Taming Lions

Mat Dawson / Pastor of Student and College Ministries

Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

“Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it.” ("Chase the Lion" by Mark Batterson, based on 2 Samuel 23:20-21) 

I don’t know about you, but I often think about what kind of situation Benaiah found himself in that made him want to do such a crazy thing. Why would he chase a lion into a pit and kill it? Did he need food? Was he protecting his family and friends? Was he tired of it stalking them? Was he bored? Or did the king ask him to do it? 

We also are not told how big the lion was; for all we know it could have been a ten-pound cub. Sometimes it’s easy to look at these sorts of stories and make all kinds of judgements. Judgments about ourselves, others, what God can or cannot do, will or will not do in our lives. 

All I know is that the ten-pound cub that God has asked you to deal with might seem like a five-hundred-pound lion to me. We are all at different stages in life, different stages on our journey with Christ. It’s not for us to judge how big a lion we can tame in our life, that is God’s responsibility, and He is really good at what He does. 

He is the lion tamer, we are not. Our job is to acknowledge the lion that God has put, is putting, or will put into our lives then join with the Holy Spirit in the work that He wants to do in delivering us from or fulfill in us all that God has planned. 

When lions are tamed, deliverance happens, and dreams are fulfilled, we then get to show off just how Awesome, Faithful, Glorious, and Mighty our God really is. So, let’s not focus on the Lions, instead let’s keep focused on our God who has wonderful things planned in and through us for His glory. 

The world is watching and if they see us trust God with our lions, they may join us and trust Him with theirs.