What is the meaning of describing God as a “bear” and a “lion”?

The bear and lion were known for the danger they posed to human lives.¹ Now, God is compared to these beasts of prey that lie in wait for their victim. Here, God has turned the man of prayer aside and has torn him apart (see also Hosea 13:8; Amos 5:19; Isaiah 38:13; Job 10:16; Proverbs 28:15). In the same way, the people have been torn apart by the enemies that God had sent. God appears to devote everything to the writer’s destruction, and seeks it with the same determination with which the wild beasts go after their prey. Cutting off all avenues of escape, God pursues his victim to bring about its destruction. - With this image, God’s apparent hostility and obstructiveness are intensified.  God had been waiting for the people to turn to him; because they refused, his waiting became an ambush for them in which they were destroyed.