The Lions in the Path

Proverbs 22:13 “The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.”

 Although it may be that some of the lions mentioned in Proverbs 22:13 are imaginary, many of them are real, at least in a metaphorical sense. When a man decides to plow a field, he must first overcome the lion of slothfulness, and then the lion of stones, cut hands, and hardship, until he at last reaps his fruits.

There are many lions which separate us from our goals. Among the chief of these lions are these: pride, anger, and complacency. The lions are real, and they are there. He that does not believe they exist, and walks on through that street without your sword drawn, you will be torn in pieces. If you are afraid of these lions, and stay back because of them, you will be like an adventurer cowering at the edge of the mountain pass, knowing he must go over or die, and yet being afraid to go, he stays, and he dies.

All men have lions in their paths, large lions, strong lions, lions that, if not defeated, will devour them. They cannot all be fought the same way, but they must all be fought with the same weapons.

In John Bunyan's classics work Pilgrim's Progress, his hero, Christian, is making his way down the narrow path when he sees two lions in the path, he is frightened, until the warder shouts to him that the lions are chained and are placed there to test faith. Although not all lions are imaginative, Christ, the king of kings can overcome the king of the beasts.

Through His Strength We Will Conquer,

Andrew C. Abbott