Your adversary the devil.
OCTOBER 23, 2007 (TUESDAY) – “Gangbusters” was a radio program heard each week on radio in the 1930’s. Seemed like every week the program featured at least one scene in a police car, with the radio speaker blaring, “Calling all cars! Calling all cars! Be on the lookout for..”
In Thailand today the message is “Calling all cars, boats, bikes, hikers, residents, anyone and everyone, be on the lookout for eleven escaped crocodiles, up to 20 feet in length..” That’s right, floods in northeast Thailand resulted in the escape of 34 crocodiles from a crocodile farm. All but eleven have been found, but the rest remain on the loose.
If I lived in that area, I might find it hard to drift off to sleep at night, knowing that something dangerous was on the prowl.
Well, get this: “Calling all Christians! Be on the lookout for Satan and temptation!” The Apostle Peter sounded the alarm a long time ago, and the situation is still the same today: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8 NIV).”
When faced with temptation, think of the old song by Paul Westmoreland, which became a part of the repertoire of many popular singers of the day, “Detour!”
“Headed down life’s crooked road, lot of things I never knowed,
And because of me not knowin’ I now pine,
Trouble got in the trail, spent the next five years in jail,
Should have read that detour sign.
Detour, there’s a muddy road ahead. Detour, paid no mind to what it said
Detour, oh the bitter things I find. Should have read that detour sign.
I got stuck in the mud, all my hopes dropped with a thud,
And I thought that my heart strings were made of twine,
But the farther I go, the more sorrow I know. Should have read that detour sign.
Detour, there’s a muddy road ahead…
Should have read that detour sign. Should have read that detour sign!”
The Scriptures put this message in plain English: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NIV).”
When I was a country church preacher, I ate lots of wonderful fried chicken. I loved it. I love it. Having the preacher for Sunday lunch in country churches of the past prompted the creation of a joke my grandfather used to share: When the preacher showed up, the rooster crowed, “The preacher’s here! The preacher’s here!” and the little hen clucked, “Look out! Look out!” Well, here’s our situation: The Devil’s here! The Devil’s here! Look out! Look out!