When Persecution Comes

In the news articles I read daily, there’s a lot of talk about Christian persecution. In my mind those words form images of tyrannical governments or radical religions stamping out any Christian influence in their countries, illustrated by pictures of torture, imprisonment or burned-out churches and homes, even murder.

And yet, Christians throughout much of the world, who live under a cloud of terror, continue to survive, worship and even serve the Lord – many out in the open, others meeting in secret within an oppressed nation.

Being discovered as a Christian in North Korea is a death sentence. If you aren’t killed instantly, you will be sent to a harsh labor camp where death comes much more slowly. It is estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are currently imprisoned there. Yet behind the headline of persecution, a massive underground church exists in North Korea, estimated to be around 500,000 believers and growing.

In every country controlled by a primary religion, that religion determines who is legitimate and who must be minimized or removed. If their harassment can’t get Christians to leave or stop their practice, they must eliminate them. That religion may be Islam, Hinduism or any other traditional religious practice, or it may be atheistic socialism or communism. Or, as in North Korea, emperor worship.

In America, most persecution comes from the current socialist movement which redefines the Church as non-essential. We’ve been told to change our beliefs to fit into the progressive agenda which includes accepting abortion, alternative lifestyles and exclusion when it comes to national affairs. The goal is to diminish the influence of the Church forming the moral fabric of our nation.

Though it is hard to place what we experience in the same category of the types of persecution others face, it remains a growing factor of American life. By social conflict, to restrictions, to removing 1^st Amendment rights, the church is being silenced by insult, harassment or humiliation.

At this very moment, lawsuits are under way to determine whether the measures of reinstated Obama Care can place social restrictions on the medical field. One attorney said, “The harmful Transgender Mandate undermines the federal government’s own medical experts’ advice on treating children with gender dysphoria, yet, politicians and activists are trying to force private doctors, on pain of severe punishment, to perform controversial procedures that can be deeply harmful to patients.” Another attorney fighting against this says, “The transgender mandate threatens to drive religious doctors from the profession.”

California passed a bill this past week that will fine any retailer $1000 who has separate sections for girls and boys clothing. The push is to create a non-gender society.

Last week, the New Mexico legislature removed the protection from any doctor or hospital who refuses to perform abortions on demand because of personal ethics. This push, on the larger scale, is to disconnect Christians from their convictions.

The Equality Act recently passed by the House is so dangerous to our society, it is like an engineered social virus that will steal, kill and destroy the very substance of life in America from women’s sports, to little girls having to share bathrooms with grown men, to who you can hire at your own business, which will even affect churches and Christian schools if the Senate supports it. Pray they don’t.

During last Thursday's House Debate over the Equality Act, a Congressman opposed the measure by pointing to God and the Bible to direct legislatures to God’s expressed will. Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York asserted that “God's will is of no concern to this Congress.”

What do you do when you oppose what’s handed down from the governmental leaders who contradict what you know the Bible speaks against? Do you hide your beliefs and hope you never have to face a choice to live or die because of what you know is true? Or do you stand firm in your convictions, regardless of the consequences?

Which takes us to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. How do you stand firm on the basis of your knowledge of God’s will when it may cost you your job, your freedom or your life?

Their story actually begins in Daniel 2 with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. In the dream, he saw a huge statue with various materials combined to represent the nations that would follow to control the world. Babylon was represented by gold, Persia, silver. Bronze, Greece. And the Iron was Rome. So, being inspired that Babylon was represented by the gold, Neb. created a golden statue, probably of himself, for the people to worship.

Dan 3:1-6 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald loudly proclaimed: "To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire." 

Now for three Hebrew men, this was a direct violation of the first two commandments: you shall have no other gods before Me and you shall not create an image to worship. To honor God, what else could they do but refuse.

Dan 3:7-12 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: "O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up." 

Persecution usually comes at a point of disagreement. When someone cannot tolerate another person’s viewpoint or practice, that person must be forced to change or be removed. This is the practice of Islam and Hinduism. But it is also the demand of atheism. Threatened by those whose beliefs not only contradict but expose the fallacy of those religions, they will do whatever is necessary to remove the threat whether it’s from individuals or whole communities of infidels.

