If I knew there was a man that lived down the street that hated my family and was hell-bent on our destruction it would, obviously, cause me to be quite unsettled. It would radically change the way that we lived our lives and our level of comfort.
One thing that I like to do is pray through the Psalms and occasionally insert my wives name into the I, me, or we sections. It helps me to pray the Psalms over her. When I did that this morning to Psalm 17:10-12 it really hit home:
They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly. They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground. He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush.
That is a pretty apt view of my family from the perspective of hell. This hellish army is indeed like a “lion eager to tear”. To think that the forces of hell desire to devour my dear son Isaiah, my precious daughter Hannah, and my beloved wife Nikki, drives me to my knees in prayer.
I know that there is only One that is powerful enough to protect them from this “eager lion”; namely the Greater Lion—the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. So I pray with David:
“Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him!”
Christ has indeed done just that. He has conquered and rescued His sheep from this devouring lion. And now I must pray that the Lord would see fit to draw my children to Himself, so that they too might find refuge in the Greater Lion, and will ultimately “be satisfied with [His] likeness”.
