by Hannah Russell

Created on: August 31, 2011

Throughout the Bible and Christian history, God has several nicknames and personifications—He is the Father, the Lord, the God and Creator of our souls.  Sometimes, however, these many names can come to seem contradictory.  A lion and a lamb are opposites of one another.  Christian imagery even uses the juxtaposition to illustrate the absurdity of pure peace in a lion and lamb lying down next to one another.  And yet, these two terms are used to describe the exact same God.  God certainly possesses something of a duality, but duality does not always equate to contradiction.  In fact, it is that very duality which makes God the perfect father to His spirit children.  God, as the perfect father, is capable of gently comforting as a lamb, but also capable of stern rebukes and vicious protection as a lion.

It is God’s true desire to enable His children to live in His presence for eternity.  However, for this to be possible, both sides of His duality are necessary.  We are His children and so He does love us and care about us.  This is why in the darkest hours of many scriptural characters God is with them from the gentle reassurances to Job to the diligent preparations of Jeremiah.   God’s very nature is to nurture us and to gather us, as “a hen gathereth her chicks” (Matthew 23: 37).  He does not hesitate in the dark hours of our lives to hold us and comfort us.

However, just as surely as He does not hesitate to comfort us, He also will not hesitate in His rebukes.  The Christian philosopher, C. S. Lewis masterfully shows this duality in God through His character in The Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan.  The same Aslan who hugs Lucy so tightly in the first book of his series, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, does not hesitate to scold her for lack of faith in the second book, Prince Caspian.  Later in the series, in the book Horse and His Boy, this very same Aslan who has always protected and comforted the characters, shows Aravis the true punishment for her selfishness through his claws, sparing no justice. God is the same to us.  He will not hesitate to rebuke us with his mighty roar, in hopes of improving us, nor will he hesitate to punish us with his razor claws.

This is not to say that we should fear God’s leonine form.  In fact, it is that very Lion which parted the Red Sea for Moses, felled the walls of Jericho for Joshua’s army and stayed the mouths of the earthly lions as their bared their teeth at Daniel in the den.  He protects us; he protects us physically, spiritually and mentally, because He is a lion.  He bears both the power and protective instincts of a lion.

This mighty being through whose power the seas are calmed is the same warm blanket through whose warmth the internal storms of doubt, depression and despair are calmed, is God.  His very nature is all-encompassing, and all-encompassing may at times seem a bit contradictory.

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