The Hunter and the Hunted

Photo by Jean-Philippe Delberghe on Unsplash

Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you.

-1 Peter 5:8-10

The LORD said to Satan, "Whence have you come?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it." And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nought?...touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face."

-Job 1:7-11

St. Peter concludes the fifth chapter of his first letter with what appears to be an elegantly succinct and moving interpretation of the book of Job for the Christian life. The Christian life is a life of suffering. Christ taught, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you" (John 15:20). We cannot expect to have a life free of struggles and conflict. Our struggles and conflicts, however, are primarily with our own concupiscence and sins. That we do live our lives as Christians may bring us some criticism and mockery, but that is a small part of it. Overcoming our own will and bringing it into union with God's will causes us much suffering.

Both St. Peter's letter and the book of Job reveal, that Satan is not content to wait for us to come to him. No, he is hunting us and attacks us through our personal weaknesses. We all have them. Satan very subtly maneuvers our thoughts, emotions, and surroundings to best exploit them, thereby leading us into sin. If, by God's grace, we have rid ourselves of one sin, Satan readily exploits another of our weaknesses. We know this all too well. There is hope, however. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6). "Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness" (Romans 8:26). Only through washing ourselves in Christ's Blood by our willing participation in the sacramental life of the Church can we ever rid ourselves of our sins. Satan never takes a break
"[f]rom going to and fro on the earth and walking up and down on it" (Job 1:7).

Both St. Peter and Job reveal Satan's motivation. Very specifically, he wishes to devour us and have us curse God to His Face. That sends chills down my spine. I want to spend neither my life nor my eternity consumed by Satan and cursing God. Suffering is not fun. Suffering is an evil. Yet, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). Both Job and St. Peter assure us, that after we "have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you" (1 Peter 5:10).

As difficult as it is, we have hold of infinite hope. "God, our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:3-4), has given us innumerable sources of grace from which to drink abundantly. God is on our side. As long as we persevere, we will soon hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21).