Right now, there’s an add on TV for Red Bull energy drink. Two impalas are in the bush and come across a lion. One of the impalas says, “Time for a Red Bull.” The other one replies, “A Red Bull? It won’t help. You’ll still never be faster than the lion!” The first impala comes back and says, “I don’t have to be quicker than the lion, just faster than you.”
It's an old joke, told in various ways with various characters over the years, and yet every time I see it, it still makes me chuckle. Mostly because of the complete lack of concern from the first impala towards his friend. Definitely not a Biblical model of friendship, is it.
What makes it even funnier, for me anyway, is that impalas can run in bursts up to 55 miles per hour, and lions can run a maximum of 50 miles per hour, but only for a couple of seconds, so there’s a good chance the lion won’t be able to eat either of them anyway. That’s why lions usually go after the sick, elderly, or young animals, those that don’t have someone they can count on to help them. They’re easier to catch.
I Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” In Old Testament times, one iron blade was used to sharpen another blade until both became more effective tools. Whether it is two swords, as friends get ready for battle, or two plows, as friends get ready to work together, or two forks, as friends get ready to fellowship together, working together against the lions in our lives is what God wants us to be doing.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if the two impalas had decided to work together against the lion? Maybe we need to make sure we have good friends to help “sharpen us” against the devil’s plans.