The words were familiar ones as they have been read before –
“Stay alert! Watch our for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith …”
(1 Peter 5: 8-9a, NLT)
The nudge came softly to look at the two commands but this time in reverse order. “Stand firm.” Stay alert!”
My pencil begins to move across my notebook:
If I want to stand firm, I must stay alert!
The study directs me to another passage of Scripture …
“I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, NLT)
… and three words stand out – “All of them …”
Five times these three words are repeated, for they all experienced the same acts of God as they journeyed through the wilderness. “All of them”:
- were guided by a cloud which moved ahead of them
- walked through the sea on dry ground
- were baptized as followers of Moses
- ate the same spiritual food
- drank the same spiritual water
What Paul tells us next is a sobering thought stated in three words. God was not pleased with “most of them”. Most of them craved after other things, gave their worship to idols instead of God, gave in to immoral acts, and did a whole lot of grumbling.
The enemy will always be prowling and sneaking around in our lives. God has made a way for us to stand against the attack of the enemy – we can come boldly to His throne and find His grace and mercy and strength to withstand.
“Satan does not care what we do so long as we do not alert people to their sin. Our work is to wake people up.” (Catherine Booth, as quoted in the Key Word Commentary)
The key to standing firm is to stay alert!
Today I am joining … Destination Inspiration and Tune In Thursday and Heart Encouragement .
Wow, Joanne. Love this message. Powerful to reverse “Stay alert” and “Stand firm.”
And what fresh insight to realize the implications and spiritual lessons for “All of them” (experienced the same acts of God) and “Most of them” God was displeased with.
It’s the same with us, we have experienced God leading us through a wilderness, across a path in protection from our enemies, and certainly spiritual food and living water. So, I plan to stand firm as I stay alert to the enemy to keep me out of the God-is-displeased-with-you club. Not perfect, but at least most of the time, I’ll avoid the club.
Karen, it is funny how God points to something new in Scripture. May we stay alert and stand firm in the days ahead! Blessings!