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.
And behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
I remember sitting with my oldest son when he asked the LORD into his heart. It was a wonderful moment and a wonderful memory. As Christians we are the temple of the Spirit of God.
Think about that for a second.
This isn't figurative or symbolic. The Holy Spirit lives within you. Every action you have ... the LORD is right there with you and within you.
Use that thought as you live your life and walk the path God leads you on.
And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.
Now, as you go about your day to day stuff. Can it be said of you "The LORD Is There"? The name Christian is a label. A label that I can't really claim on my own. It is to be "Christ-Like".
And, being like Christ is not really something I can declare for myself. It can only be seen by my actions. Yes my faith in Christ is how I am saved. But only by what I do can people see the Spirit of God within me.
Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
I think most people are like Jonah. We would rather see God send down fire from heaven ... well righteous fire from heaven ... upon the wicked. The problem we have with "the wicked" is that we believe OTHERS are the wicked and that they have been wicked to us. So we deeply desire within our hearts for them to suffer.
But, before God all sins are the same. The truth is that all of us are "the wicked".
Likewise we must also understand that if anyone does not turn, then God will leave them to the consequences of their actions. God isn't one to give you a hug and say: "I love you man! It's OK that you live a wicked life."
No, there are consequence and there will be punishment. So don't lie to people in telling them that it is just fine to sin. It isn't.
Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
As our hearts turn more to God we start to see the evils we have done. Like the morning after a drunken binge, your actions from the night before come crashing down upon your head. Just don't let that cripple you from acting.
Emotions are a good thing. For example fear. Fear can lead you to make the right choices in life. Easy example: don't play with the lion. But, emotions are meant to be understood, controlled, and used. Fear that gets out of hand will cripple a person from doing the right thing at the right time. You must accept it and control it.
Loathing is another emotion. How can it be bad? If you begin to loath yourself it can lead to crippling inaction. Where you would rather hate yourself and hold back from others. Others that may need you to act NOW and to love them NOW. But, it can be good. Use that feeling to remind yourself on what not to do. Know and understand what actions lead to it and rather take a new path.
A child will keep their hand off a hot stove after being burned once. Do likewise.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Remember.
Your calender and day planner is not God's calender and day planner.
Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.
Rather fitting description for what you watch on TV and experience in our culture. And if you fill your daily thoughts with that ... how sad the LORD must be trying to get through the mess of what is left of our minds. And if that is your actions ... be prepared for the smack down.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.
Many times the suffering of others has been to our grace. The powerful speaker at the front of the church is many times the person who has suffered greatly and came through the other side. And I can understand things without having to experience it by understanding those people that HAVE experienced it.
Yet, I can't imagine being told before hand that you are about to suffer as a lesson for others. It is one thing to be prepared that God may call you for that kind of suffering. But, to be told that you were going to lose what you love before it happens? That would be hard. Even Christ prayed that the cup would pass from him.
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Suffering is suffering. It isn't that you should actually rather feel joy. You are suffering! But, intellectually we can understand we are sharing the same pain, the same loss, the same sufferings as Christ. And in that we can rejoice.
There is nothing wrong with being sad and in pain. There is nothing wrong in trying to see the LORD's good in it. It is a hope that can get you through some of the darkest hours of your life.
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.
O how I love the times that I truly spend with God. When I can hear His voice and feel His hand.
God gives us a new heart. One that is not stone and callused from the pain and hate of this life. But, one that is new and tender. One that cries with those in pain and reaches out to help. One that leaps for joy when salvation comes to those that hate us.
What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’?
One thing I try to instil within my children is to accept consequences. When you do wrong you make it right and you take the punishment. You don't put it off and you don't pass on the blame.
Today we as a nation are doing a terrible evil.
We are passing on the consequences of our evil and selfish actions upon our children and our grandchildren. As fathers we must take the responsibility of what we have done wrong. It is better to financially suffer ourselves than to bail out our foolish actions of spending what we do not have and taking from those coming behind.
A nation that lives in debt is raping the future of its children.
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
I was thinking about this passage of James and the tie between faith and works ...
Our lives are like a great ocean. We sit upon it in our sail boats waiting to go somewhere. The sail that each of us has is our faith. The wind that drives our boat is the Grace of God. With no faith we keep our sails tied up and don't catch the wind of God's Grace. We may rock the boat a bit as we stomp around, but this is a sail boat not a row boat, so we go nowhere.
