My son and I were drafted to lead worship for the annual meeting of an international mission board.  The location was Beaver Creek, CO.  A couple wealthy board members wanted to bless the missionaries with a luxury retreat. 

Beaver Creek is an extremely posh community.  To quote their web site: “It is a private year-round resort community where luxury begins at the gate.”   It is the place where U.S. Presidents golf with corporate heads and the movie stars mix.  A home will run into the millions of dollars and the food there is Michelin worthy. 

We were lodged in a spectacular mansion along with several others, including the president of the mission board. 

And there was at least one uninvited guest.  He got up in the middle of the night, slipped into the president’s room and began chewing on his arm while the man was asleep. 

A rat, in a mansion, dining on the arm of a CEO.  Evidently even the rats live and eat well at Beaver Creek. 

Oddly enough the rat reminds me a lot of the devil!   Neither is he a respecter of persons.

“Oh, wait a minute,” you say.  “I don’t believe there is a devil.”   That could be a problem.  The devil is identified by name 35 times in the Bible.  Satan is cited over 52 times.  References span from Genesis to Revelation.  He appears by name in 24 books of the Bible, most of them in the New Testament. 

So, if the devil is a piece of fiction, then so is the Bible.  May it never be!

But how do the rat and the rascal of hell compare?

We’ll use 1 Peter 5:8-9 to find out.  There Peter wrote, “Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.  Resist him…”

Like a rat, the devil sneaks around.  Peter told us that he is on the prowl.”  (5:8). Disguised as an angel of light, he is thrilled to poke around a church, or a family, or an individual’s conscience sifting, testing and always on the prowl.

And like the rat, he prefers the shroud of darkness.  Paul reminds us that, “…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness.”  – Eph 6:12 Darkness is the devil’s domain (Colossians 1:13).   He loves to exploit the night.  Sure, lots of sin takes place throughout the day, but it seems that the worst, most disgusting sin happens when the lights are low.

Like the rat, the devil is voraciously hungry.  Peter said that he is “seeking someone to devour.”   (5:8) His teeth tear at the moral and spiritual fiber of our souls.  He wants to crush the fellowship with have with our Lord. 

And like the rat, the devil does not discriminate.   According to Peter he is seeking “someone” anyone to devour.  (5:8) The rat in Colorado didn’t discriminate.  He didn’t know the difference between a mansion and shack.  He didn’t care whether his prey was a president or a peasant.  

So, it is with the devil.  Money, power, position – none of it makes us invulnerable to his mischief.  Such things, in fact may create a spiritual fog, that blinds us to his incursions.

In fact, like the rat, Satan prefers a victim who is asleep – someone who passes him off as a myth .   Which is why Peter left us with bookends to his warning.  He started by saying “Be sober and alert” (5:8) and then ended it up saying, “resist him!”  (5:9)

Back at the mansion, my son eventually subdued the rodent and then treated him to a swim in an expensive toilet. 

Hey, we too need to be alert and ready to resist the devil.  Send him to the porcelain pool when he comes to chew on you.

A Prayer: Lord tune my spiritual sensibilities to recognize the devil at work.

This has been Jim Johnson with pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture references are from the NETBible ®