This is what the Nazi’s did to the Jews during the holocaust. It was what Rome tried to do with both Jews and Christians. It’s what the Catholic Church did during the Spanish Inquisition. It’s what the Serbians did to the Albanians. It’s what the Iraqis tried to do to the Kurds. It’s what Russia used to do and North Korea now does to all Christians.

Why would the Chaldeans (the wise and influential men) bring charges against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Partly, jealousy. Remember at the end of Chapter 2, Neb. placed these three men into important positions of his government. That’ll chap some hides. Uncontrolled jealousy leads to personal vendettas. But these three also stood in opposition to the common narrative of the day. Everyone must worship the image. Had Nebuchadnezzar found out that the Chaldeans knew of these three men and didn’t report them, they would all be thrown into the furnace.

Sound familiar? Everyone must do this or believe this or practice this or else. And if you see your neighbor or a business or family member not complying, turn them in. That’s been the policy of the city of Houston and Harris County during Covid.

That’s the heart of persecution. Persecutors persecute to protect themselves and their agenda. Anyone who disagrees is a threat.

Dan 3:13-15 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?" 

It’s hard for us to imagine having a knife to our throat or a gun pointed at our head or be forced to watch our family killed to force us to deny the Lord. But, according to Open Doors, every day, thirteen people are martyred for their faith. For no other reason than they are Christians. They are not revolting or raising up an army or planning to overtake the government. They are simply Christians practicing their faith.

But Jesus said: Matt 5:10-11 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 

How can there be blessing on the other side of persecution? 1Sam 2:30 the LORD declares, those who honor Me I will honor… Standing firm means honoring God is our ultimate objective and is more important than our own lives. This cuts across the grain of every one of us. Preserving our own life is our highest priority. And in defense of that, some will say, “Beliefs don’t matter. When they tell me they’ll let me live if all I have to do is deny the Lord, I’ll do it. They’re just words. In my heart God knows what I really believe. I’ll say what they want and keep my fingers crossed behind my back.”

From a report by witnesses of Polycarp’s death: As Polycarp was being taken into the arena in Smyrna, a voice came to him from heaven: “Be strong, Polycarp!” No one saw who had spoken, but our brothers who were there heard the voice. When the crowd heard that Polycarp had been captured, there was an uproar. The Proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On hearing that he was, he tried to persuade him to apostatize, saying, “Have respect for your old age, swear by the fortune of Caesar. Repent, and say, ‘Down with the Atheists!’” Polycarp looked grimly at the wicked heathen multitude in the stadium, and gesturing towards them said, “Down with the Atheists!” “Swear,” urged the Proconsul, “reproach Christ, and I will set you free.” Polycarp answered, “86 years have I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” Polycarp was then burned alive. To Polycarp, they weren’t just words.

Do you think Peter’s denial was just words? Matt 26:74-75 Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know the man!" And immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly. 

We can’t play a game with honoring God. We will either honor Him or we won’t. A lie to escape death does not honor Him. And it costs us the blessing of the persecuted.

Listen to Paul’s encouragement to those experiencing persecution: 2Cor 4:7-10 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 

All we need is always provided for whatever we face. But what about those who die or are tortured or whose house gets burned? Did God fail to provide for them? No. God never fails His children. He blessed them in ways we cannot understand on this side of Heaven.

So, before the persecution reaches desperate proportions, we need to decide what we are willing to stand for and even, if necessary, to die for.

Dan 3:13-18 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?" Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." 

Dan 3:19-27 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. For this reason, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, "Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They replied to the king, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!" Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them. 

Here is our assurance: When we face the fire, we’ll not be doing it alone. God’s promise to not forsake us doesn’t mean we’ll not die, or go to prison or suffer some measure of indignity. It means, in whatever we face He will be with us. The greatest promise we can hold onto is God will never leave us nor forsake us. What was the last thing Jesus said before He ascended back into Heaven? I am with you, always.

