Like a Lion.

"This is what the LORD says to me:

'As a lion growls,

a great lion over its prey—

and though a whole band of shepherds

is called together against it,

it is not frightened by their shouts

or disturbed by their clamor—

so the LORD Almighty will come down

to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.'"

~ Isaiah 31:4 

A few days ago, one of my friends told me about a radio station that she had been listening to a lot lately.  Apparently, it always used to be one of the "old people" christian, talk show type radio stations, but it's become a lot more, well... not just for old people, I guess? Anyways, I turned it on and some lady was talking about Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia. When I went to bed that night, I turned on K Love and some guy was talking about how strong God is, and he brought up the comparison of a lion... again. Then, I fell asleep. The next morning I opened up the "Our Daily Bread" book that my coach's mom had given me, and the title of the devotions for the day was "Lion of Judah," and the scripture reading for the day was Isaiah 31:1-5 (verse 4 is up there ^ ).

Yeah, talk about a lot of lions, but I did  really need the reminder of God's strength. Not that I didn't think He was strong... but a good reminder of how strong is always nice.  A lot of times (especially when you're sick and struggling), people are always quick to remind you of how God is taking care of you and that He is holding you close.  That's awesome too, but when I think "gentle," "strong" isn't normally the first thing that comes to mind. The first part of Romans 16:20 says "The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet."  "The God of peace" and the idea of crushing Satan all in the same sentence reminds me of how He's gentle and strong. It's kind of funny, because the verse says that Satan will be crushed under my (or... whoever's reading it...) feet, but I'm not the one doing the crushing! That's something that only God can do. A strong God... who can be fierce when He needs to be.

I'm not trying to say that God isn't gentle. After all, when God told Elijah to go up on the mountain because He was going to "pass by;" a very strong wind, an earthquake, and fire went by... and God wasn't in any of them. God spoke in the "gentle whisper." Yes, we do have a gentle, loving God. But we also have a God who's weakness is infinitely stronger than our strength. A God who's fighting for His children.


... and that's what happens when lions keep popping up in everything that I try to listen to or read...