It’s Passion Week, and I’ve been thinking about lions.

Sometimes when I read the Bible I go on a bit of a rabbit trail. . . .

(This time I think it was a lion trail.)

Does that ever happen to you?

And sometimes, when I do that, I gain a deeper understanding of who Jesus really is.

So, here’s how this one went. . . .

Philippians 2 and 1 Peter 5 and Psalm 22 all connected for me, all helping me gain a clearer picture and greater love for my Savior.

The truth was driven home on Passion Week, as I pondered how our Lord Jesus was humbled . . . and then exalted.

And the roaring lion was defeated.

And it’s true for all His children too.

Philippians 2 (about Jesus being humbled and exalted) reminded me of 1 Peter 5:6-9, which talks about us being humbled and exalted. So I went there.

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the appropriate time,

7 casting all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.

8 Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

9 But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world.

It’s a Scripture I’d pondered many times in regard to myself. But because I saw Jesus as our forerunner in all of these things, this time I meditated on it in regard to Him, because I learned a long time ago that when I meditate on the Scriptures as they relate to Jesus, my own soul is deepened.

This is how it looked when I thought of Him going before me in 1 Peter 5:

6 Our Lord Jesus humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God, and He was then exalted at the appropriate time,

7 Our Lord Jesus cast all His care on the Father, and the Father cared about Him.

Even when it seemed like the Father didn’t care, even when the Son cried out that God had forsaken Him, the Father still cared deeply about His Son.

They both knew what lay on the other side of that cross—great joy.

8 Jesus was sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], He was alert and cautious at all times.

Throughout His whole life and ministry, Jesus knew He was in a spiritual battle. He knew the devil wanted nothing better than to bring Him down, to destroy Him. He stood sober and vigilant, alert and cautious against His adversary.

8b He knew His enemy, the devil, prowled like a roaring lion, seeking to devour Him.

9 But our Lord Jesus resisted the devil, firm in the faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable].

 

 

 

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An earlier version of this meditation can be found here.

 

 

 

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