It Ain’t a Little Kitty Show

Psalm 17: 12   

“They are like a lion eager to tear me apart, like young lions hiding in ambush.”

I was never a fan of horror movies. Growing up, you could almost write the script within the first few minutes of the movie starting. It got to where the only thing that was scary about them were the “gotcha” moments, you know, when something pops out of the closet or something like that. You were then forced to fill the time between those moments with poor plots and poor acting. Even the famous horror movies did not do it for me. I never got the hunger to watch them.

Everyone has their own taste in movies. For me, it was the realization that evil was not just something on the screen. His name was Satan, and the threat was real because of what the Bible says. Satan is compared to a roaring lion in many verses throughout the Bible. If you think about it, a hungry lion is super scary because it is at the top of the food chain. You are a meal ticket for one of those guys, and there is a reason why we keep our distance.

Now if Satan was described as a little fluffy kitty that was hungry, everyone would be like, “ahhhh, let’s feed it.” No, Satan is not a little fluffy kitty but every bit of a lion crouching in cover, more powerful than you think, and very crafty and scheming to trap you. Satan does not throw little kitties our way to trap us in fear, but he puts lions in our path so we will bend our way to fear.

You see, in Psalm 17, David is saying a prayer to keep him from his enemies and for the Lord to crush them and vindicate him. Don’t be deceived into believing you can handle the satanic threat against you alone, you cannot. The Bible says in Philippians 4:13, “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”

Satan is not in the little kitty business, he is in the scary lion business, and his sole desire is to take you out of God’s will and to crush you so you don’t see any hope at all. Some of you might be right there today. This week has felt like a crushing rock choking you out. Verse 8 says that we are the apple of God’s eye, that we hide in the shadow of his wings, and that he has great love for us. Focusing on the Lord every day makes you stronger, and after a while, you will see Satan’s threats like I saw old horror movies, boring and predictable. Satan will not come at you with something you are comfortable defeating. He will come at you with a tailored scheme to mess you up, one that was fashioned from your own fear. The lion may be crouching in cover, but walking with the Lord means you have a big gun and you are not afraid to use it.

Prayer: Father, help us walk with the elephant gun of the gospel. Help us realize the power we have in you and that we can rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I pray that we will grow in our strength of the Word of the Lord and defeat Satan at every turn. In Jesus’ name, amen.