A Face Like a Lion

Last night I had the opportunity to speak to a men’s banquet for a little church north of Bastrop. The event grew out of the church’s Friday morning men’s gathering that began 18 months ago. The banquet included the men of the church and their wives, the Pledge of Allegiance, a church update from one of their leaders, some great entertainment (when was the last time you heard a killer rendition of Nancy Sinatra’s Summer Wine sung at a church event?) and me.

The moment I stood to speak I knew that what I had planned on saying was all wrong. That happens sometimes. So I said a prayer, asked the Lord for guidance and tried to follow his Spirit by simply encouraging and affirming their church and specifically, their men.

I had intended to talk on one of my favorite verses:  From the Gadites there came over to David in the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, and whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains, (1 Chronicles 12:8). I love that description of David’s mighty men. I have taught on it many times and prayed it for me, my son and many of my friends more times than I can count.

God didn’t let me teach on it, but that didn’t mean I was through with the verse for the evening. After the event one of the younger men walked up to me. I pegged him to be mid-forties, which tells you the overall age of the guys in the church. He grabbed my hand and thanked me for what I had shared. Then I got a good look at his face, and especially his eyes. They were filled with tears, but there was something behind the tears. I think it was fire. I think it’s what the verse was trying to describe when it said that David’s mighty men had faces like lions.

I have a hard time describing a face like a lion, but I know one when I see one. I saw one in this guy. He had a fierceness, a determination, a focus that I don’t often see. Behind the tears I saw a resolve. It’s the resolve you see in a guy’s face when he has crossed the line of reserve and has moved to the point of abandon.

You see it when the guy says that he’s going to break his porn habit, no matter what it costs.

You see it when a guy is committed to living on the moral and ethical high road, even if it costs him his job.

You see it when a guy has decided to stop running from God and has determined to practice radical obedience.

For the guy last night, I think it was the look of a man who had just seen the potential of a group of men that sell out to Jesus, and his determination to be at the front of the pack.

I told the guy what I saw in his eyes. I told him I’d seen that look before–the fierceness, the hunger, the determination. I told him it’s like looking through one set of eyes (his) into another (Jesus’). That guy is going to have some impact.

Friends, we need men with eyes like that. As the men of a nation go, so goes the nation. Too many men have stars in their eyes, or worse. I pray daily for a generation of men who will embrace the call to be a 1 Chronicles 12:8 mighty man–

Men who know how to fight–spiritually and not through their own flesh
Men who are skilled in the weapons of a mighty man–in prayer, worship, fasting and the use of God’s Word
Men with the fierceness and ferocity of a lion
Men who are surefooted and don’t easily stumble over the daily temptations of sin
Men who are ready to stand for their King–the Lord Jesus–even if it costs them everything

Oh God, give us a nation of men like that. I think he’s got a good start with a guy in a little church just north of Bastrop.