Snow Day
Snowpocalypse 2021 hit this week and it did not disappoint. With all the snow, it seems like everyone has been inspired by Isaiah 1:18. It’s an amazing passage. The brightness of the snow amplifies the thoroughness of God’s forgiveness. As much as I love that verse, I want to look at a different passage about snow in 1 Chronicles 11:22:
“Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion inside a pit on a snowy day.”
Benaiah was one of what Scripture calls the “Mighty Men.” These warriors helped establish David as King over Israel. We might think of these men as elite warriors, the marines or the special forces of that day. If you want an inspiring study, check out 1 Chronicles 11 and 2 Samuel 23 to learn more about their accomplishments. Benaiah himself has an impressive resume.
Scripture doesn’t provide too much detail about this struggle, only the barest facts about the setting and the outcome. To begin with, the conditions are horrible. A snowy day is not an ideal condition for anything except winter sports. This week’s snow reminded me of that. As I drove around on snowy roads, I often had to dodge other drivers whose approach to driving in the winter was basically “just floor it.” I watched my children slip while trying to walk across the yard simply because they lost traction. Yet, in spite of the snow, Benaiah faced down the lion. Benaiah’s courage wouldn’t let him back down from a challenge, even in adverse conditions. Our generation is so pampered and used to comfort and convenience I fear that we have very few like Benaiah among us who will stand and fight. Conditions will always be adverse in some way. Rather than looking for a perfect situation with no risk, Benaiah inspires us to seize the opportunities before us to make a difference.
Another thing I noticed about this passage is that Benaiah faced down this lion in a challenging place. A pit is not a location one enters voluntarily. Often victory cannot come without venturing down into a pit to face our enemy. Battles aren’t often fought in familiar places.
Finally, Benaiah’s enemy is the worst possible enemy he could face. Today we are used to seeing lions in a zoo where they are docile and almost domesticated. Lions in the wild are anything but. Lions can deliver 400 pounds of force with one swipe of their paw. They are incredibly agile and intelligent. They can cover ground at more than twice the velocity of even the fastest of humans. Yet, Benaiah emerged from this battle victorious.
Benaiah gives us a model today for courageous living. We don’t fight as he did with physical enemies. Our battle is spiritual. Our enemy, Satan, is leonine; he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But an eternal victory has been accomplished in Christ. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin, death, hell, and Satan. Through Jesus we have victory over sin and our adversary, the devil. Because of this fact, we do not have to live timid, passive lives that look as if Christ’s victory has escaped our notice. Let’s live like the mighty men (and women) we are in Christ!