Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (I Peter 5:8)

Last Friday morning as I was chauffeuring Her Royal Highness Sulojana, the Queen of our casa to work, I turned left on to Niagara Street from Carlton as we do every morning. That’s when my heart skipped a beat.

We were already running late. Now a traffic slowdown. Correction. A total stop. Period. No movement.

Of course, the brain immediately went to work and started playing video clips from similar stoppages in the past—the accident that resulted in freeway traffic being diverted onto this same Niagara Street, malfunctioning traffic lights that instantly transformed the next intersection into a four-way stop—to name just a couple.

The mini-SUV in front of us made it impossible to see how many vehicles were ahead of our now seemingly low-to-the-ground sedan. If traffic was backed up all the way to the lights, that could be as many as 15! At the conservative rate of 22.4 seconds delay per vehicle waiting for others at the newly-created four-way stop, that could add a whopping 5.5 minutes to our trip. At this rate, she will be 12.7 minutes late…perish the thought 🙁

Even if it were only increased traffic from the freeway, we could still be waiting for two light changes or 3.8 minutes. That still translates to an 11 minute late entrance. Egad!

And then the unthinkable happened. We started moving. Nigh the speed limit. We hadn’t even prayed for a miracle and the stoppage was gone…just like that! Wow!

Turns out that one of the cars ahead of us wanted to turn left onto a side street. There was a steady stream of vehicles coming the opposite way. All must have been in a hurry, because no one wanted to slow down and let this poor soul make her turn…until finally, someone with a good heart and an extra 11.3 seconds to spare stopped. Problem solved. Now we would only be 8.6 minutes late…praise God!

Have you ever been tempted to exaggerate the size of the problems you face, to make mountains out of molehills, as the expression goes?

A faint pain in the chest triggers fears of a heart attack. A delay in receiving a cheque induces anxiety about impending bankruptcy. One complaint that someone filed against you makes you wonder whether you’ll lose your job. Get the picture?

Satan is a master at making our problems appear much bigger than they really are. Over the years I have heard many Christians say that the enemy is a lion who is waiting to devour our souls.

Yet, when you read I Peter 5:8, here is what it actually says: “He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

LIKE a roaring lion. Not an actual lion. He is a mouth that roars like a lion. His roar is worse than his gore. He wants you to respond with fear and anxiety, even when there is no need for it.

Contrast this with Jesus’ response to the disciples when they were caught in a storm and started screaming:“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!”(Mark 4:38-39).

Clearly Jesus did not see it as a life and death issue. He treated the wind as a misbehaving child, expressed his stern approval of its demeanor and scolded it into submission.

Similarly when everyone was weeping and wailing at Jairus’ house, he said: “The child is not dead, but sleeping.” Then he proceeded to do what you and I would do to awaken a sleeping child.   He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:39, 41).

Dear DWOD friend, “be alert and of sober mind” as you advance into your destiny. Do not fall for the fear-inducing, anxiety-raising tactics of satan to get you off track. And you too will discover as Sulojana and I have countless times, that there is less than meets the eye.