We can cry out to other people in their boats: "Look at my great sailing ship and how far I can go!" But, if your sails are still tied up you aren't going anywhere.
Untie your sail and watch the Grace of God fill it and suddenly you begin to move. Soon your little ship is making great waves that the dolphins jump and play in. And the wake behind you trails out forever; spreading and touching many other ships. Sometimes giving them a little push in the right direction. And sometimes rocking them and letting them know something is wrong with having tied up sails.
The wake of your boat is your actions for God.
If you are moving with God you must be creating a wake.
If you see no wake ... it is because your ship isn't moving.
So it is with faith. We are saved by the Grace of God and faith alone. But, your faith will make wakes as your move through life. Someone can profess the LORD. But if their ship is just rocking in place ... their sails are still tied up.
Speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.
The Word of God is true and eternal. It doesn't favor anyone. Not and rich and not the poor. Not the people up high and not the people down at the bottom of life.
When we read it God is speaking to us. On how to live and on how we will be corrected if we continue on the wrong path.
We listen to it and we read it. And we know that whether we actually listen and burn it upon our minds and hearts ... or refuse the truth. It is still true.
Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.
As a Christian what is the temple of the LORD? You are.
God points out to Ezekiel the abominations that were in the temple. Other gods. Idols. The worship of the sun. If God took you on a tour of your own soul what would you see? When you look in deep within yourself do you see other gods?
Our time is spent on us. So I suppose you would see a huge golden idol made to look like the ideal you. Sculpted muscles and a beautiful body.
Our time is spent chasing after money. So I suppose you would see carvings of the chase upon the walls. Wealthy men purchasing the best of everything. Wealthy women at leisure doing as they pleased.
And you would would be found bowing down under a bright spot light. The spot light of fame. Where others cheer you on and praise all the little things you do. No matter how stupid.
I know I need to clean the temple of the LORD. Do you?
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.
"They will get what the deserve in the end." I've said that and have heard other Christians say that as well. If said in the context of this world and this life ... it isn't true. If said in the context of a saved Christian ... it definitely isn't true.
In this world good people pass on never getting a break or having peace in their lives. And evil people pass on never being punished for their sins.
And a saved Christian KNOWS that they will not get what they deserve in the end. Because they know what they deserve is eternal punishment. They are joyful that the Grace of God rather gives them what they do not deserve.
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.
It is easy to talk, it is not easy to actually walk in the way you know to be true. I always give advice to my students about working early in the semester and long before the exams come around. But, I personally struggle with that in my own life.
I know what is right ... yet I still hold back on acting out on it. I need to confirm what I say ... and DO IT.
Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name.
Do you believe the LORD is strong? That He can do anything?
Or do you hold on to your daily life? Your finances? Your everyday decisions?
When things are going smoothly it is so easy to walk your own path. One where you ignore God and where He wants you to go. Remember: Your God is strong. Trust in Him.
I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
You know the difference between what "the rules" say and what is right and wrong. Kind of like when you are speeding down the highway. You know it is wrong, but you still try to get away with it. Until your heart drops out of your stomach when you pass the cop you didn't see. Then you slow down for a bit ... and then go back to speeding.
God has placed His Law within you. You know the Truth.
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
LORD ...
You are my Father. And like a child I have tried to walk without your hand in mine. I've run away at times, and then when I was frightened I ran back.
I'm so like the young child.
Help me to grow closer to you. To not go astray. But, to walk in the Light with confidence in You. For you ARE God.
Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
I've been thinking about "the fatherless and the widow". Not in terms of a father that has died. But, one that has died in presence. One that has abandoned his family and responsibilities.
A great sin of our nation is in the heart of the men. Men who have abandoned God's calling to be Men after the Heart of God. And how can we pray for forgiveness for a sin we continue to live? Maybe it is time to pray for the rod instead.
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Yet if we admit our sins, stop, and turn back. God will forgive us. It is His promise! And His word is true.
So now I wait upon the word of God. To what will our nation run to? Will it be upon our knees in humility? Or will it be by the rod that God reminds us to turn back from our sins?
I don't know which it will be.
But I do know either we humble ourselves or we will be humbled.
