Warring Lions
“You’ve got a lion inside of those lungs.”
It is a lyric from Brandon Lake’s song, Gratitude, but it points vividly to the biblical concept of warring lions in your life—a concept I am confident is all too real for you.
The imagery of God’s Word is epic in the literal sense of the word. The big story of the Bible is one long and poetic narrative that folds together a myriad of smaller storylines that compliment and reinforce each other. One of those smaller and intensely descriptive components is that of warring lions.
You know the first lion well. It is the lion of 1 Peter 5:8: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
You have a very real enemy, and unless you take proper precaution, that enemy is lethally dangerous. His mission is to destroy you, and he is not stationary. He is on the move and actively pursuing you. He is looking for your weakness, and he aims to use it against you.
There are two very significant dangers here.
The first is pretending as though this lion doesn’t exist. It is ignoring the fact that your demise is seeking you out. It is failing to prepare for an encounter with this first lion.
The second danger is giving too much quarter to this first lion, because he is but a housecat compared to the Lion Who lives in you!
This second Lion, the Lion of Judah, is prophesied about in the opening pages of God’s epic (“You are a lion’s cub, Judah” – Gen. 49:9) and reveled in amid the closing pages of it (“See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed” – Rev. 5:5).
Make no mistake about it: There are two lions, and each is powerful. But my friend, the through line of this epic storyline is two-fold: 1) The first lion is of no consequence in the presence of the second triumphant Lion, and 2) The second Lion lives in you!
It is no wonder Proverbs 28:1 calls the righteous, “bold as a lion” (I told you warring lions is a biblical theme)! You, as one of the righteous, should be bold as a lion even as you are pursued by a dangerous enemy, and the reason for your boldness is because the Lion of Judah walks with you!
Yes, the enemy pursues. Yes, there is a lion around the corner and at the gate and in your path.
But it is not The Lion.
The Lion lives inside your lungs. Why the lungs? Because the power of The Lion is wielded through The Word that lives in and moves through you. Hebrews 4:12 describes it this way, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit.”
The power of The Lion lives in your lungs and is deployed when you speak the Truth of His Word into the world of lesser lions.
Do not pretend as though the first lion doesn’t exist. He does, and he is capable of destroying you if you don’t take proper precaution.
Even so, do not give that lion quarter or permission he is not due. Because The Lion lives in your lungs! Speak His truth and walk boldly as one of the righteous!
The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.