My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”
Daniel 6:22 ESV
When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den God chose to shut the mouths of those terrifying beasts so that they could not harm him. Talk about a miraculous, supernatural intervention!
I got to thinking about that as I pondered the current state of the world. All around us, lions are roaring. We hear them on the news, on social media, on the job, and even in the marketplace. It’s hard to ignore the roar.
The enemy is skilled in the art of distraction, isn’t he? If he can’t stop us completely, he’ll just distract us with a loud, fake roar, intended to throw us off-course and make us lose our focus. He’s the king of chaos, and knows just what to do to propel believers into confusion and fear.
The Bible calls him “the enemy of our souls who comes to steal, kill, and destroy” and that’s a more-than-adequate description! He is the “roaring lion” whose voice is trying to steal our joy, our peace, and our hope and we need to remain aware of his tactics so that we can adequately tune him out.
There’s another lion. . .
One we read about in Revelation 5: “One of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and His mouth is wide open, too. Only, He’s not speaking words of chaos and confusion. He’s saying, “Come to me, all of you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
This is quite the opposite from our enemy, isn’t it?
To fully see the contrast, check out John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
What a contrast! One lion brings chaos, death, hopelessness. The other brings life…and that to the full! There is abundant life for those who follow the lion of the tribe of Judah, so the choice today is clear. Follow hard after the Lion who promises life.
Challenging Thought: Which roar will you listen to?
Read more devotions like this one in a new book Janice co-authored with Louise Looney titled An Overcoming Walk of Peaks and Valleys, now available on Amazon!
