In my personal and ministerial reading times, I've been devouring quite a few books over the last few weeks. I continue to plow through Keller's "The Reason for God," as well as Thomas' "The Beautiful Fight," downed Carson's "Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson" in 13 hours, am smack in the middle of Mark Batterson's "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day," and am picking up my reading on "The Shack" (although I'm a little wary of some of the stuff it's saying) and Doyle's Sherlock Holmes anthology. It is Batterson's book, though, that I really want to talk about.
Batterson obviously has a good imagination, because he takes a relatively unknown Bible story (that of one of David's mighty men, Benaiah) and turns it into a book. Granted, the premise is that there are plenty of lions that we face in our everyday lives, the question is whether or not we chase them into pits and struggle with them. There are plenty of other epic struggles in the Bible (Jacob wrestling the Lord, David and Goliath, etc.) but Batterson does a good job of bringing them all together to focus on one thing: when it comes to life, are we bold enough, in our faith, to step out there and attack that which we are most fearful of... usually trusting the Lord as Guide and Provider. This book, as well as a recent article in "Men's Health," really hit home with me.
The story of Benaiah was pretty much unknown to me before I heard about this book. Basically, Benaiah was an extremely valiant guy who was a soldier and is known for several endeavors: 1. fighting two Moabite warriors at the same time; 2. killing an Egyptian warrior who was close to 7-feet tall with the Egyptian's own spear (snatching it out of his hands!); and 3. chasing a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killing the animal with his bare hands. All of these incredibly brave feats would eventually culminate in Benaiah being chief of David's personal guards and then head of the entire army of Israel under David. Batterson points out that, in every situation, the warrior ran to that which most normal folk would run away from. There are many lions in our lives, are we running away, or are we matching it roar for roar and bite for bite?
This was also an issue brought up in a recent "Men's Health" article where a particular reporter was doing a story over a group of Navy SEALs in Iraq and how they are mentally prepared to the point where they actually run towards a fight. The author actually recounts an instance where the base they were at began to be shelled by militants and everyone was headed for cover. As he ran, he noticed that the SEALs were calmly walking towards the bunker with purpose. Once inside, a shell exploded over 100 yards away, but the reporter recalls feeling like it was right on top of them. As he looked around in the flashlight-illuminated darkness, he noticed that all of the soldiers had a crimson hue to their faces, as though the fear was actually bringing them even more to life. When he asked them to shine the light on his face, he asked them what color his face was. Without even knowing the real meaning behind the question, the SEAL to his side said, "Really white, why?" The reporter concluded that, in all of their mental preparations, these soldiers had literally prepared for everything that could happen, not just the best scenarios.
One of my all-time greatest heroes is Winston Churchill. This was a man who, although not terribly deep, had faith in God, was a great speaker and motivator, had great intelligence, and who I sometimes wished, growing up, was my third grandfather. I've been listening to his speeches for the past couple of days, and I think Churchill was a guy who definitely understood what it was to stare the lion in the eyes and never back down. "Never never never give up!" he charged the British people as Hitler hurled bomb after bomb at their island, trying to break the heart of Europe's hopes. He defied all of Nazi Germany's pride, as well as many of his own people's fears. He stood up and simply would not sit back down. He knew the lion, and he wanted nothing else than to strangle the beast with his bare hands, until every last breath of the juggernaut had been squeezed out and the blood of the monster had become cold in its very veins. How I pray that I might be someone who stands up like Churchill. But, also, in a day and age and nation where everyone wants to be so politically correct and not hurt anyone else's feelings, I pray for leaders who actually do this same thing... in politics, in business, and in the Church.
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you..."
Acts 1v.8a
We, God's children, have power through the Holy Spirit to chase those lions, to stand up to the despots, and to do battle with the enemy in our lives. We have the strength to stand up against the flow and speak out for what we truly believe in. If called to it, we even have the might to speak out against entire nations; we just have to trust in the Lord for the words. We, as Believers, must stop being so apathetic and chase down the lions in our lives, trusting in God to give us the strength to push through and bring them down, that we might glorify Him through our conquering.
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