The Lion's Meow
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:46 pm
I remember sitting with a couple who were on the brink of giving up on their marriage. It’s been only a year and a half. As they shared their stories, it seemed so apparent to me that they never really had a chance. Their relationship didn’t have a chance, but they themselves as individuals didn’t have a chance as well. They married without any premarital counseling. No one followed up on nurturing their relationship. But worst of all, no one in their entire lives ever invested in them as individuals. No wonder they are where they are. And as much as they were expressing hopelessness about their future, I told them that it seemed like they didn’t want to give up. I mean, here they were… together. And I added this… don’t give the enemy the satisfaction. For some reason that seemed to light something within them.
When we look at the lions, they lounge without any regard for anything around them. There just seems to be this perpetual look of satisfaction in their lives. Even when they are hungry, they know that there is prey all around. They know who they are and in a sense, they are going to take full advantage of what comes with the title… the king of the jungle. And they’re going to flaunt it. I can imagine the enemy and his dark dominion doing that as well. They take full advantage of the fear that his name invokes. That fear alone paralyzes its prey. The enemy doesn’t have to do anything, but come and snatch them up. I think that fear, however, is fueled by something else—lies. We hear his lies and we succumb to it. It just proves the lack of depth of knowledge that we have of God’s truth. I think the greatest lies come in accusatory form. The Bible describes him as the great accuser. He accuses us and we fear. There is, however, something else that we need to remember about this great accuser—that he brings his accusations before the Father. And at all times, His truth will overcome any lies that is brought before Him. The cross is proof of that. What helps me as the accusations and fears of my past threaten to come creeping into my soul is that my Great Shepherd too… is a lion Himself. And I hear His voice over any other lion roaring—“don’t give him the satisfaction!�
When we look at the lions, they lounge without any regard for anything around them. There just seems to be this perpetual look of satisfaction in their lives. Even when they are hungry, they know that there is prey all around. They know who they are and in a sense, they are going to take full advantage of what comes with the title… the king of the jungle. And they’re going to flaunt it. I can imagine the enemy and his dark dominion doing that as well. They take full advantage of the fear that his name invokes. That fear alone paralyzes its prey. The enemy doesn’t have to do anything, but come and snatch them up. I think that fear, however, is fueled by something else—lies. We hear his lies and we succumb to it. It just proves the lack of depth of knowledge that we have of God’s truth. I think the greatest lies come in accusatory form. The Bible describes him as the great accuser. He accuses us and we fear. There is, however, something else that we need to remember about this great accuser—that he brings his accusations before the Father. And at all times, His truth will overcome any lies that is brought before Him. The cross is proof of that. What helps me as the accusations and fears of my past threaten to come creeping into my soul is that my Great Shepherd too… is a lion Himself. And I hear His voice over any other lion roaring—“don’t give him the satisfaction!