Are You A Lion Chaser?

   I am reading a book called In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson.  It is based on 2 Samuel 23:20-21:

"Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a brave fighter from Kabzeel who did mighty things. He killed two of the best warriors from Moab. He also went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day. Benaiah killed a large Egyptian who had a spear in his hand. Benaiah had a club, but he grabbed the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear."

    It is about how, often-times, the most frightening, difficult circumstances in our lives are also our greatest opportunities, and instead of running from them, we ought to face them head-on.  I thought I'd share an excerpt.

Most of our problems are not circumstantial.  Most of our problems are perceptual.  Our biggest problems can be traced back to an inadequate understanding of who God is.  Our problems seem really big because God seems really small.  In fact, we reduce God to the size of our biggest problem.

 Tozer said a "low view of God...is the cause of a hundred lesser evils."  But a person with a high view of God "is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems."

 A low view of God and a high view of God are the difference between scaredy-cats and lion chasers.  Scaredy-cats are filled with fear because their God is so small.  Lion chasers know that their best thought about God on their best day falls infinitely short of how great God really is.

    I love the picture of Paul and Silus in Acts 16 after they've been beaten and imprisoned.  Not that part, of course, that part is terrible.  But there they are, and instead of questioning why God allowed this stuff to happen, they started worshiping Him.  And God caused an earthquake that made the doors all come open and all the prisoners' chains fall off.  When we respond in faith and worship, knowing our God is a big, faithful God, we open the way for Him to move powerfully in our lives.  Paul and Silus obviously had a big view of God, which allowed them to be lion chasers.  We know that after they got out of that prison, they certainly didn't sit back in fear.  They went on to face any other lions in their paths.

   Today, I am choosing to be a lion chaser.