Lions Among Them

Day two hundred ninety-six

We have this dry erase board in our house that started its life as a chore board, but evolved into a quote/thoughts board.  This week the board read:  I have been blessed with.... Yesterday as I was looking at the board I saw that someone responded with one word -- "enough."  Wow, I was blown away by the depth of that answer.  What a great perspective that person has on life.  My prayer this morning was filled with gratitude for having "enough", and for having someone in my home that recognizes "enough".  I hope the Lord continues to bless us with "enough."

2 Kings 17:25

"And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them."

 At this point in Israel's history they have been made captives of Assyria and have been spread out among the land. The king of Assyria brought in men from different areas and transplanted them in Samaria.  Part of the grand Assyrian plan was to mix the nations up to keep nationalistic fervor down.  As these people mix in with the few remaining Israelites, the result was the race known as the Samaritans. (2 Kings 17:23-24)

 The problem is the people didn't believe in God.  So the Lord sent lions among them, and the lions slew some of them.  We aren't given a count of the dead, but we know that the lions killed enough people to raise concerns among the inhabitants!

It might sound wrong to say this, but I kind of like this actually.  It is a great reminder that God can take care of Himself.  We so often feel like we have to try and help God out and defend Him.  And there is a proper time to defend our faith in the Lord. But God is quite able, all by Himself, to get His point across.

We saw it when the Israelites faced the Philistines.

1 Sam 4 - Israel thought if they had their favorite “good luck charm” with them, maybe they’d beat the Philistines for once. So they took the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them. God is not about to let us treat Him like a “good luck charm”, so He allowed the Israelites to lose, even losing the Ark to the Philistines.

1 Sam 5 - The Philistines thought they’d put the Ark into the temple of their god, Dagon, to show who was really boss. But when they got up in the morning, their god had fallen over in front of the Ark. 

God can take care of Himself just fine.  Though God may choose to work through us some times, there are times when it is really best if we just stay out of His way!

Besides recognizing that God is capable of taking care of Himself, there is also the lesson that He takes care of His people.  Israel needed it's God and when people got in the way of that, He provided a way for them to get it.  The lions killing people led to the king allowing a priest to be put back among the people so that they could be taught "the manner of the God of the land" (v 27).

What does God do for us when we lose sight of Him? What lions has the Lord sent among us?  What are the things He has put in our lives that bring us back to Him?

For each person the details may be different, but there are a few basic things the Lord puts in our lives to help us stay focused:

People to warn us (a prophet, family, friends, etc).  Sometimes this comes in the form of gentle proddings and other times it is an in-your-face encounter.  Whatever it takes to get His message across to you.

Trials and tribulations.  There are different degrees of trials and tribulations.  Some are overcome quickly and build our confidence in ourselves and God; others can last a lifetime and they really test our faith.  These are the real character building experiences that lead to self-evaluation and life-altering changes. 

Withholds the Spirit.  You know that there are some big changes you need to make in your life when the Lord withholds the Spirit.  Usually this happens when you are having worthiness issues.  It's not that He doesn't want to talk to you, but you aren't keeping your end of the bargain.  This is one of the toughest of the lions in a persons life, but it has to be if it is to help us see that what we are doing is wrong and we need to be led to repentance.  Conquering our pride and being humbled enough to see that we need to repent requires a lot of pain and effort on both parts.

Being conquered.  If we need to be taken down a notch or two the Lord is not above letting us get our little rear ends kicked every once in a while.  It is in the moments when we feel helpless that we are most likely to turn to Him.  It isn't the ideal way to lean on Him, but it does get our attention.

These are just a few of the 'lions' that I see the Lord using in this chapter and in my own life. When you think about the lions sent to kill the people, you imagine these seriously ferocious creatures chasing people down.  After studying this chapter I think of the lions as God's way of taking care of me.  He chases me down so that I don't lose my way and He doesn't lose me.  The lions don't seem so scary anymore.