Deleted Scenes: The Eye of the Tiger. 2 Chronicles 20:1-30

I shared on Sunday that one of my adult fears is conflict (as opposed to my childhood fears of Rocket Richard, the laundry room of my parents’ basement, small dogs, and time travel, all of which are fears I have triumphantly conquered). I attribute at least part of this fear of conflict to the ideological pacifism of my Mennonite upbringing. What’s ironic is that even while growing up in that pacifist environment and possessing some natural conflict-aversion, I still loved certain combat movies, especially the Rocky movies. It is well-documented (by that, I mean that I’ve mentioned it a few times in sermons) that my very first sermon as a 19 year old was more based on Rocky III than it was on Scripture, as far as I can remember.

The sermon was called The Eye of the Tiger. Again, I don’t remember much about it except that I spent extensive time recounting the plot line of Rocky III. I will now do the same for you. In the movie, Rocky has gone from rags to riches. He’s gone from an obscure blue-collar boxer from the streets of Philadelphia to becoming the heavyweight champion in the world, living in luxury and fame. In the midst of this success, along comes Clubber Lang (played by Mr. T, famous for the line, “I pity da foo!”). Clubber is hungry and determined. Meanwhile, Rocky has become apathetic and lazy. In their first match, Rocky is completely unprepared and loses spectacularly. A re-match with Clubber is arranged, but Rocky is experiencing an existential crisis. He has no drive. His heart isn’t in it. That’s when he receives a wake-up call from Apollo Creed, his former adversary but now his trainer. Creed tells him that he needs to rediscover “the eye of the tiger”. He needs to get hungry again and pursue a goal, like a tiger deprived of its food. That’s the only way he’ll be victorious.

On Sunday, we talked about the story in 2 Chronicles 20 about the battle that Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah faced. An enormous army made up of a multi-national alliance was heading their way to destroy them. We saw how God fought that battle for them, doing what they couldn’t. What they were called to do was to stand firm and put their trust in God. We especially focused on the way they praised and thanked God before the battle. All of this was used by God in His defeat of their enemies. We talked about how instructive this is for our own spiritual battles in life, and about the power of giving thanks in advance for what God has promised to do.

Something we didn’t talk about, however, is something so simple it hardly needs saying. A precondition for winning the battle was that they wanted to win the battle. That’s what drove them to seek the Lord, to declare a national fast, and to pray in the first place (2 Chronicles 20:3-12). It’s possible that they could have heard about the approaching army and instantly given up hope of being victorious. They could have shrugged their shoulders and said “so be it”. I suspect survival was such a powerful instinct that a lethargic response like that would have been very unlikely. But the truth is, in the battles we face against temptation and doubt and conformity to the ways of the world, we can lack in desire to win the battle. Even though the battle for our hearts is life and death from a spiritual perspective, some of us tend to give in quickly and easily. We don’t cry out to God when faced with a threat because we’ve already accepted the impending defeat. We’ve lost the eye of the tiger.

There are two statements by Jesus in the Gospel of John that can help us here. The first is that our enemy seeks “to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The fight for our hearts is not child’s play. Satan aims to devour us. We need to take the battle seriously and understand what is at stake when forces conspire to draw us away from God. However, Jesus also says that while we will have trouble in the world, we can take heart because “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Defeat is far from impending or certain. In fact, it’s the opposite. If we stand in the Lord, we know he has overcome the world and so will we. 

For the battle for our hearts to be won, we must want the battle to be won. Ask the Lord for more of that desire. Ask him for a steadfast resolve within you. Ask for a hunger that can only be satisfied by His power.