What’s Your Battle?

Bob A Clifton

A recent book I picked up has led me to a little nugget of scripture that I think is great. In 2 Samuel 23:20 it talks of a valiant fighter from Kabzeel named Benaiah. Benaiah is displayed in the bible as having some mighty feats. One of which is just part of verse 20. The text simply says “he also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.” Pretty simple, but let’s take a closer look.

First, what would it mean to kill a lion? We see a couple stories in the bible of a lion being killed by a lion, but this is not common activity today unless done from a distance with a gun in hand. Now I imagine perfect weather for killing lions would be 75 degrees, maybe partly cloudy so the sun does not create a glare while the lion is coming at you 35 miles per hour. Take note, Benaiah went down into a snowy pit. Snowy usually means slick. Slick, cold, and hungry lion do not sound like the challenge I am looking for these days. Benaiah was brave enough to not only kill a lion, but to step down into a slippery pit to get the job done.

Just camp out on this thought for a moment! If the lion is in a pit this means I got a pretty good shot at escaping. I will not have to kill anything to get on my way. Not that I know, but I can’t imagine lion is good food for the hungry. What a man’s man!

This led to his question he posed in the book; what kind of lion are you facing these days? Something in life you are looking at and thinking “no way”! There is no way I can take that on. I will stick to smaller battles and leave that one alone. Maybe stick to something you can do in your own strength. Could be something you have calculated and know that victory is inevitable. Possibly you are choosing many smaller battles so you stay busy and create the feeling that you are succeeding. What is your big battle right now?

A recent job transition has brought on a big battle for me. I have transitioned away from staying home with my two children to full time work. It has been over six years since I worked a full time job. My first thought was “piece of cake”. How hard can it be to go back to work, doing something that I love? Much bigger than I thought! I knew that I would miss my kids and I knew that it would have some difference in how I spent my time. I did not know that it would shake my world up to the degree it has.

A month ago I noticed that some of the things in life that I usually find enjoyable did not entertain me now. I had lost interest in reading and exercising. I was feeling checked out when I got home from work. Typically loving my time with my children had become a labor to engage them. Definitely not typical for someone that has enjoyed spending time with his kids for the last six years. I describe it as miniature depression. You can tell it is temporary, but at the same time have no clue how you got there.

I thought for a while that it will just disappear, but it wasn’t. I decided this weekend to step down into the snowy pit. I knew God had brought this into my life to raise something up and begin a healing process on it. As I invited God into this tough place I noticed him going after how I structure my time. See every other job I have had in the past has been very structured with a definite end goal to the day. My new current line of work allows more freedom. I noticed that Satan was using this freedom to fire up some guilt and shame. Frankly I just noticed! I could not see it for what it was early on.

No chicken soup story about walking out of this, but a step into the pit is what I sensed God wanting. Not that I have to win the battle today, but to step into the battle. Stepping into the battle allows God to go after something in my heart that only he can work on. I could choose a smaller battle and not allow God access to this tough place, but I saw what he wanted to go after.

So what’s the battle? Not the small battle, but the one that God will have to come through for you to win? Does he have a snowy pit that he wants you to step down into and face it. Take courage. Get some brothers around you and step into the battle.