Book Review: In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day

I do not want to live a life with regrets, instead I want to make the most of the situations that are in front of me—those that I still have a chance to effect. Even though this is the case, there are moments in my life that come to mind every once in a while that give me pause. The ones that stand out most vividly are those that are born out of my inactivity, the missed opportunities which will never come again. I have been thinking about this lately after reading a book by Mark Batterson entitled In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day. Mark believes that “the church has been fixated on sins of commission for far too long. We have long lists of don’ts.” He calls this “holiness by subtraction.” Mark also says “I think God is more concerned about sins of omission, those things that we could have and should have done.“ I agree with Mark, I tend to fixate on the things I should not do for God instead of looking for the opportunities God has carefully orchestrated in my life, the things I should do for God. These opportunities come, and if we are not diligently watching, they go.

Mark shares many examples from his own life, one where he planted one church that did not even make it to its first Sunday. He then picked up his family and moved across the country to plant a church near Capitol Hill in Washington DC. His new church, by God’s grace, is thriving today out of many challenges and struggles. Mark also uses many examples from the Bible including one obscure story out of 2 Samuel from which his book gets its title. In this story a man named Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. This event is one of many events in Benaiah’s life that leads him to being selected as one of King David’s body guards and then promoted to commander and chief of Israel’s army. God is continually creating “opportunities” for his children to glorify him in spectacular ways; in the case of Mark and Benaiah those “opportunities” came in the form of a failed church and a 500 lb. lion. I don’t know about you, but most of the time, I purposely avoid these types of “opportunities.” But then I would miss out on what God has planned for my life and the opportunity to truly glorify him. And so my prayer is to be watchful and ready for the next lion that might come my way.

This reminds me of what Jesus said to Peter when he gave him his name. “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.” Gates are not used for offense; they are used for defense. Jesus is speaking of his church, which is the aggressor not the defender against the gates of Hell, and he promises they will not stop his church.