The Toothless Lion
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” --- 1 Pet. 5:8
I was meditating on this verse, considering the relevance and importance it might bear on our lives, when a vision began to take form vividly. I saw a lion, and thought to myself “this must be the lion in 1 Pet. 5:8 …..”. As I took a closer look, I saw that this lion, though full of intent in its eyes, was however a toothless one! Why would God think it necessary to warn us against a toothless lion, I wondered.
A man then appeared in the vision, walking towards the lion. Upon seeing that it was toothless, the man conveniently placed his hand into the lion’s mouth and began to play with the beast. The lion moved its gums about the man’s hand in a chewing motion, the man apparently enjoying the comfortable feeling as if being massaged by the toothless gums of a babe. Suddenly, and very abruptly, the lion transformed itself into a fearsome snake, and in a flash swallowed the man whose hand was then tightly caught in the sharp and venomous fangs of the reptile.
Immediately, I learnt the lesson Holy Spirit God was teaching me. Many times, we find ourselves like that man who put his hand into the lion’s mouth. We allow ourselves to be deceived by the appearance of “toothlessness” which we mistakenly equate to “harmlessness”, enjoying the devil’s ‘blessings’ of pleasure and comfort like how the man enjoyed the massage from the lion’s gums. And all these we do without questioning the devil’s motives and intentions. Sub-consciously, we are allowing the “lion” to get a grip on our hand i.e. letting the devil gain a foothold in our lives. The devil then goes on to massage our senses, getting us to enjoy that pleasure of momentary gratification. Then, at the opportune time, at the most unsuspecting moment, the devil turns the evil on us, catches us by cunning and consume us in our indulgence.
Many saints of Christ today have their hands in the lion’s mouth, flirting with the enemy, and not realising it. Consider how many men of God have fallen while grazing the ‘green’ in the enemy’s pasture. We need to guard ourselves against the enemy. Often times, the devil disguises himself as an angel of light and he uses the pleasures of this world, the gratification of the flesh to attract us, and we allow ourselves to be tempted by what he show us, not discerning the evil intents that accompany. And almost always, the time for retreat will always be too short for anyone to make it, for it would be abrupt, sudden, vicious and without warning.
From this, we see that 1 Pet. 5:8 is not only warning us against the ferocity of the devil (represented by the “roaring lion”), but also against the deceitfulness of his nature. For this reason, we ought all the more to be on our guard always, constantly being sober and vigilant.