In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day (Multnomah Books, 2006)
The author of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark Batterson, is the founding pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D. C. Pastor Batterson bases the book on 2 Samuel 23:20-21, where Benaiah seizes opportunity by the mane and emerges victorious in the titled encounter. Right from the onset, the author shares one of his core convictions: God is in the business of strategically placing us in the right place at the right time. However, often we see things from a conflicting viewpoint- that we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s because God-o0rdained opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions.
When we react in fear, we interpret our problems as circumstantial rather that perceptual. We subsequently reduce God to the size of our biggest problem. Unlike human endeavors that are ranked by degrees of difficulty, nothing is too big or too small for God. The greatest breakthroughs in life, Pastor Batterson emphasizes, come when we push through fear. It is counterproductive to ask God to get us out of difficult circumstances, but highly profitable to ask Him what he wants us to get out of those circumstances. In spite of our external circumstances, worship is praising God even when we don’t feel like it due to our anxiety. Faith, then, doesn’t reduce uncertainty- faith embraces uncertainty!
God is in the business of having us cross paths with the right people at the right time. These God-ordained opportunities, or providences, typically start out as mustard seed opportunities and may also come disguised as insurmountable problems. If we cave into conformity with worldly expectations and standards, we inevitably settle for something less than God intended for us. One indication or dimension of spiritual growth is coming to terms with who we are and who we aren’t. For we have been created by a limitless God to have limitless dreams and imaginations.
