Bold as a Lion

"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1, NKJV)

Let’s consider the king of the jungle! The lion may not be the largest, fastest, smartest, or most powerful animal, but when he shows up, every other animal knows it. He is the most majestic and respected animal in the jungle. The same should be said of the righteous in the Kingdom. Those who are righteous or in right standing with God may not always be the best or the brightest, but when they show up, they should grab the attention of the world. They should change the atmosphere, culture, and chaos of the world as they live as bold as a lion!

When examining the Proverbs 28 text above, you might notice that word “bold” in Hebrew is batah. Interestingly, this is the only place in the Old Testament where batah is translated as “bold.” Elsewhere, batah is actually translated into the word “trust.” In fact, one of the most well-known examples is…

Trust (batah) in the Lord with all your heart (inner being)
and lean not (rest not as a weapon of war) on your own understanding (reasoning);
In all your ways (course of life) acknowledge (know) Him,
and He shall direct (straighten) your paths (journey).
—Proverbs 3:5-7, NKJV

1) Boldness to Trust with All Your Heart!

True boldness is really about trusting the Lord with all our heart—placing Him on the throne every single day of our lives. Now, that sounds simple until God does something that we don’t ask for, think of, or imagine. Sometimes, God will put lots in the wrong slots or expand our borders and boundaries beyond our understanding. So, in those seasons of time, our heart must decide, “Will we have the boldness to trust in the Lord, or will we lean on our own understanding?” Will we reach the point of batah or not? Will we be as bold as a lion or hide in the jungle?

Allow me to affirm this for you today: When you trust in the Lord with all your heart, you win! When you lean on your own understanding, you lose! When you acknowledge Him and He directs your paths, you win! When you lean on your own understanding and you direct your own paths, you lose. One of the greatest challenges the righteous will ever face is having the boldness to trust Him with all their heart.

2) Boldness From The Inside-Out!

Have you noticed that everything about a lion looks bold? The way he walks and moves is bold. His majestic mane is bold. The way he opens his mouth and roars is bold. A lion’s teeth and claws look bold. Everything on the outside of a lion seems bold; yet, what really makes a lion bold is not what he looks like on the outside but who he is on the inside. It’s not his mane, teeth, or claws that make him bold; it is his heart. A lion is bold from the inside-out!

Have you noticed how our world continues to push us toward living from the outside-in rather than the inside-out? We live in an “outside-in” culture where we are constantly evaluated by how we walk and talk, what we wear and look like, and what we do! We live in a “points-driven culture.” If we do the right things, we get points. If we do the wrong things, we lose points. In whatever role we serve, we are judged and receive or lose points based on how others perceive our performance. I wonder what would happen in the Kingdom of God if we would be more concerned about the person than the points and God’s will more than our own preferences.

Fortunately, while everyone is looking at the outside, God is looking at the heart. God is placing “the who” before “the do.” God is more interested in our character than our competence... our nature more than our notoriety... our mission more than our position... We need less behavior modification and more soul sanctification! With the peer pressure and performance pressure happening all around us, to be as bold as a lion, we must be committed to having boldness from the inside-out.

The world we live in today is an enemy-occupied jungle, and we need more than a select few to show up. We need the righteous—those in right standing with God—to show up as bold as a lion! We don’t need to be the largest or fastest or smartest or most powerful beings in the jungle; we just need to be the hungriest. Lions aren’t feared because they’re the most qualified; they’re dangerous because they’re never satisfied. Catch the implications there: When you’re hungry, you pursue something! And if you’re not pursuing anything—if you’re not hungering and thirsting for righteousness—it might suggest that you’re already satisfied.

The devil will tempt us to lead a life that is reasonable more than powerful, comfortable more than uncomfortable, and on hold rather than bold! But if we will have a batah breakthrough, we will have the boldness to trust in the Lord with all our heart and live from the inside-out! When we encounter this enemy-occupied jungle, let us not approach only as the mildly interested but as bold as a lion!

Are you satisfied?