Confronting Roaring Lions
5 “So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. 6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.” Judges 14:5-6 NKJV
The enemy of our soul will confront you as you walk the path of the Lord. He will roar and make noise and try to divert us off of our path and too often we allow him to do just that. We can learn a lesson from Samson.
As Samson was on his path in life he was confronted by a lion that came upon him on the pathway. This is not a lion that yields to Samson but stands between Samson and his destination and roars in defiance against Samson. Samson does not take a different route because of the obstacle presented by the roaring lion. Instead, he confronts the lion and we are told that in the strength of the Spirit of God he killed the lion with his bare hands. The fearsome lion was nothing more than a meek young goat compared to the strength of Samson.
In the New Testament Peter gives us this truth in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” We know the devil is looking for those he can devour. He comes at us like a roaring lion making a lot of noise just like the lion was with Samson. But the important truth we learn from Peter is that Satan may make a lot of noise and he may try to walk in your path and hinder your progress but he cannot just devour you. He is seeking those that he may devour or those who are not strong in Jesus and walking with Him.
Samson had the roaring lion attempting to block his progress but Samson did not go around him. He moved forward against the lion and destroyed him in the strength of the Lord. We often face the enemy of our soul who comes against us like a roaring lion making a lot of noise and attempting to scare us and divert us from our forward progress in Jesus. If we attempt to go a different route and avoid the devil then we have to take the long route which wears us out. Eventually, we will still have to face him because Satan knows that if he got you to move away from him in fear once, you will again and he will continually exploit that until you face him.
You have to remove the obstacles from your path not go around them. Don’t worry. You are not required to remove them in your strength but in His strength. Be vigilant as Peter instructed and when you see the devil roaring in your path, move forward and face him in power and the name of Jesus. Jesus has already defeated him so you don’t need to. You just need to advance in the authority of Jesus and confront the devil. Confront the devil in Jesus’ name and He will always flee. Is there a roaring lion in your path today? Don’t yield to the temptation to take an alternate route, advance in Jesus and the enemy will flee.
J Todd Hostetler