Lion Chasing 101

 “And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.

2 Samuel 23:20 (ESV)

Before he wrote “The Circle Maker”, Mark Batterson wrote a book with a lengthy title, “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day”.  My dear friend, Alan Levine, passed the book along to me a while ago and I really haven’t given it much thought until recently. I found it under my pile of stuff that I keep on “Dad’s side” of the family counter that we here in the Hughes household call “The Island”. Another Father’s Day had come to its close, and while feeling melancholy about not being able to see my dad (he passed in 2008) this book caught my attention. So I read the first chapter and here is what caught my eye.

“God is in the résumé-building business. He is always using past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities. But those God-given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions.” Benaiah, possibly a grandson of Jesse, was known as being one of “David’s Mighty Men” and John Gill makes these observations about him. That, like his father Jehoiada, he was a man of great vivacity, valor, and great strength…a valiant man. The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, makes mention of him in a list “of five of whom I will only relate the performances (Antiquities 7.12.4) when he wrote about the 38 men of courage who were connected to King David.

Benaiah has an impressive résumé for a man who doesn’t get much Bible time. In just 2 verses “he slew two lion-like men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow: And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear.” (Thank you King Jimmy) Batterson uses this résumé to encourage his reader to chase those God-given opportunities that are disguised as man-eating lions with an old attitude I use to express quite often…”No Guts, No Glory”

Here his list of points to remember Batterson has at the end of chapter one:

1. God is the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. But the right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time.

2. Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can still do nothing wrong and still do nothing right.

3. When we don’t have the guts to step out in faith and chase lions, then God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him.

4. Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God-ordained opportunities.

Within the past few years that expression has changed to “No Guts, Give God No Glory” and I have tried to stick with that attitude. But I must admit that the battle can grow weary and at times there seems to be no safe port in view but because of Jesus I can carry onward. As my son’s graduation from high school loomed on the horizon I felt an assurance that what was done on The Cross gives strength to chase lions. My father told me to do it better than he, I have shared that with my son…but I told him we do this for the glory of God the Father. That should make for an impressive résumé. Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and blogs weekly on Freedom Fighter

Daily Bible Reading: Deuteronomy 1-3; Acts 1

Quote of the day: “Those who simply run away from sin are half-Christians. Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what’s wrong. We’re called to chase lions.”—Mark Batterson

Verse to Memorize: Therefore I love you commandments above gold, above fine gold. Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way. Psalm 119:127-128 ESV