That is the hope I try to give during a funeral. I use Ps 23 a lot because even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we do not need to be afraid, for our God is with us. He walks with us through that valley. It’s what we can count on.

Isa 43:1-3 But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Deliverer;

Sometimes he takes us out of the fire. At other times He takes us through the fire. But at all times, He is with us in the fire. Because He is our Deliverer.

The result: Dan 3:28-30 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way." Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon. 

When I was in college, the cry was for tolerance. Allow people their own beliefs and practices. Who are you to impose your standards on other people? You don’t have to approve of what they do, just tolerate them. Yet, today that has turned around and those who cried for tolerance are now intolerant of us who have practices and beliefs they can’t tolerate. Where do you draw the line between a person’s convictions and society’s persecution of those who disagree?

For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the line was drawn inside a furnace of blazing fire. Where is our line drawn? This is where I stand. Upon this truth, I will not be moved. I will not bow down and worship the golden statue.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. 

I believe that day is coming. I believe from here on out to the return of Jesus, we will experience more and more persecution for what we believe. Choose with me, that when it comes, we will honor God.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. It’s best to decide in advance how we choose to act before the challenge comes.
2. If we wait until the moment to decide, pressure to conform will press us beyond our ability to stand firm.
3. Convictions are truths we will stand on regardless of what’s going on.
4. Without convictions, our beliefs are not enough.
5. To stand firm, we need a higher calling – to honor God above self.

 

When You Face lmpossible Situations

 In setting goals, we’re told to make them specific, realistic, measurable, achievable and personal. Wanting to be happy isn’t a goal but a wish. Trying to be a nicer person isn’t a goal but a desire. Wanting your husband to change anything isn’t a goal but a dream. I may want to be taller but that’s beyond my ability to make happen, no matter how much I might want it. A goal is to be something doable, with a plan to accomplish it, with some way to determine whether it’s been done or not.

If I set a goal to lose weight, I organize my life around making that happen. If I want to read through my Bible in a year, I’ll set up a schedule and carve out time each day to read. But the key word is doable. It is unrealistic for me to set a goal for something impossible.

But what if you’re asked to do the impossible or what seems impossible? Like providing for your family when you’ve lost your job. Like suffering through a treatment for an illness or condition that seems to be having no effect. Like healing the hole in our heart left from the loss of a loved one. Like forgiving someone who’s hurt us and shows no remorse. Or loving someone who is unlovable or simply hard to love. Or never letting the sun go down on our wrath. Or trusting the Lord with all our heart. Or interpreting a dream with no clue what the dream was about.

Dan 2:1 Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. 

Historical background: in 587 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, completed his assault on Jerusalem and captured the city and nation. He took captives back to Babylon. Those who showed great promise, he had them trained in the language and methods of that culture. Four young men rose to prominence: Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Dan 1:19-20 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm. 

These are the main characters in this story.

Dan 2:2-12 Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. The king said to them, "I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream." Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: "O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation." The king replied to the Chaldeans, "The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation." They answered a second time and said, "Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation." The king replied, "I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, inasmuch as you have seen that the command from me is firm, that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation is changed; therefore tell me the dream, that I may know that you can declare to me its interpretation." The Chaldeans answered the king and said, "There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean. Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh." Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. 

Who were the Chaldeans? If you remember Abraham’s story, he left Ur of the Chaldeans to travel to the Promised Land. The Chaldeans were the original people of Mesopotamia in which Babylon lies. Even in being conquered by other nations, they remained an influential and highly educated group of people. Some historians believe that, after Persia conquered Babylon, the term Chaldean was used more often to refer to a social class of highly educated people than to them as a nation which we find with Babylon. So, we simply merge them together and have them as a category of wise men within the nation of Babylon.

In the NT when the Magi came to Bethlehem to worship Jesus they were of this class of people. Which would now extend to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Dan 2:13-15 So the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them. Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Arioch, the captain of the king's bodyguard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; he said to Arioch, the king's commander, "For what reason is the decree from the king so urgent?" Then Arioch informed Daniel about the matter. 

