"The Adversary"

Today's devotion is written by Matt Royall:

If you travel to Chicago, Illinois, and visit the Museum of Natural History, you will find an exhibit of two African maneless lions. The story behind these two lions is quite interesting. They are known as the Tsavo man-eating lions. Tsavo is a region of Kenya located in the African continent. In 1898, the British were constructing a railroad in the region. While it was under construction, the workers began to mysteriously disappear. It was rumored that a lion/lions were hunting, killing, and eating the workers. These lions stalked the workers at night and dragged people from their tents while they were sleeping. This struck fear in the workers and the workers fled. As a result, work was hindered on the railroad. In late 1898, Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson was assigned to hunt and kill these man-eating lions. On 9th December 1898, Patterson shot one of the lions in its hind leg. It escaped, however, and came back to camp that same evening and began stalking Patterson as he tried to hunt it. Patterson shot the lion again, and the next morning found its dead body not far from camp. It measured 2.95 meters from its nose to the tip of its tail. Twenty days later, on  December 29th, the second lion was found and shot six times over the course of eleven days. Patterson claimed the lion died gnawing on a fallen tree branch, still trying to reach him.The same is true in our spiritual lives. We have an adversary, the devil, that Peter describes as a lion. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” We must be aware and on the lookout for the devil, because it is his desire to destroy us.