Noisy Young Lions
Here’s something funny. Something I just realized now.
Lions in the Bible are portrayed as strong and majestic – You think of lions, and those of you familiar with the work of C.S. Lewis are most likely to think of Aslan (and those of you who watched the film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe are imagining a great lion speaking with Liam Neeson’s voice).
Young lions, on the other hand, are still seen for their strength, sure – but more than that, a quick search of ‘young lion’ in the ESV has you reading verses mentioning less of their power, but more, two things: Their roar, and their appetite.
It was a young lion that roared as he approached Samson, before the man ‘tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat’ (Judges 14:5-6). It was Isaiah who mentioned how lions and young lions are alike in that they ‘growl over their prey (and seize them)’ (Isaiah 5:29, 31:4).
It was Amos who mentions in his prophecies, of lions and young lions: “Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?” (Amos 3:4)
Finally, it was Job who was specific about the appetite of young lions: “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?” (Job 38:39-40)…
You remember how, as children, we were encouraged to finish whatever was on our plate, and then given seconds and even thirds because our parents said ‘he’s a growing boy’, or ‘she’s a growing child’?
Or maybe you remember how, as children, we didn’t need the encouragement – in fact, we were the ones who were crying and screaming when we were hungry? We were being young lions – roaring out of our appetite; and even like young lions I could imagine how we would shout excitedly, or roar at the ‘prey’ being served to us.
So lions on their own? Again, strong and majestic. Young lions? Strong and hungry.
Like The Wolf Lion
During the Lausanne Congress Reunion we all formed a circle (well, it was more of an oblong due to the space) and two smaller beach balls were thrown around, from one side of the circle to another, from one person to the other – but before the ball was thrown whoever was holding the ball had a task: In 30 seconds, share your name, your ministry, and one word that described your Lausanne Congress experience.
It’s funny that when I got the ball, I mentioned my name, I mentioned the church I serve in, and my one word?
Hungry.
Yup. Everyone else was hogging words like ‘awesome’, ‘inspiring’, ‘incendiary’ even. I said I was hungry.
In the informal post meeting after the meeting, with friends I met before the Congress, I was asked, “You were one of the few, if not the only person who attended the Congress virtually. Why did you join this reunion?”
I sort of knew what she was fishing for or driving at, but for some reason, I had an answer ready for her – and now that I remember, it’s something I said during our table discussions during the reunion.
I joined because I was already blown away by how fascinating it was for me to connect with fellow believers, and fellow members of the body of Christ all over the world – former managers from Ireland, missionaries who came from the Philippines but were called to spread the Word in Indonesia, folks from the USA, India, and Kenya – all speaking the same language: The goodness of God that leads to repentance.
I chose to deliberately spend time and money to meet up with those who actually made their way to Korea, because I didn’t just want to see and hear, but connect to other believers who profess and actually live out the same Gospel that saved me.
I really was hungry. I’m still hungry.
The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Psalms 104:21, Psalm 34:10
Lions are known for their strength, but young lions are known for their hunger. They roar for their food. And I suppose I’m pretty loud when I’m hungry… but I’ll tell you this – The Lord gives me my food, and I am strong.
We like to sing, ‘strength will rise when we wait upon the Lord‘, and I still agree with this… but here I’m seeing, ‘strength will rise (for young lions) when the Lord waits upon us (when the Lord feeds us)’.
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalms 121:1-2
To God be the glory and all the praise. For as He feeds us and strengthens us, we are reminded, first of our dependence on Him, and second, and more importantly, of His faithfulness, willingness and ability to help us. To feed us.
Taking A Stroll On The Water – The True Source Of Strength
Power is defined by our wonderful friends, Merriam and Webster, as ‘the ability to act’; ‘Physical might’ was ‘ranked’ as the third definition of the word.
Strength is primarily defined as ‘the quality or state of being strong’; it’s the capacity (or the power) for exertion or endurance. The second and third definitions say strength is the power ‘to resist force’, and the power ‘of resisting attack’.
I’ll share a couple of lines from the prophetic word, here:
your strength is that of a young lion. like a deer you shall leap high over hedges.
i have given you the strength of Jesus Christ to walk over water.
Jesus walking on water could be seen as His superiority over the binding laws of physics and chemistry, and His superhuman power over nature. However, all He had to do was call Peter from the boat, and soon the apostle formerly known as Simon was instantly walking on the waves, like He was.
I propose that while it’s nice to see what words were spoken ‘for’ me as proclamations of might as only the king of the jungle could wield, royalty, leadership… or yeah, supernatural powers to transcend the limitations of nature, it’s what we drew out as the foundation of these claims that I’m drawn more to:
We all know what was written. Peter was walking over the water, but then he saw the waves and felt the winds, and began to sink. As he was sinking, he called out to Jesus to save him.
Jesus, still standing on the water, “took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'”
I’ve written about this before, and emphasized how a whole bunch of us love to take this story, and speak from the pulpit against our doubting, and the ‘size’ of our faith… But shouldn’t we consider, with the ‘little’ faith Peter had, he was already able to walk on water, as Jesus walked!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m bound to agree with the next guy regarding our doubts, but here I’m going to choose to emphasize on how it’s not anything else but faith that had Peter, and even Jesus, doing supernatural stuff!
