Lion Patrol

Christians frequently talk about the joys of doing God's Word. How swell it all is. When we follow God's Word the birds sing sweetly, the sun shines brightly, the temperature rises to 73. All is well.

The only way you can possibly have this view is if you have no idea what God says.

Imagine you're out walking one day and a guy comes up to you, claiming to speak for God, and tells you to smite him with a sword. "Um, what?"

"Go ahead, hit me."

"I don't think so. Why would I do that? Sorry man, find someone else." That's what I'd say.

1 Kings 20 has this scenario in it. The guy refuses to nail the prophet. The prophet turns around and says "Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee."

Guess what? The guy leaves and a lion eats him. He gets eaten by a lion for not listening to God's Word! He refuses to hit a prophet with a sword and gets eaten by a lion. Good grief, God! A lion?!

That's a tough one to wrap the mind around. I don't care about your "grace didn't show up to the NT" theory either, doesn't matter. A lion eats him for not hitting a prophet?!

David got mad at God for smiting Uzza for reaching out to steady the ark. It's tough stuff. Perhaps we forget how serious God is about this whole faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God deal.

Watch out for lions.