Liquid Diet

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  1 Peter 5:8

Devour – Peter uses a mixed metaphor.  When he suggests that the devil acts like a hunting lion, we expect a word like “devour.”  That’s why it is surprising to find katapino, a Greek word that literally means, “to drink down.”  Why didn’t he choose esthio, the Greek synonym that really means, “to eat up, devour?”  Let’s think about it for a minute.

There can be no question that Peter portrays our adversary as ruthless, cunning and destructive.  The devil would like nothing more than to consume God’s children for his own delight.  As a hideous beast, he seeks harm against us and he will attack whenever he has the opportunity.  Many preachers have used this verse to cast fear into the lives of the disobedient.  The devil is a spiritual cannibal.

But katapino has another nuance that gives this description even more force.  What is easier – to drink or to eat?  To swallow my prey I need only open my throat and let gravity do its work.  I do not need to tear and rip, to peel and shred.  Much less effort is required for a liquid diet.  Of course, to convert all my food into something I can drink means that it will have to be changed from solid to liquid form, and that certainly implies the total destruction of anything even resembling the original.  This is not just spiritual cannibalism.  It is absolute identity annihilation.  No wonder Peter wants us to be alert.

Perhaps Peter has another image in mind when he uses katapino rather than esthio.  Peter remembers his Torah.  Life is in the blood.  If Satan, the accuser, takes that essential liquid from you, you will surely die.  And since Jesus spilled his blood to set us free from the power of the enemy, perhaps Peter is thinking of the crucial symbol of the blood when he describes the devil’s desire.  There is plenty of mythology connected with blood that seems to point us in this direction.  But this much we know to be real.  The blood of Jesus brings life and hope to the world of the devil’s hunting ground. 

Do I need to fear my enemy?  No, absolutely not.  He has no power over those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  But I would be foolish if I did not acknowledge my enemy’s strategy and intention.  He has been given considerable latitude in this fallen world.  I am at war with him and he will not take my presence lightly, especially when I act in the name of my Lord. 

Be firm.  Stand fast.  Deny the devil his liquid diet.  He is not welcome to drink today.