The True Purpose Of Power
At this point I’d also like to point out that, of all the Gospels, three of them speak of Jesus walking on water, but it was only Matthew who spoke on Peter’s trying to do it – but three out of three accounts (Matthew, Mark and John) speak of Jesus walking on the water, their being terrified and thinking He was a ghost… and, what I think is most important, were His words: “It is I; do not be afraid.”
Off the bat the first thing I thought as I read all that was that Jesus could have chosen to say other things like ‘Hey look, I’m walking on the water, isn’t that cool!?’… But He saw they were terrified, and assured them that this ‘ghost’ they were seeing was the One who they were following (‘It is I’), and, for good measure, and in the midst of the rough sea and the strong waves, He tells them, ‘Do not be afraid’.
And, did you catch that, in Mark’s account? Let’s read what happened.
50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
Mark 6:50-52
These were the disciples who were following Jesus, but look, even if they saw the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes, even THEIR hearts were hardened. But here, Christ said what He had to say to the disciples, and as soon as He stepped into the boat, the winds ceased…. And it was only then when ‘they were utterly astounded’.
Folks, what’s all this telling me?
First, that our true power in the body of Christ is not found in our being as strong as lions. It is not seen in our being able to walk on the waters.
Our true power is found in our dependence and trust in God… and doesn’t that give us another wonderful perspective of how Christ is the Author and Finisher of our Faith?
Because, see, we have no ‘little faith’ as sinking Peter had. No, I dare say that it wasn’t by any work of our own, but only Christ’s finished work that fully established the faith that we have, and the Spirit that is poured into us!
This faith that we all have as believers in Christ (decades and centuries after His birth, death, resurrection and ascension) has us appreciating the fact – no, the TRUTH that what we have now is FAR more than having the power of lions, or the strength to walk over water.
God gives the power. Faith precedes strength.
I could stop here but I want to touch base on one last thing.
All this ought to give us a broader perspective of what to imagine when Jesus told His disciples in John 14:12.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Again, going back to my good brothers and sisters who have the opportunity of speaking from the pulpit, a good number of us seem to LOVE talking about these ‘greater works’. We love to fantasize about how, if Jesus fed five thousand, this Word seems to say we’re able to feed five hundred thousand. If Jesus healed the leper, we’d heal a HUNDRED lepers, or we’d heal folks of diseases even more deadly than leprosy.
We’d claim to be able to do all these things, and then only at the very end do we point a finger to the sky and say, ‘To God be the glory’.
But here’s something I’m proposing to all of us, here and now. First of all, all that Christ did preceded from the Father, and was with all of us in mind. He chose to tell His wet, weary, and terrified disciples, ‘Do not be afraid’, and when He stepped onto the boat and the winds ceased, it was then that these disciples whose hearts were hardened were only then, ‘utterly astounded’.
Second, I propose that, indeed, Christ both guarantees and confirms that we can do so much more than displaying physical strength that matches the king of the jungle, more than our feeding five thousand people from a basket of five loaves and two fish, and more than standing on liquid water and walking on rough seas.
It’s when we love one another as Christ has loved us, and when people, tribes, and entire nations see how we love one another, they shall know we are Christ’s.
The rest of the world could come up with their communication strategies, print, produce, prepare all sorts of media, pay all sorts of people to promote a message. All we have is the Living Word.
Through Christ, the Living Word, they shall see God’s goodness, which leads their minds, brilliant as they may be, hard as some of them could be, to repentance, and full transformation from the renewing of their minds.
It is by our appreciating that the finished work of Christ is the Miracle of miracles, that we are able, not only to lead people to salvation, but we are able to fulfill His call of discipling entire nations.
See, we’re only able to properly understand and appreciate the ‘greater works’ when we have ‘greater faith’; and before you run your mouth on how that there sounds like works-based righteousness, understand that before you even had a handle on ‘your’ faith, it was Christ who was and IS not only the Author, but the FINISHER of your faith.
This is why we’re hungry for God to feed us. We’re asking the Savior of our souls to keep authoring, keep finishing the faith He began in us. And, in fact, we aren’t just asking – No, we ROAR for God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to give us power…
…and we find our satisfaction, not when we eat, but when, by the faith-borne power given to us, others are fed.
Again, God gives the power. Faith precedes strength.
So, yeah. The guy said I’d have power like a young lion. That I’d have power to walk on water, like Jesus did. I haven’t even touched base on how he said I could jump over hedges like a deer.
But now all this is reminding me of something that we all have – Faith.
The book of Romans tells us that the righteousness we have is apart of the Law, and by this faith. It’s Christ who authored this faith in us, and this faith continues to grow.
Christ’s finished work was the catalyst of the authoring of our faith, and consequently, the beginning of wisdom. Before we had our fantasies on power and strength, we’ve been given faith.
God gives the power. Christ began the faith. Faith precedes strength.
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