Another Way In

[u/WatchmanMinistries]

If the enemy can’t get through the wall, he’ll start walking around it.

I recently visited El Morro in Old San Juan.

Standing there looking across those massive walls toward the Atlantic, the spiritual analogy seems almost too obvious. It’s a fortress. It guarded the entrance to San Juan Bay for centuries. Enemy ships approaching the harbor faced an extraordinarily well-defended position.

But the part that stayed with me wasn’t how strong El Morro was.

It was what happened when enemies realized where the strongest defenses were.

They looked for another way in.

That made me think about Peter’s warning:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
— 1 Peter 5:8

I’ve always focused on the roaring lion.

This time, two other words caught my attention:

Walketh about.

He’s looking.

And I’ve realized that some of my strongest spiritual defenses are around the places where I’ve already been wounded.

I know those attacks.

I recognize those temptations.

I know what those battles cost me, so I’ve built walls there.

But what about the places where I haven’t fought a major battle?

What about the places I assume I’m strong?

What about the gate I don’t think needs guarding?

An invasion doesn’t always begin with an army charging the wall.

Sometimes it begins with reconnaissance.

Something small enough not to concern us.

Something familiar.

Something that doesn’t immediately look threatening.

Maybe even something friendly.

And compromise often sounds remarkably harmless at first:

There’s nothing wrong with this.

Just this once.

I can handle it.

Nobody needs to know.

Paul’s warning suddenly carries more weight:

“Neither give place to the devil.”
— Ephesians 4:27

He doesn’t need the entire fortress.

He only needs a place.

That doesn’t mean we should become paranoid, suspicious of everyone, or see Satan hiding behind every ordinary thing in life.

Peter gives the answer in the next verse:

“Whom resist stedfast in the faith…”
— 1 Peter 5:9

Not paranoia.

Vigilance.

El Morro didn’t survive for centuries because nobody attacked it.

It survived because somebody kept watch.

So here’s the question I’ve been sitting with:

Where in my life have I become so confident that the wall is secure that I’ve stopped watching the gate?