Since the Chaldeans were the ones speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, they knew they were the targets of his rage. Daniel and the others were on the fringe, yet still in the same group.

Dan 2:16 So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king. 

Why would Daniel do this in the first place? To step into an impossible situation and offer to help?

•  Maybe to buy time hoping Nebuchadnezzar’s anger would settle down,
• Maybe to give the Chaldeans time to escape,
• Maybe he knew the history of God’s ability to do the impossible,
• Maybe he knew personally of God’s ability to do the impossible in his life.
• Bottom line: Daniel had faith and knew how to use it.

He had lost everything of his life in Jerusalem: his culture, his home, his family, his religion, but he didn’t lose his faith.

We may lose everything in our life, but we can never lose our ability to trust God. We may not want to trust Him, or may have forgotten how to trust Him, or may even refuse to trust Him, but we cannot lose the ability to trust Him. It stays right there, in the corner of our heart, waiting to be used or expressed.

You may have grown up like me, never questioning what God can do. We’ve read the stories and are confident God is all-powerful and limitless. But probably have a hard time connecting that God we believe in to our troubles. We may even ask: Do I have the right to expect God to step into my situation and do something miraculous? Why would He do that for me? Who am I that the God of the universe would care for me? But guess what:

Isa 64:3 When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. 

How often did the people see some visual expression of God’s power? Not often. But enough to build a strong faith that God has that power and can wield that power whenever and wherever He chooses. That’s why we need to read our Bible: 1Cor 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 

Once we’re convinced God is enough, we know there is no situation He cannot respond to. The Bible tells us that!

Daniel spoke with the assurance of Gabriel, who told Mary, Nothing is impossible with God. And, then, he stepped into an impossible situation that only God could handle.

Dan 2:17-18 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 

What was his first step: prayer. After Daniel set the goal to declare the interpretation of the dream, he prayed. Prayer was the connection to the One who understood the mystery of what was going on and had the ability to answer. He was the only One in whom Nothing is Impossible.

When we’re asked to do the impossible, we have to start with Him. We never start with us to see what we can do. Our ability is inability in situations like this. When what we face requires the Almightiness of God, prayer is the only thing we can do.

But realize, Daniel didn’t just throw up a prayer, considering it the proper thing to do. This was his practice. We don’t wait until we face impossible situations to wake up a dormant prayer life. We start now, in the quietness of the moments before the storm, to practice resting in God’s ability.

Farmer hiring the worker who could sleep when the storm comes. If you’ve already done the work, there’s nothing to worry about when the storm comes.

In his prayer, Daniel requested compassion. Reaching out to the heart of God for the benefit of His love. Compassion is love with a purpose. It is directed love, love aimed toward someone or something that we can actually help resolve their conflict. This is far beyond feeling love or sympathy or even empathy. We rarely love with compassion love because we’re limited from doing what needs to be done.

• Someone has lost a loved one. We love them though we cannot remove their grief.
• Someone is sick. We love them though we cannot heal their illness.
• Someone is heartbroken. We love them though we cannot fix their broken heart.

Daniel was requesting God’s compassion because it came with God’s intention of doing something in his behalf. God, I rest in your compassion because it never fails.

Ps 77:9-10 Has God forgotten to be gracious, or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Then I said, "It is my grief, that the right hand of the Most High has changed." 

I may doubt everything else in my life, but I can never doubt God’s loving purpose over me.

So, in extreme confidence, Daniel goes to bed. No answer yet. Only the threat that tomorrow he and the others will die with no interpretation. How can he go to sleep at a time like this? He gave the problem to the Lord.

If I am anxious, worried or fearful, I am not trusting. When I trust, I can sleep when the storm is coming.

Dan 2:19-23 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven; Daniel said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and power; even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, for You have made known to us the king's matter." 

The answer is given but the crisis isn’t over. What if God answers us and the crisis doesn’t stop? What if we believe what God has said but the threat still remains? We act according to the answer God gave us, not according to what we see or don’t see.

Dan 2:24-27 Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and spoke to him as follows: "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king." Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows: "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!" The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?" Daniel answered before the king and said, "As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. 

