Roaring
Lions
Africa
is an exotic place; especially for a a guy raised in middle America. I have
made five trips to the dark continent. I was invited to teach at a yearly pastors’
conference in Kenya. It was a stretching experience to immersed into a totally
different culture, language and climate. Immunized for yellow fever, hepatitis
A-B shots and an ample supply of malaria pills I kept healthy each visit.
The
best perk was our annual safari to Tsavo National Park north of Nairobi. One of
the pastors was our tour guide and we saw it all: elephants, giraffes, rhino,
wildebeest, leopards, gazelles and of course lions. We travelled in a VW bus
with an open roof, so we could observe wildlife up close. My favorite were the
lions as they rested after having feasted on a rather bloody wildebeest corpse.
They looked very content until they stood up and roared at us for getting too
close!
There
is a passage near the end of the Bible that mentions a lion: “Be of sober
spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith….”
Another name for the devil is The Accuser and The Father of Lies. Not very nice
handles for a not very nice guy. I confess I believe that Satan not only exists
but roars.
Some
years ago, I heard a teaching on this passage. A person walking down a long
corridor heard this incessant roaring of a lion. It was both ear splitting and
enticing at the same time. Drawing closer, the noise increased until finally
coming to a small room at the end of the hallway. Terrified, the person entered
the room only to find a tape recorder with an amplifier blasting continual accusations
and lies about himself. Taking a deep breathe and praying for courage, he reached
out and hit the Stop button. The roaring ceased.
Lots
of what the Accuser does is repeat stuff we have said and thought about
ourselves and what others may gossip about us. The only power the enemy has is
to seduce us into believing that his roaring is the truth. Truth comes to us
not through the roaring of a lion but the courageous voice of a lamb.
Interestingly Jesus is more often portrayed as a lamb slain than as a lion
roaring: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
It
is the Lamb who speaks the truth to us. Listen to His voice.
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