Bold as Lions

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.  –Proverbs 28:1 

As I read the above verse I cannot help but reflect on a man in my neighborhood when I was a boy who owned a large Chow.  As you may or may not know, this breed of dog is long-haired.  I recall that during warm weather the man would have the dog’s hair clipped, and one year, for reasons known only to him, he had the dog’s hair trimmed to look like a lion.  He left a mane of hair around the dog’s neck and even trimmed the hair on the tail all the way down to the end.  That was a strange sight to behold, and the dog did indeed resemble a lion.  

The late comedian Jerry Clower must have observed something similar, for he once told the story of some people he knew who also owned a Chow and had the dog’s hair trimmed in a like manner.  As the story goes, a little boy who lived nearby saw the dog and told his mother that he had seen a lion.  The mother knew what had happened, told the boy to stop telling tales, and to pray about making up such outlandish stories.  A little while later the mother asked the child if he had prayed about this:

“Yes, I did,” the boy replied.

“And did the Lord give you an answer?” the mother asked.

“Yes, He did,” the boy said.  “The Lord told me that the first time He saw that dog He thought it was a lion too.”   

How often do we allow fear to rule in our hearts rather than vibrant faith in Jesus Christ?  The Lord has the power to drive fear, doubt, and uncertainty from our hearts.  This occurs when we trust Him regardless of what our eyes are seeing.  The tendency is to go by what we see, but we know that looks can be deceiving, right?  So often the problems loom before us, we become overwhelmed, and we focus on the situation rather than the power of God.  In the end we end up cowering in fear, and that is not where followers of Jesus Christ are to be.  Our calling in Jesus Christ is to rise up and go forward in faith regardless of how great the problems appear.  I was telling someone this just the other day, and I have to remind myself of it a lot: God is far greater than any problem we will ever face.  Through faith in Him we can have the victory. 

Move forward in vibrant faith; the kind of faith which the Scripture says makes us bold as lions.  So, what sort of problems are you facing today?  Do they appear to be overwhelming?  Look to the Lord, trust in Him, and move forward in strong and righteous faith. 

In Christ we have the victory.