Bold as a lion? (Day 28, Proverbs)

Proverbs 28:1
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

Do we play it too safe?

When’s the last time you were as “bold as a lion?”

Benaiah was so bold as one that he went head to head with a lion, and won (2 Samuel 23:20). Mark Batterson urges us to similar boldness and action in his book in In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day:

Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what’s wrong. We’re called to chase lions. ... Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right.

If we really believed in the bigness of our God, would we be so timid? Batterson says,

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 our God seems really small. In fact, we reduce God to the size of our biggest problem.

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.

We often avoid risks because we’re afraid of messing up. But missing out is also risky, sometimes more so.

Tim Challies reviews Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung today on his blog. Here, too, the encouragement is act. Too much unhealthy fear of doing the wrong thing usually leads to doing no-thing.

“Put aside the passivity and the quest for complete fulfillment and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future, and for God’s sake start making some decisions in your life. Don’t wait for the liver-shiver. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be in God’s will, so just go out and do something.” ~ Kevin DeYoung

Bold as a lion? I’m not there yet. Maybe just one species above a housecat. But the more I learn of God (“He is not a tame lion” C.S. Lewis), the braver I can be.

Psalm 27:1
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Proverbs 14:26
"In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge."