e188 Power – Sirga the Lioness and the “Omni” of Our God

Here’s the gist, human. I hunt for the power of God in my life. I follow Sirga, the 400 lb lioness living in the African bush.  Just me and a million+ other humans. I do it because I am in pursuit of knowing God more deeply. I think God’s animal kingdom holds deep truth about his nature. Sirga gets my attention. Her presence is uncompromising. She brings the all of her in every moment. As an apex predator in her habitat, she is sovereign. God created her to be so. 

I am forever seeking to tighten my spiritual grip on the “omni” of my God. The totality of his everything. His all. His sovereign nature. Why? Because we live so far below it. We fall so far short of it. We try, but God is just so “everything.” Sirgi gives me a deeper sense of God’s power and his presence when multiplied by eternity. From creature to Creator.

Join us. E188.

Join us. E188. Power – Sirga the Lioness and the “Omni” of Our God

This is Faith to Witness 99 motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.

Let’s talk about what it feels like to be in the presence of God. During Job’s epic life trial God shows up in a big way to ask him questions. He tells Job to “Brace yourself like a man, I will question you, and you shall answer me.” 

God begins with questions about the universe and the earth he created, looking to Job to explain how it all worked. The earth’s foundation, the morning stars, the sea, the vast expanses of the earth.

Then he went on to ask questions about the animal kingdom he had created. This is where we begin today. With the glorious complexity of animals. The engineering of the animal kingdom by a brilliant Creator.

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

When the Power of God Shows Up

Here’s God speaking to Job about this:

Job 38: 39-41

38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness

    and satisfy the hunger of the lions

40 when they crouch in their dens

    or lie in wait in a thicket?

41 Who provides food for the raven

    when its young cry out to God

    and wander about for lack of food?

And God continues in Chapter 39 with mountain goats to eagles. Listen in.

39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

    Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

2 Do you count the months till they bear?

    Do you know the time they give birth?

3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;

    their labor pains are ended.

4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;

    they leave and do not return.

5 “Who let the wild donkey go free?

    Who untied its ropes?

6 I gave it the wasteland as its home,

    the salt flats as its habitat.

7 It laughs at the commotion in the town;

    it does not hear a driver’s shout.

8 It ranges the hills for its pasture

    and searches for any green thing.

9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?

    Will it stay by your manger at night?

10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?

    Will it till the valleys behind you?

11 Will you rely on it for its great strength?

    Will you leave your heavy work to it?

12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain

    and bring it to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

    though they cannot compare

    with the wings and feathers of the stork.

14 She lays her eggs on the ground

    and lets them warm in the sand,

15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,

    that some wild animal may trample them.

16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;

    she cares not that her labor was in vain,

17 for God did not endow her with wisdom

    or give her a share of good sense.

18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,

    she laughs at horse and rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its strength

    or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?

20 Do you make it leap like a locust,

    striking terror with its proud snorting?

21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,

    and charges into the fray.

22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;

    it does not shy away from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against its side,

    along with the flashing spear and lance.

24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;

    it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’

    It catches the scent of battle from afar,

    the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom

    and spread its wings toward the south?

27 Does the eagle soar at your command

    and build its nest on high?

28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;

    a rocky crag is its stronghold.

29 From there it looks for food;

    its eyes detect it from afar.

30 Its young ones feast on blood,

    and where the slain are, there it is.”

God’s Power Defines Divine Justice

We should take what I call a “praise breath” right now. This is our God, orchestrating the life cycles of everything on this earth. While there are many lessons to glean from the story of Job, the redeeming wisdom that serves me over and over again comes from God’s conversation with Job, really the Q&A which is, well, God’s questions, with only one answer throughout. That Job is not God. That’s the standing answer. And it is a powerful statement about God’s sovereignty. 

As God continues in chapter 40, Job says,

Job 40:4-5

4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?

    I put my hand over my mouth.

5 I spoke once, but I have no answer—

    twice, but I will say no more.”

God continues, in chapter 41, referring to Leviathan (luh-VY-uh-thuhn), a powerful sea creature that represents an untamable, chaotic force of nature or evil that is far beyond control by any human power. Leviathan’s fierceness, motivated by evil power and pride can easily overpower, subdue, bring into captivity a mere human like Job. 

Leviathan is the apex predator of this earth. Return to chapter 41 for God’s description. There is only one who conquers this evil with impenetrable scales, the ultimate evil. A sovereign God. 

In Chapter 42:5-6 Job says this:

Job 42:5-6

5 My ears had heard of you

    but now my eyes have seen you.

6 Therefore I despise myself

    and repent in dust and ashes.”

We are left to repent, turn back toward what Job’s eyes have seen at that moment. A God, his Creator who brings final justice to the world he has created. 

Why are we dropping into the middle of Job’s story right now? Because I am constantly seeking a deeper wisdom about just how big, how strong, how capable, how “omni” my God is. Omni means “all” or “every.” I seek a face enlightened by God, remember Moses, whose face shone after speaking with God (Exodus 34:29-30), and the disciples (Peter, James, and John), who saw Jesus’ face shine like the sun at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2).

I know that I have a God who will take my earthly breath away some day. 

By his power to do so.

When Power Weighs 400 Pounds

Enter Sirga (Sierga), the lioness. I am following her on social media along with a million other humans. 

