JOINING THE LIONHEARTED
Proverb 28:1 NKJV
1 The wicked flee when no one pursues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.
If I have my history correct, King Richard of England was the one they nicknamed the lionhearted. He gained this nickname for his military skills and courage. You must admit it’s a good nickname for a king. Much better than being known as the flower petal or squirrel hearted.
Lions have long been lauded for their bravery. They are referred to as the king of beasts. And in our verse for today, the righteous are placed in the same category. The righteous are bold as a lion. And there is a contrast made between those who are wicked and those who are righteous. The wicked are afraid even so far as running when no one is chasing them.
There are two ways we can look at the term righteous. Righteous, according to my bible dictionary, is considered to be right or just because of conformity to a standard. Before Jesus, man tried to be righteous before God, but the Scripture confined all under sin, and man’s righteousness was not sufficient. But thank God for His work through Jesus. Now, all who accept Him as their Lord and Savior are made righteous before God. This is a righteousness given through God’s grace, not man’s efforts.
Now that we have been made righteous before God through faith in Jesus, we can have confidence with God. We’ve been made His righteousness, so in knowing we are right with Him, we have a marvelous reason to not be afraid. Not only are we not running, we are bold as a lion. Another word for bold is confident. Lions are confident they can handle anything coming their way. Because God is for us and with us, we can handle anything coming our way, and we are confident.
The second application of righteous is referring to how we live before God. The apostle John stated in 1 John 3:21 that if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence toward God. We have been made right with God and enabled to live right before God. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:24 that we are dead to sin so that we might live for righteousness. This is not being perfect but living according to all that we know to do. As we do, our hearts are confident toward God. And if we are confident toward God, then we can be bold as a lion.
Conversely, not being right with God and consistently living outside of His will and ways leads to a lack of confidence. Those who choose to live this way have a sense of dread waiting for the other shoe to drop. Living outside of God’s grace opens the door to more fear.
Made right with God in order that we might live right before Him and join the ranks of the lionhearted.
PRAYER
Thank You, Lord, for what You have done for me. You have enabled me to live confident before You and confident in life.