If Peter was familiar with a particular saying from the prophet Amos he may have uttered something supremely profound when he wrote the following.

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

1 Peter 5:8, NASB

What did Amos say?

“Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something?”

Amos 3:4, NASB

Peter’s view of the devil’s success

A roaring lion has prey and is therefore not hunting, so what is the significance of Peter’s roaring lion seeking prey?  Two scenarios are likely. First, an insatiable appetite.  Following the idea in Habakkuk 2:5, we see the lion with a large appetite or a large family to feed, “like Sheol, and he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples”.  The second is that the roar is anticipatory; the devil knows that prey is assured.  Peter knows it too.  He narrowly escaped the jaws of the hunter

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Luke 22:31-32, NASB

You’ve escaped the hunter

No panic is necessary, just keep your faith anchored in its Pioneer. People may say your faith is hindered by sin or your faith is small or weak. These people are being manipulated by evil desires. A little faith, microscopic faith, moves mountains. Your faith has overcome the world and brought you to eternal life and assurance of glory.

Blind to science and knowledge the agents of American power and Israeli wisdom have been on a homicidal trail fully convinced that their deeds will never come to light. The discovery of Mass graves of children in Canada has sharpened my moral arrows to the point that anyone – ANYONE – who dares to paint themselves or anyone else as mature and responsible for their adherence to legislation or instruction immediately joins the slow of heart and foolish on my list. I know, there are many who swear by law and order, right and justice, and these are the same people who have nothing to say about the abject dereliction of the duty as humans, much less of enlightened and spiritual people, to recognize neighbours and care for them. Now, in 2024, the discovery of mass graves behind a prison in Mississippi has to awaken the male lions of America.  A report from NPR opens the festering wound of barbarity.

Mississippi Jail Graves Investigation

Maybe the lions are fast asleep and not even mass murder arouses them.  The wholesale murder of children in the schools does not arouse them. The ill treatment of refugees and migrants does not shake them. What do we think has been playing out in Palestine for the last 70 years?  Justifiable ethnic cleansing? Let us be certain about one thing: the legacy of law and order is not what we say about law, regulations or  instructions, but what we do.

“Their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Devastation and destruction are in their highways.” (Isaiah 59:7, NASB)