On Guard
- The Narrow Path
- May 19, 2023
- 2 min read
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8, NLT).
Growing up, I remember watching the American TV Show, Gladiators, with my twin brother. It first aired at end of the 80s and extended sometime into the mid-90s. It was cheesy, as you might expect, but we loved watching together!
The premise of the show was to match a contender, a person with some skill and capabilities, up against a Gladiator, who was hand-picked for their strength, athleticism, and general physical attributes. The intent was to create an unfair matchup to see if the contender could somehow defeat the Gladiator.
Before each contest, the opponents would meet in the middle, the referee would yell out, On guard!, then a whistle would blow and the matchup would begin. My favorite episodes were when the contenders were able to outwit the Gladiators, rendering their physical advantages useless in the competition.
Does that remind you of a certain story from the Bible? The story of David and Goliath from the book of 1 Samuel is a popular one, but I want to point out a few specific verses.
1 Samuel 17:43 says: He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him.
David proclaimed boldly in 1 Samuel 17:45: David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, who you have defied.”
1 Samuel 17:48 says: As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
Let’s recap:
Before the fight even began, Goliath underestimated his opponent.
David not only stepped up when no other Israelites would, but he ran toward the fight.
David was confident in victory through the name of the Lord Almighty.
These truths are all powerful reminders for those of us that may find ourselves in a fight today. You’ve lost your job. Your children have gone astray. You’re dealing with a financial crisis. You’ve just been diagnosed with cancer. You haven’t been sleeping well.
Sometimes the battles seems small, and other times they feel insurmountable. Truth be told, we are all in a battle daily, whether we recognize it or not.
Just as the referee reminds the competitors to be “on guard” before they begin each battle, we have the truth found in 1 Peter 5:8 to remind us of the same thing: Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
We must be on guard. We must ground ourselves in the truth of God’s word. We must remind ourselves that Jesus’ death on the cross paid the price for us to have victory over sin and death. We must be more like David.
Though the enemy may underestimate us, we can run toward the fight, and be confident in victory through the name of Jesus Christ!
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