No, I’m not able to do this. No man is. This is an impossible situation. It is outside the realm of human energy, intelligence or creativity to fix.

Now, like Arioch taking credit for “finding” Daniel, this could have been a moment for Daniel to take some of God’s glory. “Yep, I figured it all out. I’m the best.” It’s human nature to claim responsibility for solving problems. But not when you know where the answer came from.

Years ago, Jan’s dad had a turning point in his life. At the time, he was a machine tool mechanic. In fact, he was the chief trouble-shooter for Hughes Tool Company. He was good. He admitted to me he was even a bit cocky because he believed he could fix anything, and honestly, he could. Except for one machine. He did everything he could think of but couldn’t get it running right. He finally broke down and said, “God, I can’t do this. I need help.” He said, almost as soon as he finished praying, he knew the answer. And in that one moment, he realized the reason he was so good wasn’t because he was so good. It was because God was making him good. That’s called getting perspective.

Listen to how Daniel placed everything into perspective:

Dan 2:28-30 "However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed. As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future; and He who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place. But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind. 

King, I want you to know of the power of my God. He does the impossible. He helps the helpless. He restores the broken. He finds the lost. He heals the diseased. He pardons sinners. He redeems lives from the pit. He crowns us with lovingkindness and compassion. He satisfies our years with good things. He performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He solves mysteries and resolves challenges we face.

So, King Nebuchadnezzar, you may delight in the terror you inflict on your people with the impossible challenges you throw their way, but there is a God you cannot compete with. He is above and beyond anything we face and does far more than we could ever think or ask. That is our God.

Dan 2:46-49 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel, and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense. The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery." Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king's court. 

Why do we face impossible situations? Primarily to prepare us for what God has planned. You can’t get there from here isn’t only in travel. Sometimes when God wants to move us to the next level of life, He has to take us down rough roads before we can get where He wants us to be. Why would He do that?

• To remind us how helpless we are to manage our lives on our own.
• To remind us that though we are helpless we are not hopeless.
• To remind us we belong to a God who accomplishes what concerns us.
• To clarify our perspective of where the source of our life comes from.
• To open up all we are going through to the only One who can get us through it.
• To provide answers we can never come up with on our own.
• To place us in a position that if it were not for God, we’d have no hope.
• To show us things about God we never would have known otherwise.

I can’t give you a prescription for your life as to how to make it good and meaningful. All I can do is connect you with the God who establishes your way. Loving Him, trusting Him, relying on Him, is the only criteria for facing the impossible and confidently knowing God’s got this. I can’t give Him your burdens. I can’t heal your disease. I can’t take away your suffering. I can’t do impossible things in your life, but He can. Ask Him to do so.

Samuel Adams: We have appealed to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and in Heaven we have placed our trust. Numerous have been the manifestation of God’s providence in sustaining us. We have been reduced to distress, and the arm of Omnipotence has raised us up.

When we face an impossible situation, (and be assured, if we’re not there now, we will be at some point) we will be reduced to distress. But that distress is designed to cause us to look to the arms of our God Who will raise us up.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Life is full of impossible challenges.
2. They may be our own personal challenges or ones we absorb because they affect those we love.
3. We are not in charge of the impossible and are, in fact, incapable of resolving it.
4. So, if faced with an impossible challenge, here is our doable goal: give the challenge to the Lord in whom nothing is impossible

LIving Biblically - The Precepts

When we left off last week, Jacob, his twelve sons and their families, 66 to 70 people in all, had relocated from the land of Israel to Egypt, where they remain for over 400 years. Then:

Ex 1:7-11 The sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them. Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. “Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land." So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor.

When the conditions of their lives changed, they were no longer long-term guests but now slaves. The cry went up and God performed the greatest deliverance in the story of the Jews. From then on, the Jewish community has celebrated the Feast of Passover as a reminder of how God set them free the night the Death Angel passed over them.

