Book review edited: In
the Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day Mark Batterson, Multnomah Books, 2006
The book title and theme for In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, by Mark Batterson, Multnomah
Books, 2006, comes from the story of Benaiah from 2 Samuel 23:20-21. Benaiah
was “greater than any of the other” of David’s 30 mighty men of valor. “He performed great exploits.” His model becomes Batterson’s standard for
valiant Christian disciples. Batterson
is an innovative Christian minister in Washington DC. He is known for his risk-taking and
non-traditional approaches to discipleship and some will be put off by his
challenge to the kind of risk-taking Benaiah exhibited. But Batterson’s “divergent thinking,” which
he defines as “intellectual originality, creative counterintuitive thoughts and
thinking outside the box” (p.150) should
be given serious consideration by Christian leaders and lay people today.
Excerpts:
“God given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating
lions…We can cower in fear and run away from our greatest challenges. Or we can chase our God-ordained destiny by
seizing the God-ordained opportunity” (p.14).
The church has fixated on sins of commission – the don’ts, a holiness of
subtraction. This is ‘reactive’
Christianity. But God is looking for
people ‘who face their fears and chase their dreams…Lion chasers don’t let
their fears or doubts keep them from doing what God has called them to do” (pp.15-16).
“Too often our prayers revolve around asking God to reduce the odds in
our lives. We want everything in our favor. But maybe God wants to stack the
odds against us so we can experience a miracle of divine proportions” (p. 24).
“Most of our problems are not circumstantial. Most of our
problems are perceptual. Our biggest problems can be traced back to an
inadequate understanding of who God is…The more we grow, the bigger God should
get. And the bigger God gets, the smaller our lions will become…God is ordering
your footsteps…God has considered every contingency in your life…That sense of
destiny rooted in the sovereignty of God helps you pray the unthinkable and
attempt the impossible” (pp. 28,29, 30, 31). “God isn’t interested in our problem
reduction (where most of our prayers are centered.)” (p.62). “God just wants
the opportunity through impossible situations or problems to show His character
for His glory. “Sometimes the biggest problems present the greatest
opportunities for God to reveal His glory and work his purposes…Maybe we need
to quit praying safe prayers” (pp. 64-65).
“Satan has 2 primary tactics when it comes to neutralizing
you spiritually – discouragement and fear.
He wants you to focus on past mistakes you’ve made. That’s why he is
called the accuser of the brethren. He
also wants to put you on your heels so you become reactive and defense. That’s
why he’s described as a prowling lion” (p.51).
“Lion chasers are more afraid of lifelong regrets than
temporary uncertainty…Embracing uncertainty is one dimension of faith (p.81). “Part of us wants God to take us to a 3
act play with a clearly defined plot that has a beginning, a middle and an end.
But Jesus takes us to the Improv instead. We want the entire script up front
but that would undermine our dependence upon the Holy Spirit.” (p.90).
“Two Cornell social psychologists (Tom Gilovich and Vicki Medvec) found that over the long term as
people look at their lives as a whole, inactions and regrets outnumber action
regrets 84% to 16% (p.116). “Lion chasers refuse to live their lives in a
defensive posture. They are actively looking for ways to make a difference” (p.121). “Life
is full of what I call ‘one small step, one giant leap’ moments. These are the
experiences that forever change the trajectory of our lives” (p.105).
“Taking a risk to follow God’s leading will be that tipping point for
all God can do. Obedience is a
willingness to do whatever, whenever, wherever God call us” (p.109).
“Dreams usually start out as mustard seed opportunities… Our
ultimate destiny is determined by whether or not we seize the God-ordained
opportunities presented to us” (p.128). “Yet
most opportunities typically present themselves at the most inopportune time in
the most inopportune place… They usually come as insurmountable problems” (p.132). “When my prayer life is hitting on all
8 cylinders, I can believe God for everything. But when I’m in a prayer slump,
I have a hard time believing God for anything. Low expectations are the result
of prayerlessness but prayer has a way of God-sizing our opportunities” (p.133).
“Prayer is an opportunity incubator. We
can have God ideas.”(p.138).
“If you’re going to defy the odds, face your fears, reframe
your problems, take a risk and seize a God-ordained opportunity, you have to be
willing to look foolish in the world’s eyes” (p.148). “God wants ‘divergent thinking’ – i.e.
intellectual originality, creative counterintuitive thoughts, thinking outside
the box” (p.150). “One of my favorite words is ‘neotony’. It
means ‘new, fresh or youthful.’ Neotony is ‘the retention of youthful qualities
by adults” (p. 154). The child-likeness Jesus advocates is in
their humility, limitless imagination and faith to believe anything can
happen. We lose that as we grow older
and become increasingly self-conscious” (p.157).
“Part of spiritual maturity is to care less and less about what people think
and more and more about what God thinks about you” (p.160). “He will enable you to fulfill the destiny [the
workmanship, the plans] he has for you as you unlearn your fears, seize the
opportunities He presents and keep yourself in tune with the Holy Spirit,
listening to His still small voice prompting you” (p.168).
Reviewed by M.L.
Codman-Wilson, Ph.D. 6/15/12
