On a snowy day
By Keith Williamson Special to the Sentinel

Are you familiar with the story of Benaiah? The Bible tells of three incredible achievements of his in 1 Chronicles 11:22-23.

He slew two lionlike men of Moab. Lionlike means large and violent. One would have been enough, but he killed two at the same time.

He went down and slew a lion in a pit on a snowy day. Most would have run away from a lion, but not Benaiah. Instead he fought him in a pit where there was no escape. To make matters worse, it was slippery because of the snow. Just fighting a lion in conditions like that is significant, but please note Benaiah won.

And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear. And we give David so much credit for fighting Goliath. At least David had a weapon. Benaiah basically had a walking stick!

The story illustrates some important things about the Christian life. It is not easy and there are times when you will have to do some things you'd rather not. But don't run away from the challenges because they're difficult. God may have placed you there for a specific reason.

The Bible contains so many stories that it is easy to miss the significance of some of the smaller ones. Benaiah's is one of them. I recently encountered it through a book a friend of mine recommended - "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day How To Survive And Thrive When Opportunity Roars" by Mark Batterson.

I too highly recommend this book. You may have your own lion to fight. You may not want to do battle for various reasons. But with God there really are no excuses. Sometimes, the best thing to do with lions is

to crawl in the pit with them even if it is snowing.