The Lion Was the Lamb

Your gentleness made me great.
(Psa 18:35)

As you know, these words were penned by David and reveals a true understanding of God’s nature. I think you would agree that David was truly a great man of the Old Testament. I would go as far to say he was great even in the whole world. He stands among the heroes of humanity. Yet in any period of David's life there seems to be an abundance of variation. At times he was hunted like a deer in the field or found running from God after the Bathsheba incident. He suffered from the hands of treacherous friends and grieved heavily in the death of his son Absalom. After all that, he penned the verse mentioned above. I think he wrote this verse after looking back over his life and what stood out as the brightest points in his life was the unfailing gentleness of God and not the inflictions of heavenly punishment. By the way, God had chastised him and sometimes heavily.

The amazing thing about this, to me, if you stop and consider, is that what struck David was the GENTLENESS of God. And with all sincerity and fullness of heart he says “Thy Gentleness hath made me great”

Can we relate to this as David did?

I think we would feel, down in your toes kind of feeling, the wonder of the gentleness of God when we remember his gentleness is joined with real POWER. I mean at the back of God’s gentleness is INFINITE power. On the other hand there is a type of gentleness that is pathetically weak and coward. I see this kind of gentleness in people who avoid offending in an attempt to remain in good standing with everyone. But the wonder of God’s gentleness is not from interior weakness, but rests upon a heart of Omnipotence.

You may recall Revelation 5. Where the elder was telling the apostle John about the Lion of the tribe of Judah. This of course was symbolic of Jesus. But when John looked trying to see the Lion on the throne, instead there was a lamb. Power was compassion, Dominance was tenderness, Strength was gentleness—THE LION WAS THE LAMB.

It is the wonder of the gentleness of God.

A Modern Parable

I heard the below story years ago and have since re-read it in The Art of Personal Evangelism by Will McRaney. It is a Christmas story of sorts and a wonderful analogy of why God became a man!

There was a man who was married to a good Christian. He, however, was a non-believer. He never went to church. One Christmas Eve, his wife took the children to church, while the man stayed home. He lit a fire in the fireplace, filled his pipe, pulled a good book from the shelf, and settled into his favorite chair, a steaming cup of coffee beside him. Boy, could I see myself doing that!

After a while, there came a tapping at his window. The man looked up, and saw a sparrow on the sill, outside. He figured the bird would leave, so he went back to his reading. Tap, tap, tap. He looked up, and saw two sparrows, and the first snow flurries. Still, no cause for concern. They’ll go away soon.

Tap, tap, tap. This time, there were several birds, and the snow was coming down heavier. The man was starting to get concerned. The birds were in danger of freezing. Well, not his problem. He went back to his book.

Tap, tap, tap. Now, there was a whole flock of sparrows, and a blizzard was howling outside. This would not do. These birds needed shelter, and quickly. The man struggled into his boots, shrugged on his coat and headed out to the barn. He opened the barn doors wide, turned on the lights, and thought “This will save them. They will see the light, and fly to the safety of the barn.” He went back inside.

Soon, another tap, tap, tap. More sparrows. More snow. The temperature was dropping. “This won’t do at all.” the man thought to himself “I will leave a trail of food to the barn. They will follow the path to the light, and be saved.” So, once again, he put on his coat and trudged outside.

Back in the house, the man watched the sparrows huddled on his sill. They just didn’t get it. He thought: “If only I could be one of them, I could lead them toward the light and salvation.” At that moment, the man suddenly understood why God sent His son to us.

Silence!

A close personal friend challenged a group of men this weekend with a simple exhortation when leading small group ministries: "do not fear the silence".
Upon reflection this is a real challenge. I've noticed often when we speak about our feelings, ideas, innermost thoughts we do so as if everyone were interested in them; and after bearing our souls how often do we really feel understood? We can speak tons about God, who God is and otherwise everything religious, but how often does it bring us or anyone else real insight? Have you ever noticed that words often leave you with a sense of inner defeat? So many words can create a sense of numbness and a feeling of being bogged down in a deep muddy hole, or wore out as after completing a marathon. There is wisdom in silence.

"When the door of the steam bath is continually left open, the heat inside rapidly escapes through it; likewise the soul, in its desire to say many things dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good. Thereafter, the intellect, though lacking appropriate ideas, pours out a welter of confused thoughts to anyone it meets, as it no longer has the Holy Spirit to keep its understanding free from fantasy. Ideas of value always shun verbosity, being foreign to confusion and fantasy. Timely silence, then, is precious, for it is nothing less than the mother of the wisest thoughts."
--Diadochus of Photiki

Train Up a Child

“ Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not turn away from it” Prov 22:6

Some friends and I were relating thoughts on people, the way we are all unique, and I mentioned the verse above. I believe this verse has been horribly misunderstood. The erroneous thinking or meaning from the verse is “ Mom, Dad you should saturate your kids lives with church, bible studies, and youth groups. If you want them to grow up right, keep them in fellowship, and worship services and they will never depart from the faith!!”
I admit this may not be a bad thing to do; we Dads & Moms could fair much worse. But, this is not the true meaning of the verse. “The way he should go” does not refer to a Christian path to be followed, but it speaks specifically to the child’s own way. Moreover, it is referencing the child’s innate leaning or his [or her] own natural bent.
It is interesting to read the Ryrie study bibles notes on Proverbs 22:6
“The way he should go” means according to the “child’s habits and interest. The instruction must take into account his own individuality and inclinations, his personality, the unique way God created him, and must be in keeping with his physical and mental development.”

