The Silent Voice of Creation

Day 1

In January of 2004 I spent five days in Nicaragua with a team of nearly 20 representing Compassion International. (Compassion provides education, opportunities, health care and general assistance to children in 3rd world countries by working with local churches.) I had a strong desire to visit the local zoo in Managua, but had no idea where it was or if they even had one.

Our days were full as we spent time with the children from the Compassion projects, thus leaving no free time for me to find the zoo. However, the day before we were to leave, a three-hour window opened up and many wanted to visit a local market to pick up souvenirs, etc. As for me, I located and headed straight for the zoo.

Not sure what to expect, I was very excited to see how close I could get to the limited number of animals they had. In the United States, there is a greater distance and very strong fences separating tourists from the animals. In the Managua zoo I could stand behind the chain-link fence and lean over to pet the animals, were I brave enough.

So when I approached the lion’s cages, my jaw dropped. In the small concrete-bottomed cages (approx 20’ x 30’) I watched in awe as this older male lion rose to his feet and approached me. He walked up to the bars of his cage (maybe 3 feet from where I stood silently) and began to roar. When he opened his mouth I heard the deepest, most haunting sound I have ever imagined. It sounded like echoing groans coming from deep within a cave. I could not understand how such a large and bassy voice could come out of such an animal. Even with my years in the music industry, I was not prepared for such a penetrating and hair-raising sound . . . I had never heard anything like it!

Then, almost as if the lion beckoned the assistance of his two “comrades” in the adjacent cage, the roaring increased. The two other lions approached the front of their shared cage and, looking directly at me, began to roar much like the first. It wasn’t like they were roaring in anger, rather like they were speaking to me . . . trying to get a message across.

The only words that I could utter at this moment were “behold, the lion of Judah.” I was then speechless again. A crowd of other zoo visitors began to gather. But what really amazed me was when the zoo employees approached as well. Apparently, these lions never roar like this, so it was a spectacle for everyone . . . and the zookeepers were curious as to what was spawning this reaction.

After about five minutes, they stopped and returned to their places of slumber on the hard concrete. I began to try and process what I had experienced, but I couldn’t put my thoughts and heart into words. Later that evening at dinner with our group and the local Compassion staff many were sharing their thoughts and feelings of the week. I felt in my spirit that I was to share the story of the lions, but I wasn’t sure why. As I opened my mouth to tell what happened it was as if the Holy Spirit gave me words to share, words and thoughts that I had not processed up to this moment.

I shared “the first lion who approached me was the oldest of the three. He represented God the Father. One of the other two lions in the adjacent cage represented the Holy Spirit. And the third, the youngest of the three, had been caught in a trap or somehow maimed and limped around on three legs . . . represented Jesus. They roared not in hunger, but to shout aloud that ‘I am the Lion of Judah. I was not made for a cage. I am not to be placed in a box and stared at. And I have given you the key to free me. You not only have permission, but an obligation to let me out.’

And that is what we must do. We can not keep God in a box. We can not say that God is in a church building or only moves in 3rd world countries. As believers, He has given each of us a key to let Him out of the box that we put Him in. And His freedom is not just for us, but for all we come into contact with. For the Compassion International communities, they are setting children free from the bondage of hopelessness, hunger, disease and alcoholism that runs rampant in their neighborhoods . . . by offering the children the truest message of freedom . . . through Jesus! But they do more than “speak” the message, they “live” the message . . . by investing lives into lives. By taking hands and touching hearts. He created us and He created us with a heart for Him. And the more we let Him out of the cage we have put Him in, the greater amount of freedom we will have in our own lives.

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Are you keeping God in a box? Are you keeping the Creator of the universe caged up, as if He is something to be viewed at from a distance . . . and on special occasions? Are you willing to open the doors TODAY and let Him have free reign of your life, of your conversations and of your actions? There is no greater freedom.