“Was it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon?” (Isaiah 51:9)
Beloved Father, it is not always easy for us to understand why evil exists—why there is so much destruction, immeasurable suffering, senseless wars, and evil spiritual beings who live in rebellion against You. They have left fellowship with You and want to drag us humans into their lostness.
This is not what You intended in the beginning, for You created everything so that it might reveal Your glory in fellowship with You and with one another.
We humans have fallen deeply and can even live in enmity toward You. It is tragic, beloved Father.
Yet we understand that, in Your love, You nevertheless called us into being. The animal and plant worlds are not Your counterparts, for they cannot maintain fellowship with You as we can. You have given us the opportunity to respond to Your love. Yet we can also refuse this response and thus live apart from our true purpose.
So it was with Lucifer: once a glorious angel of light, he has fallen infinitely low. We cannot admire him as an angel of light; instead, we see him in the image of a dragon who breathes the poisonous breath of his lies and deceptions into this world.
Just as You called upon Saint George, in the power of Your Son, to confront Satan’s perverted power and to bind it through Your Son, so You let us know through the prophet Isaiah that it was You who crushed the sea monster Rahab and the dragon—that is, who overthrew the gods of Egypt.
Therefore, dear Father, we can rely on You when the devil wages war against Your people and this far exceeds our human strength. You will intervene and always break the power of Your enemies.
Praise be to You for this.