The Lion of Judah

My friend Jaime sent me a beautiful email.

The God outside of time. Such an interesting concept. I’ve often wondered if cause and effect to a human inside of time is related to cause and effect to the God outside it.

Maybe the relationship is not as it appears sometimes to us. And that could be one reason we are often confused by mysteries.

Things that aren’t as they appear?

A friend of mine came by recently. As we sat and talked he told me something revealing. He said:

There is a dark thing with me. It’s been around a long time. I don’t know how long. Because I didn’t realize it or what it was. But at some point looking back I can see when I did notice I was afraid and so I fought against it. But I wasn’t strong enough to overcome it so I tried something different. I ignored it. Avoided it. Distracted myself. Pretended it wasn’t real. That didn’t work. So then I started negotiating with it. I won’t do this thing or that thing just don’t hurt me. And then I became more and more isolated. Alone and afraid. And sometimes I wonder if I could ever wake up and it’s just not there? And then I realize that scares me too. It’s become such a long standing part of me I am not sure what life without the dark thing would be like

I wouldn’t know what to do. And then the fear—that it could return at any moment. So now I look forward trying to figure out … how do I function? Believing it will always be with me.

This was so spiritually insightful I was floored. As he talked about the thing he is so afraid of the thing he sees as his pain, I imagined being chained to a tormenting demon. A person without Jesus has no power over a demon.

I did not sense to pray with him at that time but to listen and let him know I hear him and he’s not alone. I care. And also oddly not to offer suggestions or hope or anything except the space to have his journey. Because I can’t fix this thing for him.

But as I prayed for him later I heard a different perspective. I do not know which one is the truth of his situation. But I heard the question … what if the dark thing is the Lion of Judah?

Always there waiting. A figure of wonderful terror and mystery. Looking like a dark beast to one whose eyes have no light. And my friend fights against it but he cannot make it go.

We all begin enemies of God. Then ignoring and distracting. The thing remains. Then negotiating. But the Lion will not take negotiations. He only accept all of us. Full Submission. And maybe my friend is now realizing the thing will never leave him while he’s alive and the question begins … what to do about it? In earnest.

Maybe my friend is about to meet the lion. Face his fears.

I don’t know. This is a mystery. But I know one thing for absolute sure: he needs a personal experience of the power and love of Jesus.

That is the answer if the thing is a tormenting spirit. And that is the answer if the thing is the Lion, waiting to kiss the scales off the dragon (like Eustace Scrubb in Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

Not my story. His own. The beloved.

I’ve been praying to see a resurrection. If this wounded, broken man, in many pieces and very alone, today came alive in Jesus, it would be a powerful witness indeed. May it be so, Lord.

Amen.

Lord, let those around us meet the Lion of Judah. Amen.

Rejoicing that all might come to the obedience that comes from faith,

Amy Joy

P.S. Jaime has arguably the world’s best book title: The Jael Finishing School for Ladies.