She is a 400 lb lioness living on a reserve in the Kalahari Desert, Southern Africa, one of the remotest areas on earth. The Kalahari Desert, known as the African bush in Botswana, is a massive 350,000 sq mi semi-arid sandy savanna. It spans across three main countries, occupying most of Botswana, the eastern third of Namibia, and the northern part of South Africa’s Northern Cape province. In all, Sirga’s reserve is about six times the size of Central Park in New York City.

Here’s the short version of Sirga’s story: she was abandoned at birth by her mother, and taken in by Val Gruener. Val is a conservationist, storyteller, and co-founder of the Modisa Wildlife Project in Botswana. He has raised Sirga in her original habitat, in a protected section of a larger wildlife preserve. From a lion cub weighing 200 grams at approximately twelve days old to 400 lbs of leaping joy when she greets him. Val always says as she approaches, “Sirga, slowly, s-l-o-w.”

Every muscle in her body is made for sudden explosion of force. Power. A lion’s bite, around 2,600 newton, is about precision, not pressure. It’s made to end the hunt in seconds.

In her relationship with Val, the power Sirga has is matched by her love for Val.

If you are interested in Sirga and Val, all the links are in today’s show notes. 

https://www.instagram.com/sirgathelioness/

https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/

https://www.instagram.com/modisawildlifeproject/

The Power of Our Creator Holds Us

I have gone way beyond interested. If I ever have days when my screen time on social media is too much, it’s Sirga’s fault. I am absolutely taken by her power, the relationship she has with Val, and the reverence Val has for her wild spirit. He takes care of it. Sirga is 14 now. If you are against human interaction with wild life, perhaps spend a little more time considering the dwindling lion population, Sirga’s story and the amazing life she has in her massive 2,000-hectare area (one hectare equals approximately 2.47 acres). She hunts and eats her prey, she naps in the African sun, she removes thorns, she farts, she demolishes her milk bowl, she tells her caregiver when to get up and move on with her. I feel no need to make a case for Sirga’s life other than just loving what she brings to a deeper understanding about the God I worship. 

Because he made her. Ask Job.

Sirga lets Val walk along with her to hunt. He is her pride. And Val is doing so much in that area of the Kalahari Desert for land conservation, preservation of all the wildlife and working with the local communities. His work peers are wildebeest, oryx, eland, springbok, steenbok, duiker, jackals, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, badgers and wild lions. 

What holds me is seeing the power of this animal. How she breathes. How she scans the bush. How she holds all that power for the right moment. Like Jesus, the lion of Judah. 

Val says:  “Being next to Sirga when she scans the horizon for prey always sends shivers down my spine. She‘s the apex predator out here. No leopard, no hyena or anyone else can overpower her. She‘s an incredibly powerful lioness.”

What holds me are her affectionate grunts, her foreboding growl, her territorial roar that undoubtedly come from the vocal cords of God. 

What holds me is experiencing the mutual trust between Sirga and Val. And how they are both careful to protect that trust. She is wild, after all. And it is such a lesson for us that he grows their relationship in her territory, in the wild that she knows. This is a good road map for how to witness to others. In their territory. This is how we go finding. 

Val says:  “My home sits outside her territory on purpose. It is my house, office and workshop — not a place for a lion. When I spend time with Sirga, I do it in her world, not ours.”

What holds me is the joy and dignity between them in the middle of a South African desert.

Val says:  “I’ve never been a particularly spiritual person. I’m more pragmatic, the kind of guy who looks at things in a straightforward way. But walking with Sirga and spending hours out here in the bush has changed how I feel about this place. Being side by side with her, without any noise or distraction, connects me in a way I didn’t expect. It’s not about rituals or beliefs, it’s about being present and part of the Kalahari. Out here, with Sirga, I feel grounded, almost woven into the land itself.”

The Omni of God’s Power

So what do Sirga and Val have to do with Job, God and everything we just considered? 

What Val shares about spending time with Sirga tells us that he is always alert to her moods, her power, and that she is wild and driven by instincts. He submits to this. He connects to who she is on her terms. He lives in her world. 

He is committed to being present. What other way would we go finding?

To take on how Val feels about walking the African bush side by side with Sirga is what I seek with Jesus. To feel grounded and as Jesus commands us, abiding in his love.

I want to feel grounded in God’s creation.

I want to connect with God on his kingdom terms.

I want to live in Jesus’s world. 

I am not talking about a 400 lb lioness. I am talking about her Creator, the great “I am.”

Sirga triggers my desire to know more about the “omni” of my God. The everything, the all, the “whole” of God. Her presence alone says it all. If I come to a complete stop, can hardly breath when I watch her online (which is quite far away from her, wouldn’t you say?) how do I do in the presence of a sovereign God? The God who destroys the Leviathan, the apex predator of this world? We are living our earthly life toward being in the full presence of God in his kingdom. How we grow spiritually on earth, how we choose living on God’s reserve, will deepen our reverence for a God who is sovereign. King of the Heavenly Forest. 

We have to want to hunt for it. We have to go into the spiritual bush to commune with the God who created us. It’s that simple, and as Job says 

Job 42:5

“5 My ears had heard of you

    but now my eyes have seen you.”