Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
I did a neat experiment for VBS last summer on this. If you take a cotton ball and put it in a flame it will quickly burn to ash. If you soak the cotton ball in rubbing alcohol, take it out, and set it on fire then it will not burn. The alcohol burns, but the cotton only gets warm.
Our lives are the same. The fire is the stress and hard times you will go through. Without God you will be quickly reduced to ash. With God you still go through the flames, but He takes the burning for you. You experience the hard times and yet they don't consume you.
“O King Darius, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
"As he had done previously"
Isn't that the thing. He prayed to God daily and it didn't matter how society changed around him. He kept on doing what was right.
Anyone can be a fair-weather christian. It is the times of trial that burn away the masks we put on. Our faith isn't a mask that we wear on the nice days. It requires living it out, not putting it on when it is popular and taking it off when it doesn't suit you.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
There is so much of our wealth, our time, and our very souls that we sacrifice for the world. To get fame. To be "loved" by man. To be rich beyond measure.
I've seen people through away their self-respect for a bit of laughter. Sure, they are being laughed at, but they are seen. I've seen fathers through away their families for just a couple more dollars. Sure, they get the money, but they are alone and hated.
Everything the world tells you to chase ... is dry grass. Dry grass waiting for the flame to quickly consume it. In an instant there is rushing heat and flames ... and then it is gone.
The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah:
“When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, and say, ‘O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”
Whenever I read of Babylon I think of "culture" and "civilization". The things in life where man runs around pretending to be god. Where we focus on self, wealth, and status. Where we step on the poor and crush the fatherless.
It will not go on forever. Like all civilizations before us, all civilizations today will be laid waste. As we run to build towers to shoot arrows at God. The foundations upon which we build are being torn down. The worship of self guarantees it.
She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
...
He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.”
...
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;let him put his mouth in the dust — there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.
Sometimes the best advise ... and worst advise is to Endure. Best because our Hope is in God. And worst because we just want the pain to end. Like the time you sit in bed after surgery and the pain starts to become unbearable. Yet, you still must bear it. Though you scream into your pillow and beg God for the pain to pass. It is still there.
All that is left is the knowledge that in time it will pass. And it will pass.
The difficult times are here and it is between us and God. Not between us and the one that caused the pain. They take joy in our pain, so why focus on them? It must be between us and God alone.
Keep your eyes forward, don't turn to the left (self-hatred) and don't turn to the right (hatred of others). Keep your eyes on God and pray for the strength to Endure.
You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
Joyful ... Plundering of MY PROPERTY!? O.K. God what is up with that? :)
An issue we all have with endurance is that it takes actual pain and struggle to build it up. It isn't something you have, it is something you work on.
In the beginning we choose to endure the pain. There is no joy. There is anger, rage, and a desire for God to strike those that hurt us down.
Then over time it is about enduring. We continue to be placed in harms way. In ways that are deeper and much more painful. Yet we continue to hope for the light that God has promised us.
In the end we have endured and grown. We begin to actually feel the Love Christ had for us. For a people who hated Him, tore the flesh from His body, and beat him beyond recognition. A love for a people each of whose sins caused Him unimaginable pain. Pain beyond which the worst you have ever felt is nothing.
You are loved. Upon God was the justice of our sins. God takes joy in your life and your growth. ...
For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
If I drop a pop quiz on you today would you be ready?
Most students answer NO to that question. We rarely are ready for the exam when we know about it weeks before. Let alone the test put in your lap unexpectedly. And that is math. Not the test of God searching your heart and mind!
The only way to prepare for the pop quiz is to study every day. The only way to prepare for God is to "study" every day as well.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
"Oh ... can't we stay home this Sunday? It was such a long week! And, I'd rather be watching football anyway."
One day of rest.
I would rather think that for the church family it is one day of focus. A focus on God. Not on the 'me stuff'. To focus purely on God for once in our week.
To give up the running and doing.
To just focus on loving God and loving each other.
I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
I ran cross country in college for one season. I thought it would kill me. I was a 400 meter sprint type of guy. Not a 5 mile type of guy.
But, it made me stronger.
When you train for a race you never just run that distance anyway. You want to train to race a mile? You do anything from half-mile sprints and 6 miles endurance runs. And you don't do it halfway. You train hard to improve.
The same can be said for taking control of your body spiritually.
To can't just go about this halfway. You train hard. You think hard on the Word. You train with others. You let the difficulties in life strengthen you. You refresh yourself with God's Word and prayer.
