Through the Eyes of a Lion: Facing Impossible Pain, Finding Incredible Power

by Levi Lusko

When God opened Gehazi’s eyes to see the unseen, he still saw the enemy soldiers. They didn’t go away. Why was he no longer afraid of them? He now understood that the thing that had him surrounded was itself surrounded by God. So it always is.

There are people you get to talk to every day whom it would take a miracle for a preacher to get in front of. But for you it’s as effortless as sitting in second period or clocking in for an afternoon shift at your job. Lucky!

And though the Bible gives us the principles we need to live a life that honors God, it is no magic map. If it were, there would be no need for faith. There would be no need for God. You might feel lost or confused about where you are supposed to go or what you are supposed to do, but I challenge you to see that as a necessary part of the process.

We are all sinners, separated from God by the wrong things we have done. Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. He rose from the dead, defeating the power of death. If you turn from your sin and turn to him in faith, you will be forgiven and will receive everlasting life.

Amen!

We do a disservice anytime we try to rush people through the process of grief, as though it were spiritual to put a happy face on a horrible thing. Masking pain doesn’t heal it any faster; it actually slows it down and stunts your rehabilitation.

It is also crucial that you don’t wait for a crisis before you get these sorts of rhythms in place. You must train for the trial you’re not yet in. The worst time to try to get ready for a marathon is when you are running one.

That’s why the author of Hebrews warned Christians to not fall into the bad habit of missing church (Hebrews 10:25). Satan wants us separated from the pride so we are easier to pick off.

The devil is all over bread and circuses. It’s his favorite. He wants you to give up what Christ died for you to have, and he knows that if he can distract you, he can destroy you.

This destruction by distraction is difficult to detect when it’s happening, because it doesn’t involve bad things but good things that take the place of the most important things.

The devil wants to steal your power and neutralize your impact. His goal is to trick you with the trivial and get you to spend your life focused on the superficial, so that you are kept from your calling and deprived of your destiny.

When you run from things that scare you, you move toward danger, not away from it. If you fail to face your fears, they will always be right there behind you. You must suppress the little voice inside that’s telling you to get out of Dodge. It is not your friend. When you feel that panicky fight-or-flight sensation and you want to run away, do the opposite. Run toward the roar. You have come into the kingdom for just such a time as this (Esther 4:14).

You can’t ignore fear, but you don’t have to let it control you. I guarantee you David’s pulse thundered like a war drum in his chest, and everything in him urged him to retreat, but he still hustled toward the giant. True bravery isn’t feeling no fear—it’s being afraid and moving forward anyway.

I know this for sure: Turning your back on the roar will feel good in the moment. You will feel a euphoric giddiness once you have put some distance between yourself and the lunacy you were considering. Cooler heads prevailed, you will think as you wipe the dust off your hands and prepare to return to business as usual. But hiding in the thicket, far from the sound of the wild calling you are meant to pursue, is a far more sinister opponent you didn’t even know was there: death. The death of the dreams God planted deep down inside you. The death of the life you were born to live. Like a slow leak in your tire that saps your ability to drive your car, you will have robbed yourself of the opportunity to stare down something that scared you. Live this way long enough, and the muscles of your faith will eventually atrophy.

Yes, running toward the roar can be excruciating, and there are no guarantees. It’s also possible to misjudge the direction of the roar you are trying to run toward. It could be a dead end. When you live a life of faith, there are going to be questions that have no answers, because for there to be faith, there has to be mystery. That’s just life in the deep end. It would be nice if we could have the safety of the shore and the potential of the open ocean at the same time, but that’s not how it works. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you want to catch fish you have to launch out where the fish live.

Warren Weirsbe, the author of the profound book On Being a Servant of God, once said, “It’s not ability God is looking for but availability.” Too often we are full of ourselves; God can use us only when we offer him our emptiness.

Humble hearts to be guided