To the Apostle Paul our individual uniqueness was part of God’s design. In 1 Cor 12 he explains that as members of the church we are the body of Christ, each with talents, and abilities that differ from one another in complementary ways.

An Old Commandment Understood In a New Way

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34

I was pondering over these verses and it wasn't until today that Jesus' words "New Commandment" created a problem for me. Loving one another is not a new commandment!!

We don't have to go back very far to find it; only two thousand years earlier we find the command "You Shall Love thy Neighbor as yourself". Lev 19:18. (see right there it is )
I was stumped until I read the next verse. Perhaps it is a "New Commandment" in the sense that what is new is we are now to stand out as Jesus' Disciples by the way we love one another. I could be wrong here, but what made the Jews stand out was in their practicing Jewish Festivals and sacrifices and they inherited the "Land". So what now characterizes the Christian as a, real disciple of Jesus, is not in how he practices his religion or what country he is affiliated with, but by how much he loves his brother(s). Possible?

That being said, I wonder if a problem we have with loving our brother is not that he commits evil acts. We all agree with these in the sense that we've either committed the same evil act or at least thought about it. I wonder is it for the good deeds that our brother commits that we tear him apart (metaphorically speaking). While considering that, ponder the reason behind the Death of Abel (Gen 4). Cain hated and killed his brother because of the good that he did and not due to some evil act.

"Fellowship is the sharing of the divine life and communion of the father and the Son"
R.W. Orr

Well said Mr. Orr. In my own words I would add ; Discipleship is modeling the divine life by sincerely loving the Father, the Son, and one another.

Passion Reborn?

When I consider how my life is spent
The most that I can do will be to prove 'Tis by his side, each day, I seek to move.
To higher, nobler things my mind is bent
Thus giving my strength, which God has lent, I strive some needy souls' unrest to soothe
Lest they the path of righteousness shall lose.
Through fault of mine, my Maker to present.
If I should fail to show them of their need
How could I hope to meet him, face to face, Or give a just account of all my ways
In thought of mind, in word, and in each deed
My life must prove the power of His Grace By every action through my living days
----Nelle Reagan (God and Ronald Reagan pg 48)

Nelle most likely re-wrote this from John Milton's poem as it seems to have a similar beginning.

She went on to say:
"You can be too big for God to use, but you cannot be too small"

Ronald Reagan's mother had a passion for God and "she planted that faith very deeply in me (her son)"

I too want my children to be passionate about the "things of God". This is a challenge for me today. Especially when my own relationship with God, at times, seems to have all the passion of yesterdays oatmeal. I would love to demonstrate to my children how not to be afraid to offend when standing firm against everything worldly, and to never cease from hungering and thirsting for righteousness. How can we hunger and thirst if we have ceased from these pursuits altogether?

We castrate the gelding and bid him be fruitful
--CS Lewis

THE CALL

"Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. "
Mark 2:13-14

It is enlightening to see Levi's response to this call. Notice, when called, Levi didn't make a confession of faith in Jesus, instead Levi responded with immediate obedience--he followed.

Some commentaries I've skimmed over on this section suggest Levi had a prior knowledge of Jesus. The biblical text is silent on this important point as it is also silent on the psychological reasons for this man's or any man's decision to follow Christ. All I know from the text is there was a call by Jesus which was met by immediate obedience on the part of Levi. Whether, Levi had an understanding of who Jesus was prior to the call is simply not known. To this point, Bonhoeffer, with inspired wisdom, makes the statement; "the simple reason behind Levi's immediate following in obedience is Jesus Christ Himself. It is Jesus who called, and because it is Jesus Levi follows at once."

I noted also that Levi was not told where he was going, what he would be doing, or what to bring with him. There was no mention of how long he would be gone. Jesus did not offer how he should follow or in what manner to come after Him. He wasn't told to crawl, walk or run; he simply followed. There was no billboard or neon sign explaining what to do or how to do it. No instructions on the pattern of life he should live while he followed. He simply must follow Jesus.

What a model for us today! Instead of looking for our personal & specific miraculous message from God telling us what to do next, we with immediate obedience blindly follow our Risen Savior.

Growing up, I struggled with pulpit preachers and college professors making such statements without explaining the application. So, here is my "unlicensed" understanding of what it means to follow Christ. It means leaving everything behind you become contented in Christ alone to the point of absolute adherence to God's Son.

"There is an absolute, direct, and unaccountable authority of Jesus. No need of preliminaries and no other consequence but obedience to The Call."

-Dietrich Bonehoeffer "Cost of Discipleship"

(Painting by Casper David Friedrich)