And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. (I Chronicles 11:22 ESV)
Circumstances Shmircumstances
Benaiah was a tough guy. He fought enemy heroes. He fought an Egyptian Giant. But the episode of Benaiah and the lion shows a particular aspect of this fighting man.
We do not know much about the two enemy heroes, or the circumstances of the fights. We do not know much about the circumstances of Benaiah’s fight with a Giant, other than that Benaiah overwhelmingly won. A skeptic might ask, “did someone distract the heroes or the Giant?” A cynic might query, “was trickery involved?” A doubter might wonder, “If we could have seen all the circumstances, we might see that those fights were less amazing…”
But this lion-fight was fought in horrible circumstances… and Benaiah still won.
If a human has to fight a lion, the last place you would want to be is in a pit. Nowhere to hide, or use footwork, or outsmart the lion. And the recent snow would make Benaiah’s situation even worse. Messy, unsure footing. Cold, unpleasant weather.
About as bad a set of circumstances that one could imagine, in which to fight a lion.
But because the Mighty Men depended on God… circumstances didn’t matter.
Our King, Jesus, is just as sovereign over circumstances.
No matter how circumstances are laid against you… we modern Mighty Men and Wonderful Women of God are not overcome!
Those circumstances, no matter how real, or hard, or scary, or rough, or insurmountable… are nothing compared to God.