Benaiah - Mighty Man of God- Pt. 3

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a brave fighter from Kabzeel who did mighty things. He killed two of the best warriors from Moab. He also went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day. Benaiah killed an Egyptian who was about seven and one-half feet tall and had a spear as large as a weaver s rod. Benaiah had a club, but he grabbed the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. 1 Chronicles 11:22-23

The lion is the most dangerous of the three enemies. There is a reason that the Lion is called the king of beasts. The typical male lion is between 350 to 500 pounds of muscle. It is 3 ½ feet tall and 9 feet long from the nose to the tail. With one blow of his paw he can smash the human skull, one of the strongest bones in our bodies. With his jaws he can bite through any bone in the human body.

Not only did Benaiah meet a lion but he met it in the worst possible place: in a pit. A place where you are very close to it and there is no escape. But not just in a pit: in a pit on a day when the snow had fallen. I imagine Benaiah’s anxiety as he faced this lion in such close proximity. His footing was slick. Trying to grip his weapon, his hands were red with the numbness of the cold. The glare of the sun in his eyes forced him to squint to see. The worst possible foe, in the worst place, under the worst circumstances.

Yet, he won! How? The answer is in the man, his deeds simply revealed what he already was. He was already a mighty man of valor. These deeds simply made it clear to everybody else that he was that kind of man.

Peter tells us, “Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” The Devil, like a Lion, has tremendous authority and power and he is seeking someone to devour.

All of us have a Lion in your life? Lucifer is real. But don’t make the mistake of thinking about a little red imp with a trident he carries to poke you with. Lucifer is a dark and evil angel with one agenda your complete destruction.

You say ok, so there is an evil spirit, an evil angel that was thrown out of heaven like a drunk is tossed out of a western saloon. Why would he want to hurt me? The answer is that he doesn’t care about you he wants to hurt God and you are one of God’s favorite kids.

We all have enemies that we are afraid to meet. It may be something you are afraid of or something you fear might happen: a physical disease, a crushing disappointment, the loss of a loved one, financial ruin, or failure.

Let’s stand against our adversary the devil, slap him in the face and utterly destroy his attacks against us!