Our hope in Christ strengthens us for our struggles against Satan.

Everyone has struggles. Health problems. Financial challenges. Relationship difficulties. These vary with all of us. No one is exempt. This side of heaven, life isn't easy.

Why do we have these struggles? Aren't we God's children? Don't we live under God's gracious care? Why is there so much evil in our world—and in our lives? Why are we faced with temptation, day in and day out?

The answer goes back to the very beginning. The same enemy who successfully tempted Adam and Eve continues to seek our destruction. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

The devil couldn't defeat Jesus because Jesus crushed him at his cross and empty grave (Genesis 3:15; 1 John 3:8). Satan can't overcome Christ's church. We have Jesus' promise (Matthew 16:18). So the devil goes after each individual believer. He has several thousand years' worth of experience exploiting our weaknesses.

All of those problems we face in life? The devil whispers, "If God really loved you, bad things wouldn't happen." The difficulties and dangers in our world can stress us out. What's going to happen to us? To our families and friends? Our church? Our country? The enemy roars, "If God is really in control, the world wouldn't seem to be spinning out of control." Temptations come at us from computer, TV, and movie screens; from our friends; and from our own evil desires. The guilt of our sins burdens us. Satan accuses, "How can God love a lowlife like you?"

Although we feel the heat from the devil's roar, we also hear our Lord's invitation in his Word: "Cast all your anxiety on [God] because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7). He cared enough to die for us. He cared enough to bring us into his family of believers through Baptism. He cares enough to help us, rescue us, strengthen us, and work in all things for our good.

That's why Peter's encouragement is worth hearing. "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings" (1 Peter 5:9). We're not the first Christians to struggle against Satan, and we won't be the last. But God always directs us back to his Word, where we've been planted firmly in his truth.

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10). Peter brings us full circle, back to the hope we have in Christ. Even as we struggle against Satan, we live in this hope, this certain expectation of heaven, because of Jesus. His Word and his work strengthen us.

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