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In a Pit with a Lion 3
By John | July 8, 2008
For the next few weeks we’ll be using Mark Batterson’s “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” to help us stimulate a conversation about God-given opportunities in our lives. He blogs at: evotional.com
Remember the story of Benaiah? 2 Samuel 23:20-21.
When he was a boy, did Benaiah’s mom tell him not to play with dangerous animals like snakes & lions? Did Benaiah develop a healthy fear of predatory animals as a youngster? I sure hope so! It’s how parents help keep their kids safe. How, then, did he get to a point where he actually chased a lion?
Mark tells us in this chapter that in order to grow spiritually & do the will of God, we need to unlearn some of the fears that we’ve picked up along the way. After all, he says,
The goal of life is not the elimination of fear. The goal is to muster the moral courage to chase lions.
Is this true? I always thought that the goal of life to learn to be content with what I have? Aren’t we supposed to minimize our risks, financial and otherwise, so that our future generations can have a good life? Aren’t parents supposed to provide a steady and stable home for their children?
None of this ‘common sense’ seems to encourage me to chase any kind of lion.
As followers of Christ, where are we supposed to learn our ‘common sense’?
Like Elizabeth said in her comment last week, as we devote ourselves to reading the Bible, talking to God in prayer, and gathering with others to do both these things, we align ourselves to God’s will and learn a new type of common sense.
And while God’s Word assures us that He will always be with us, it also makes it abundantly clear that the goal of this life is not to eliminate fear & suffering, but to take up new challenges that will advance God’s kingdom (Matthew 28:18-20 and I Thessalonians 2:2-4 among many others).
These challenges always come with the standard ‘fear package’.
I know women have done it for centuries, but how am I going to make it through labor?
How can I go to **insert a far away country** on that mission trip? Aren’t there terrorists lurking about? I don’t even know the language. Isn’t there someone else who could go?
If my church buys that new property or starts that new type of worship service or calls that new pastor, will I still have the same church experience that I’ve grown to love?
These are questions we must face as we lock eyes with the lion.
Is God’s common sense going to give us the strength and the courage to chase the lion, or is the world’s common sense going to push us to remain comfortable and safe by leaving the lion in the pit?
Topics: Books |
July 8th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Sometimes when we are young, I think we have to face a few lions and close our eyes and hope for the best. Then as we are older and mature we see a lion and remember, Oh I saw him before and God was right with me and I was O.K. Now I can chase the lion. From your three challenges, I have faced 1&3 sometime more than once. Still safe!
July 9th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Most times in life I have to rediscover..relearn what the Bible says about life because the world always drowns out what I’ve learned from God’s Word so many times. The world, and satan, have a powerful voice, but God’s voice is stronger and I want to chase the lions…what fulfillment is there in staying outside the walls of this “Zoo” we call life? None!