Easy Prey

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Thursday, March 13, 2008

"Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour." —1 Peter 5:8

One has to go no further than the Psalms to see the intimacy of David's relationship with God. David loved God in a dear and tender way. Yet we know that he fell into sin.

If you were to ask the average person what he or she remembers from the life of David, the name Goliath would most likely come up. Another name probably would be mentioned as well: Bathsheba. Goliath and Bathsheba represented David's greatest victory and his greatest defeat. Satan was not able to defeat David on the battlefield, so he brought him down in the bedroom.

At this particular time in David's life as the King of Israel, we don't read about him worshiping. David had gotten away from that intimacy with God, and thus was more vulnerable. He lowered his guard.

One evening, David laid eyes on Bathsheba, and David sinned. Eventually, he confessed his sin and was forgiven. But he also reaped what he sowed. The very sins that he committed were repeated in the lives of his own children. The moment David lowered his guard, he become an easy target for the devil.

The devil continues to look for easy targets. He knows that it's easier to hit something stationary than something that is on the move. Those who are moving forward in Christ, who are growing in their love for the Lord, are not nearly as easy to hit as a person who has begun to relax his grip on the Lord. That is the one whom the devil will set his sights on. That is the one who will become his next casualty.

Used with Permission