Recently, I saw our cat Lucifer stalking a bird.

Lucifer was inside our screened-in porch in Florida. The bird was perched outside on the screen. Lucifer quietly crept nearer to the bird. But, when he got close, the bird flew away.

Other times, I’ve seen tiny lizards (3 or 4 inches long) that weren’t so lucky. They made the mistake of getting inside the screen where Lucifer could sneak up and pounce on them.

You’d think they’d see this gigantic beast approaching them. But no!

They keep basking in the sun enjoying life, until Lucifer pounces and devours them. To be accurate, he doesn’t eat them. He shakes them to death, then leaves their drying bodies lying around the house.

I thought of the passage in First Peter that warns us: “Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).

Certainly, evil adversaries are sometimes like roaring lions. I’m thinking of Vladimir Putin roaring his anger and frustration at Ukraine.

But in some sense, it’s easy to stay sober and alert against an adversary who openly roars that he is seeking to devour us.

It can be harder to stay sober and alert against an adversary like our cat Lucifer who stalks his prey silently.

This was the kind of adversary Vladimir Putin has been for the past 20 years.

Oh, there were occasional warnings that a gigantic beast was stalking people, seeking to devour them. Brutally attacking civilians in Chechnya and Syria. Poisoning opponents.

But it was easy to engage in wishful thinking. Surely he wouldn’t pounce on us, our allies, or our friends.

Too many people were deceived into saying, “Peace,” when there was no peace.

As in Ancient Israel, these false prophets led “people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace . . . . (Ezekiel 13:10).

These false prophets foolishly praised Putin as savvy and smart instead of wisely denouncing him as cruel and evil.

Let’s pray that our “screens” are strong enough to keep us, our allies, and our friends safe from being devoured by our adversary: the roaring lion—Putin!

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For additional thoughts about making peace by keeping our “screens” strong, please read my blogs “Blessed Are the Peacemakers”, “Curtailing Force: Replacing Nails With Glue”, and “Spilling Coffee”.