Lion Tamers
I. Introduction
The king of the jungle. Fierce. Loud. Teeth bared. Claws sharpened. Ready to pounce. Ready to destroy. Infinitely powerful. Striking fear in everyone! Lions. One of the top attractions at zoos and circuses! We don't mind watching them when they are caged up and at a safe distance. However, the truth is most of us, even though we may not have on the costume, carry a whip, or have a chair handy, are daily squaring off against lions. An issue, a sickness, a relationship, a reoccurring problem that is just as much a man eater as if it had a mane and a nerve shaking roar. So how do we tame lions? How do we handle the beast that is trying to handle us?
We have learned that Lion Tamers:
1. Need a good eye doctor. Your eyes if unguarded can cause you to have to face lions you should have avoided.
2. You will be sent lions.
3. You can find honey only when you have been hunted.
4. You don't face lions when you face lions.
5. Your life is being watched.
II. Text
2 Samuel 23:20
20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel was another famous soldier; he did many brave deeds, including killing two great Moabite warriors. He once went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.
III. Lion Taming Truths
From this encounter with a lion Benaiah teaches us some powerful Lion Taming Truths.
A. Lion Tamers don't wait to be chased or to be attacked!
He chased the lion into the pit! Are you nuts. Our society teaches us to avoid pain, avoid trials, avoid difficulties at all cost. Avoid hard work. Avoid sacrifice. Avoid working out. Avoid anything that might cause us to have to endure or suffering! Normal people don't chase lions they run from lions. They keep them at a safe distance. And they also never win any impressive victories! But he chased the lion.
David understood this truth. Even as a young man when he squared off against Goliath the Bible says David ran to giant.
Too many of us run from, self medicate, drink to distract so that we can forget and refuse to deal with the lions in our life! We forget that this is an attack or be attacked proposition! Benaiah speaks to an aggressive/preemptive faith not a passive/reactionary faith.
We fail to remember that Romans 5 says to actually rejoice in suffering! In other words, don't avoid it but rather run at it!
Some of you are being attacked, scratched to death, bitten simply because you fail to attack!
If nothing is impossible with our God how will we ever really know that unless we are in impossible situations?
Most of us spend our prayer time asking for God to keep us out of the lions' den while Daniel prayed knowing it would send him to the lions' den! Our prayers for an easy way out needs to change to prayer to get me through and to win victories that are God worthy!
Don't wait. Don't hesitate. Go the offensive. Deal with your debt head on. Deal with your dad head on. Deal with your addiction head on. Ignoring it won't make it go away it will only get stronger and go on the offensive. Back that lion into a corner where you can get your hand (and HIS hands) on it!
How can we tell if your faith is aggressive or passive? Are you attempting anything so big that unless God intervenes it will fail?
B. Lion Tamers understand that cold days can be your best days.
Your toughest days can be your best days. He chased him into a pit on a snowy day. It would have been wiser to chase him on a sunny day when footing is sure and breathing comes easy, gripping your sword isn't impacted by ice, but no his miracle demanded immediate action. Some of you are waiting for the perfect day to take on your lion. When I am older. If I were younger. When I can afford it. When I am stronger. When I am healthy. When I am not alone. Listen the day may be snowy but that isn't an excuse to wait. You can't let your environment or the atmosphere stop you from your
assigned task of attack!
Remember this truth . . . God usually meets you in the PIT! The deepest, darkest, deadliest moments are usually the sanctuary He chooses to abide in! I usually can't find God in the posh, plush, ornate confines of a perfect, painless life. He shows up where there are lions in close confines! The right place is often what others would view and describe as the wrong place! Go back and read Hebrews 11 . . . the giants of faith all faced pits, impossible odds, loud lions and yet what makes them a hero and what makes you a hero is that you don't hole up on cold days but rather face them and embrace them as the perfect climate for dealing with a kitty cat!
If you are in the "Cold Season" be aware that God is close and lions can go down!
The snowy winds of sickness, the icy gail of infirmities, the wintery blast of brokeness, the blizzard of blame, the winds of weakness, the rain of relationships is the perfect and preferred forecast in which God works best!
Pits produce power! Pits produce proof of His presence.
Ask Joseph if God shows up in pits. How could David have proclaimed in Psalms 40:2, "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." if he had never been in the pit to begin with!
Listen you can either jump into the pit or the pit will jump into you!
Cold days don't have to be bad days. A cold day . . . squared off against life threatening, dream threatening, future threatening odds can be your greatest day! Those that face the most adversity are those most used by God. Welcome the cold days as your best days!
Here is a different perspective your cold days may be a favor from God . . . Philippians 1:29 - For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake!
"Granted" in the Greek carries the idea of "a favor". In other words, God is doing you a favor by allowing you to have cold days!
Don't battle the burrrrrrr battle the beast!
