Shut the Lion’s Mouth: Deliverance in the Den
“When I’m feeling weighed down by things I regret, it’s as if I’m dragging my failures around like heavy chains clamped to my ankles. At such times, I find it beneficial to picture You coming to my rescue and cutting off those chains. You came to set Your followers free, and I want to walk in the truth that I am free indeed!”
– Jesus Listens, September 25th
It’s often said that you’ll lose every battle if you know neither yourself nor your enemy. Unknowingly thrust into a marriage with a husband who fought a secret battle with drug addiction, I thought I knew myself, but I was unsure who the enemy was. Often, I felt that my husband was so deeply entangled in his struggles that I saw myself as the enemy. I witnessed his daily fits of rage, the highs and lows of addiction, and the chaos, confusion, and turmoil he brought into our family; I was certain he was the enemy.
Newly married, drug addiction unexpectedly slipped in between the heartfelt vows the two of us had exchanged. Almost immediately, it was transformed into a union of three: My husband, myself, and what appeared to be a monstrous creature in the middle. It was a beast that tore wildly into our lives. It stripped away parts of our identity with the continual hiss of lies in our ears. It constantly displayed our shame and scars as we tried to catch a glimpse of our former selves in the mirror. It roared at my husband: “You’re an addict, you’re never going to get clean, and…you’re better off dead!” It whispered darkness to me: “Your husband hates you. Divorce him. Imagine what people think of you; you’re supposed to be a Christian family, and you’re married to a drug addict!”
The beast was heinous and vicious, dragging us deeper into the inner chambers of the pit until truly little remained of what we once were. After two years, we felt like Daniel trapped in a den full of lions, except there was only one lion, the monster of addiction. The lion showcased us in the arena, as the frightened audience observed helplessly, uncertain how to save us from the beast that had taken up residence in our lives. The lion consistently broadened its territory, leaving loved ones hurt and inflicting collateral damage at every step; the lion was relentless in its pursuit.
The lion came to devour us, attempting to swallow us whole. He robbed our lives of everything good and stomped out each plan we had made with joyful expectation. The Lion was terrifying amidst the endless chaos and confusion he introduced. He caught the scent of our wounds, targeting us as easy prey. Any progress we thought we were making in the right direction was quickly met by the lion’s snares of expanded drug and alcohol use, and thoughts of suicide. We found ourselves locked in Daniel’s den, standing beside the lion with a stone sealing the entrance’s mouth. The end seemed near…
Ezekiel 19:6-8 provides an apt description for the beast: “He was now a strong lion. He teared the prey and became a maneater. He broke down their strongholds and devastated their towns.” The lion seemed familiar; it appeared to share all the traits of another adversary, one that the authors of Scripture also seemed to recognize. 1 Peter 5:8 describes: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” We faced the enemy daily until it became clear that our battle was not against flesh and blood; neither of us was the enemy. There was a war in the spirit realm, and we came to discover that the lion we fought was the enemy, Satan, who had embodied himself in the form of addiction and come to destroy our lives with all the ammunition in his armory.
But what was Daniel’s fate? Was there hope for us? Daniel chapter 6 recounts: “So…they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, ‘Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.’” The next morning, the king hurriedly checked on Daniel and found him alive and well. Daniel explained to the king, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouth, so that they have not hurt me;” no injury whatsoever was found on him!
Throughout the arduous battle, I recalled the king’s faith: He was confident that the Lord would deliver Daniel from the lion’s mouth, because he knew that Daniel served an almighty God! Crying out to the Lord for two years, I was sure my husband, too, would be delivered from the lion, because we serve the same God that shut the lion’s mouth! In one single moment, when it appeared the lion had won the battle, the Lord met my husband in his hospital room and forever silenced the lion’s roars of: “You’ve been a drug addict for twenty years, you’ll never get clean, and you’re better off dead,” and replaced it with a new heart and a new identity: He was a child of God—delivered!
We had a firm foundation to plant our feet on, the Word of God, which stands high above all else. The Word of God allowed my husband to view himself as God viewed him, and gave us the authority, power, and faith to see our lives transformed, restored, and prosper beyond our wildest expectations! Job 4:11 explains: “The lion perishes for lack of prey.” Like Daniel, the lion hasn’t left a single scar, and we know that the “accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” (Revelation 12:10) The lion doesn’t get to define you…God does!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Noelle Borgia is the author of Silence the Lion: Wage War on Addiction and Win. She is a 2003 Wayne State University graduate holding a Bachelor of Arts with double majors in Italian Language and Literature and International Studies, as well as a 2024 graduate of the Oakland Church School of Ministry. Noelle and her husband Sam live in Washington, Michigan, with their two daughters, Valentina and Liliana. Together, they love spending time with their tight-knit family and their church family at Oakland Church in Rochester, MI. Inspired by Sam’s experience, Noelle and Sam are launching Shattered Mirror Ministries, working to empower those struggling with substance abuse problems to see the same freedom from addiction that Sam has and to realize their true identity in Christ.
