we’re easy prey.

Can you see him there in the grass? You can imagine, if you didn’t think there were any lions in the area, how you could just glance at that grass, think nothing of it and walk right into it. That’s how the world looks at things because they don’t really think there are lions around us. They don’t think there’s any danger. So they just go and do what they want. But being sober and alert means, being aware of the danger, we look more carefully at things. We analyze more carefully where we may want to go and what we may want to do, and when we find it’s contrary to God’s will, then we see a lion hiding and we don’t go there.

Second, I Peter 5:9, “But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” One of things that verse says loud and clear is “You can withstand him!” Satan was primarily trying to get a hold of Peter’s original readers with persecution and suffering. And Peter says you have brethren around the world who are withstanding his attacks. You can too!

To do it you have to hang on to your faith. Think of Hebrews 11, if you know it, the chapter about the great power of faith. By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. And by faith Enoch walked with God. And by faith Noah built the ark. And by faith Abraham did all the great things He did. And by faith Moses’ parents hid him as a baby. And by faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin… and so on and so on. It is faith in the goodness and power and promises of God that enables us to resist the devil. Uncertainty about God’s faithfulness to His promises and uncertainty that following God’s ways is really the best way to go, leaves us vulnerable to being pulled into the grass.

Faith is our choice. Most of you know, we have talked about it many times, God has given us plenty of evidence, especially through the death and resurrection of Jesus, to assure us of His goodness, of His love for us and His faithfulness to His promises. We can withstand the lion if we accept the evidence God has given us, and put our trust in Him.

Then in I Peter 5:10 we have a wonderful encouraging promise that empowers us. Here’s a very literal translation of it, “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while, will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

The promise here is if we do our part, if we hang on to our faith, stay sober and alert, humble before God (as the verses before commanded), then God will do the rest. As we sing sometimes, “God will find a way for me.” If I trust Him, stay humble before Him, stay alert, try, He’ll help me with what I’m lacking and make me strong and unconquerable to Satan.

This verse reminds us of some other important realities. Whatever we have to go through here, it is only for “a little while.” As Teresa of Avila in the 1500s explained it, when we’ve been there 10,000 years, all our worst experiences on earth will seem like no more than a bad night in a cheap hotel.

Another reality we’re reminded of here is that God truly does intend for us to share His glory. He is “the God of all grace.” He does not want us to fall prey to the lion. And He has “called us to His eternal glory in Christ.” The way God calls people today, the NT says, is by the gospel (II Thessalonians 2:14). When we heard the gospel we were receiving a personal invitation from the God of heaven. You don’t call and invite somebody to your house unless you really intend for them to come over. The One who made us and all things, who can do it again, really is planning on much more for us than this short life.

Then a word of praise, but also a statement of great truth. I Peter 5:11, “To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.” The lion is not really the king of this jungle, at least not the lion we’ve been talking about. The jungle belongs to the Lion of the tribe of Judah. I John 4:4, “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

How do we survive the lion who is stalking us? In essence, we walk close with the One who is stronger than him.

-James Williams