Out of the Pit

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to hear Mark Batterson speak... twice! Mark is the author of the book, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day. I'd previously read the book, so I was very excited to 'hear' him in person. It was better than I imagined. I came away from both sessions with some thoughts that really hit the mark, but perhaps the most profound thoughts gave me some simple insight on how to 'attack' my fears, when they attack me.

I'm not altogether sure that I'll represent exactly what he said, but I know what I 'heard'. And it's something worth sharing. Mark said that insecurity is rooted in pride (ex: King Saul in 1 Sam 15). When I think about the bad connotation of 'pride', I think about how pride was the sin that caused the downfall of Satan, and the tool that he in turn used to trip up Eve in the Garden of Eden. Pride said, "Did God really say...?" (Gen. 3:1). It caused Eve to doubt God. Doubt leads to insecurity, and insecurity leads to fear. Therefore, doubt and fear actually attack my trust in God.

Doubt entices me to allow the wrong thoughts that feed the fear that God won't do what He said He'd do, or that maybe I heard Him wrong, or that perhaps He needs to build my character through calamity. Fear is a lie, lies are of the devil, and God has given us the assurance we have the abilty to 'fear not'. Furthermore, His Word promises that He will deliver us from our fears if we seek Him and ask Him to... I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears (Ps. 34:4).

And I do trust God... but, I need to remind myself of that. Batterson calls that being on 'offense' instead of on 'defense'. He points out that Satan wants to condition our emotional reflexes to the default setting of fear, failure, disappointment. God wants to re-condition them, to renew our mind, to restore our settings back to an earlier version. It's kind of what I do when my computer gets screwy... restore the settings to an earlier boot-up version, eliminate the faulty code (or whatever).

Batterson uses the illustration of Benaiah (2 Sam 23:20), who chased a lion (i.e. his fear) into a pit, face-to-face, where one of them wasn't going to come out alive. Benaiah won. We can't defeat our fear without facing it and attacking it. And then we can come out of the pit, more alive.

James 4: 6-8 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.