Not a Tame Lion

My family and I recently visited Custer State Park in South Dakota.  It is located in the Black Hills, and the beauty of this natural landscape permeated each day of our trip.  Although the tourists had come out in full force to join us, we often found a spot here and there on our trip when it seemed to be just us and God's sprawling landscape.  It was truly a sight to behold.  

Custer Park contains one stretch of highway called the Wildlife Loop.  It is just what it claims to be; hundreds of acres of land dotted here and there with wild horses and bison.  As we traveled down this small highway, I could feel the anticipation from the rest of the family.  

"Would we see any wild buffalo today?" they commented from time to time.  As it happens, we were just about to give up after going around several more curves without seeing anything.  And then it happened.  Our SUV pulled over one last hill and we had to come to a quick stop - there were at least a hundred buffalo herded together across the road.  Cars were stopped all along the shoulder to take photos and watch intently.  

I began to get nervous as one large bull crossed in front of us and started licking the hood of the vehicle a few car lengths away!  A mother and her calf came close enough to my daughter's side of the car that she could have reached out and touched it.  I motioned to her to roll up the window quickly.  For some reason the button didn't work right away, so for a few seconds I began to sweat as the calf came closer and the window stayed down.  "When would it's mother decide to step in and protect her baby," I thought to myself.  Finally the button worked, and the window came up.  Not long afterward, the herd thinned out, and we continued down the road to the next adventure.  

It didn't occur to me until later, a flimsy car window would have been no match for a charging buffalo.  Although everything went well that day at the park, I'm willing to bet that from time to time, a tourist gets into trouble rather quickly.  It isn't a petting zoo.  Maybe people decide to feed the animals, or simply get too close.  Whatever the reason may be, it is by and large, an illusion of safety for those who visit the Wildlife Loop on any given day.  

When we shift to discuss spiritual matters, I find that many churches often talk very freely and comfortably about God.  In fact, maybe from time to time, we get a little too comfortable.  This is easy to do, especially sitting inside of a nice, climate controlled church building.  We tend to think that God must certainly see the world the same way we do.  But we don't know what it was like to be Moses up on Mt. Sinai as the Lord spoke to him in claps of thunder.  We will never know what it was like to be one of the Israelites who witnessed the parting of the Red Sea.  

Those stories have grown into comfortable childrens' fables and vacation Bible lessons.  But the fact remains they really happened, and so did other stories like them.  They depict God as mighty and Holy, and not someone you want to mess around with necessarily.

In the Narnia book series, author C.S. Lewis invents a protagonist named Aslan the Lion.  It is a direct connection to Jesus of Nazareth, couched ingeniously into a kid's novel.  In the books, Aslan is often seen protecting little Lucy, Edmund, and Susan from the clutches of the evil ice queen.  At one point in the book, Susan asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan is "safe" to hang around with.  Mr. Beaver replies by telling her, "Of course he isn't safe, but he is good.  He isn't a tame lion."

Lewis' implication here is that Jesus is good and he is loving, but we must come to him humbly and with awe.  God is sovereign above all things, and that includes us.  We cannot compartmentalize Him away into some kind of comfortable, fun uncle, any more than we can really control the weather or stop the Earth's tectonic plates from shifting.  It is God's universe, we just live in it.

I want to quote a piece of Scripture from a very old book in the Bible.  Scholars think that Deuteronomy was written sometime in the seventh century B.C.  One reason I feel comfortable using this Scripture in the here and now, is that Jesus often quotes Old Testament passages in the Gospels.  He makes the old new again, and this passage is no different.  It still applies to us today.  

Deut 6:16-19 says, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.  Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.  Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said."   

This Scripture comes shortly after Moses reminds the Israelites of the ten commandments in Exodus.  Massah refers to a point in time which the people pushed back in rebellion against Moses due to a lack of water in the desert, and is a reminder for them (and for us) not to test God.  This reference would have made perfect sense to the listener back then.  Instead, we must keep a healthy level of respect for Him and a certain level of awe in our hearts.   

Jesus bridges the sin gap that exists between us and God.  Indeed, the Bible mentions elsewhere that to fall into the hands of the living God can be a fearful thing without the covering and the blood of Christ.  Atonement is necessary in order for us to commune properly with God the Father.  Trusting Jesus in that way, allows the removal of barriers between an imperfect people and a Holy God.

From time to time, my job as pastor requires me to say unpopular things based on how I interpret the Scriptures.  Things that are often counter-cultural and politically incorrect.  When I need to prepare something that I know may draw rebuke from people, my mind goes back to the command from James chapter 3, verse 1.  It says, "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."  

If I know what the Bible says, I need to preach it in just the same way ... I dare not test the Lord on this matter.  He is just and He is good, but He is not a tame lion.  Best I think, not to get too comfortable when it comes to the being who created everything.  Even better to trust in His son Jesus, who sacrificed himself such that we can have eternal salvation. 

 

 

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