Read: 1 Corinthians 10:11-13; 1 Peter 5:8-9

“Look at Roxy crouching under the bushes,” Lyra said softly.

Dad nodded. “I think she sees the doves looking for seeds underneath the bird feeder,” he replied. “She’d like to ambush them.”

“That means make a surprise attack from a hiding place, right?” As Lyra spoke, the cat sprang toward the birds, and the doves quickly flew to a tree branch. “I’m glad they got away,” said Lyra. “I think they know there’s a cat in this yard, so they watch out for her when they eat.”

“You’re probably right,” said Dad. “We could learn a lesson from them.” He smiled at Lyra’s surprised expression. “That cat reminds me of how Satan likes to hide and then spring out at us when we least expect it. Sometimes we may feel tempted to do something because he’s ambushing us. We need to be alert to when he may be trying to get us to sin.”

The next day, Lyra pointed the cat out to her dad again. Dad laughed when he saw Roxy, her tail up, slowly walking across the patio toward the doves. “It looks like she’s pretending to be their friend so they’ll think she won’t hurt them,” he said.

“Well, I don’t think it’s going to work,” said Lyra. “But that’s another lesson from Roxy, isn’t it? Satan often pretends he’s our friend too by making what’s wrong look good, but he’s still trying to fool us into disobeying Jesus.” Lyra watched as the birds flew away when the cat got too close. “Roxy didn’t fool the doves at all.”

“No, they weren’t fooled,” said Dad. “It almost seems like God gave birds an instinct—a natural ability—to sense danger and escape it.”

“It would be nice if we had an instinct to get away from Satan,” said Lyra.

“We do!” said Dad. “When Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, He defeated Satan, and He gives us the power to resist the devil. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit living in us to warn us of danger and guide us in doing what’s right. We can guard ourselves against Satan’s ambushes by remembering that Jesus has freed us from the power of sin and given us all we need to escape temptation.”

–Pauline Youd

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