The main thing the devil wants to do is "eat", or devour people ( 1 Peter 5:8). The devil doesn't want to just throw a few darts and run away, or cause trouble for you in your environment and then leave you alone - like a hungry devouring lion, he wants to eat you. This is what the devil, under God's sovereign hand, was made to do. In Gen 3:14 the devil was cursed to eat dust, meaning human beings who are formed from the dust of the Earth. To be eaten, or devoured by the devil, means to lose or weaken our faith (Luke 22:32-33). When we lose our faith, then we are utterly defeated and cannot be or do anything. Speaking mainly to those under persecution, verse 5 and 6 tells us that pride and anxiety are the two things the devil feeds upon. Whether church leaders (v. 1-4) or young believers (v. 5), they are in danger of being devoured by the devil, if they are either proud or anxious. We must learn to humble ourselves under God's hand, and cast our cares upon Him (v 6-7), so that we are not eaten by the devil. The two greatest enemies of our faith, is not homosexuality, abortion, communism or Islam - it is pride and anxiety.
The apostle Peter, who wrote 1 Peter, had first hand experience of the devil's devouring due to pride or anxiety (Luke 22:31). It was firstly Peter's pride that led him to declare that he would never deny the Lord, and it was Peter's anxiety, facing persecution, which led Peter to deny Him three times.
1 Peter 5:1-11
5 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
The apostle Peter, who wrote 1 Peter, had first hand experience of the devil's devouring due to pride or anxiety (Luke 22:31). It was firstly Peter's pride that led him to declare that he would never deny the Lord, and it was Peter's anxiety, facing persecution, which led Peter to deny Him three times.
1 Peter 5:1-11
5 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Last edited:
