The Teeth of the Lion

Well, I felt like I had dodged a bullet when I left the dentist’s office and drove very slowly, home. It was like I didn’t want to take any chances, I just wanted to make it home, alive. I was relieved, I only had to get one filling the next week. I was very thankful, considering, for the past several years, every time I went to the dentist, they found something wrong; major things, like a root canal, or a crown. And the dentists on my health care plans at work were the worst: new, not well-established and trustworthy, or bad ones in bad towns. They always found something wrong, but they made up for it by leaving my teeth uncomfortably rough and bumpy, or did work on my teeth that was so flimsily done that I felt like they could fall out at any time.

The dentists I had suffered under had been part of rough times of adjustment in my relationship with God. And God was relentless; I never knew he could seem so cruel. God was tough with me because he knew I trusted him, and would go to him for help. I learned to trust him and not have a pity-party or rebel, through the problems I had with dentists, my car, my neighbors, work – everywhere I turned. For instance, I had a neighbor, who was a hater, and wouldn’t stop making noise, whether it was loud music, or hanging around, outside my door, and I had to turn to God. I had to learn to pray more, and God gave me patience and wisdom. So, once, when I heard some other obnoxious neighbors had a problem with their car I made myself available and helped them, immediately. I turned the problems I had with them, upside down, and we became friends. And bonding with them made me stronger against the hater. Positive giving, instead of negative complaining, created trust with everybody in the neighborhood, and that includes God.

The teeth of the lion… The Lion is God. He is the Lion of Judah. And his people are like him, so, we are lions, too. He was hated, so, we are hated. He went through suffering and pain, so, we must. Jesus is the King of kings, and we, all of our men and women, are kings. Jesus is the husband, and we, all of our men and women, are his wife. But when we know about these things that the world prizes, like power and sensitivity, and actually live it, we are ignored, and neglected. That’s the way it is, in this temporary world. But this is permanence science, and we know better.