Roar

About three weeks ago, I saw in my mind a picture of a lion’s paw, and someone was pulling a thorn out of the paw. I’ve been pondering this: who is the lion? who pulled the thorn?

I mulled this over and shared it with my small group, and we talked about the Lion of Judah and such things. Then, the simplest sentence:

The daughter of a lion is a lion.

My friend Belinda, quoting an African proverb

Right. That’s me then. I do believe the paw and the thorn were mine – but I also believe that this is a word with wider application. The Lord is pulling a lot of thorns out of a lot of paws in this season and I’m sorry to tell you that the pulling part can be painful, and it can be kind of ugly. Sometimes you don’t realize there even is a thorn there – it’s been there so long, you’ve got used to it and adapted and built up a callus, or changed your gait, or maybe you sat down for a while – until He gets in there and uncovers the hurt.

I get a sense this is happening to many individuals, not just me, and that it is happening corporately, to groups, to families, to nations. Thorns are being shown, they’re being pulled, and He is setting things right.

We must see truly what, and where, we are before we can judge rightly where to place our foot. Lions weren’t made for cages, but we see in our lived experience that they can get used to them.

Arise and shake off your dust!      
Sit enthroned, Jerusalem!     
Break off your shackles of bondage from your neck,     
you captive daughter of Zion! 
Isaiah 52:2, The Passion Translation

There’s a note in the Passion Translation on the word shake:

“The Hebrew word (na’ar) means “shaking out (of a lion’s mane)” or “shaking up and down” and is a homophone for “to growl (like a lion’s roar)” (Jer. 51:38).”

This is just a little note, maybe even just to myself given the readership of this blog ?, although I have a feeling some other daughters of God need to hear it too – you have a voice, and you have authority over that voice, and you need to use it. Open your mouth, daughter of Zion, and declare the goodness of God. Speak life everywhere you go. Roar out healing over our nation and our world.