The Lion

I found something so cool yesterday that just re-confirmed that God really did name Judah! I've always believed that He gave us this name for Judah Matthew. His name is a reminder and a statement of faith that God will indeed be praised - no matter what - and that he is a gift of God - no matter what!! It's part of our and his testimony to others. His name was no accident! Since he's been born we've talked so much about the Lion of Judah. Our older kids know about Him, and I tell Judah that his Lion, his Protector, his Warrior is with him each time he's in the lab, or undergoing some other uncomfortable or unpleasant "procedure". One of these days he's going to have his own little lion to take with him as a visual reminder, too:) Anyway, what I didn't know until yesterday was what God said about Judah in Genesis 49:8ff. Jacob is blessing his sons, and Judah is 4th in line. He starts by saying that his brothers will praise him and that he will be a victorious leader. Then, depending on the Bible version (I'll go with NIV here), Jacob calls him a "lion's cub" in v. 9a and then in 9b compares him with a mature lion. He goes on to call Judah a ruler, and then gets into some future stuff... Jesus came from the line of Judah. So, my little lion really is. I'm excited to do some more studying on the subject of lions, why the comparison with lions, why is Jesus called the Lion of Judah, etc. I just thought it was so cool, though, to read this little section about Judah in Scripture, and think about my little Judah. He may appear to be the "underdog", but he's really a little lion...and He's got the Lion with him always...and He just also happens to be the Great Physician. I think Judah's got the advantage:)