Now, to understand the inner workings of this story, we have to be careful where the Bible is silent. Many strange and confusing ideas come when we try to speak for the Bible instead of allowing the Bible to speak for itself. For example, most of our imagery of the Exodus is from the imaginations of the producers of the old Ten Commandments movie or Disney’s The Prince of Egypt. They depict the people coming out of Egypt as highly religious, God-fearing Jews. They weren’t. They had lived over 400 years in a pagan world with only restrictions to keep them from marrying pagans, nothing about what it looked like to be the People of God.

Remember, this was before they had any formal worship, a temple, a system of sacrifice, a list of do’s and don’ts, any structure for how they were to acknowledge God, or a defined path on which they would follow Him. They were God’s people more by designation than life commitment.

What did they have? A promise that God would make them into a nation and give them a land where they could live.

That promise goes back to God telling Abraham that through him, He would create more ancestors than the stars or the grains of sand. He even showed him the land where they would all live. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

God told Isaac He was running the same thread of His purpose through him: Gen 26:24-25 The LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, for the sake of My servant Abraham." So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD. 

Then, Jacob encountered the Lord. Gen 28:13-18 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. 

What the Jews of the Exodus had was a heritage of God’s promise passed down from their ancestors. They were the family God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That was all that held them together. There was no Scripture, no commands, no instructions, nothing that defined their behavior or social practices other than what had developed as traditions.

When Moses led them out of Egypt, it became clear he had a multitude of people who simply wanted freedom but had no idea of how that freedom was to be lived. They’d spent over 400 years in a country that had a god for every occasion. How would that shape their lives? They were a mixture of paganism and a limited understanding of who God was.

How do you know that? Not long after they left Egypt, they built a golden calf to worship in place of God. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai after getting the tablets, God told him: Ex 32:8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!' 

When did this happen in the story line? Maybe this was before they knew better. Ex 19:1 In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They had escaped captivity, had crossed the Red Sea and were now at Mt. Sinai and were settling in. So,

Ex 19:3 Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: Ex 19:5-8 'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do!" And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. 

Wait, before the golden calf, all the people had told God they would do whatever He tells them to do? Yes. As a sign of their singular devotion to Him alone? Yes. In surrender of their lives and futures to obey Him? Yes.

I thought Moses only went up on the mountain once and then came down with the 10 Commandments, and that’s when they learned what God expected. No. The Mt Sinai experience was a conversation with God, with Moses going up and down the mountain many times. He would hear from God, then come down and share with the people what God was telling him. In fact, God spoke the 10 Commandments to the people before He carved them into stone.

Ex 19:24-25 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and come up again, you and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people [come up]" So Moses went down to the people and told them to gather. 

Ex 20:1-5 Then God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; and went on to tell them the 10 Commandments.

But the Bible says they couldn’t understand Him. What they heard was thunder and noise. Now, why would God speak to them though He knew they wouldn’t understand? He wanted them to hear His voice so they would know what Moses said was from Him and carried the same authority as God Himself.

Jesus experienced this with the Pharisees: John 8:43, 47 Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word…He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God." 

Why couldn’t the Pharisees understand? To them, Jesus’ words were just the words of a man. They had no experience hearing from God, so they couldn’t recognize God’s voice in the words Jesus spoke. Jesus said: My sheep hear My voice. You aren’t them.

When we read our Bible, do we understand we’re listening to the voice of God through our pages of Scripture and not just reading the words of men?

Little kid calling in the big kids at the end of the day. They totally ignore him until he says the magic words: Momma said. Reading the Bible as God’s word is the equivalent of hearing: Momma said.

Moses went back up the mountain and: Ex 20:22-23 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. 

What’s God doing? Making sure His spokesman clearly understood the message He wanted the people to hear.

Ex 24:1-3 Then He said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. Moses alone, however, shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him." Then Moses came down and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do, we will be obedient!" 

What God has said, we will do. We affirm the words spoken are His words. We will conform our lives to how God has said we should live.

Is there an equivalent moment for us like that? It’s when the crucial decision happens that we choose to Live Biblically, when we decide adjusting our lives to the words of God will be the basis of who we are and how we live.

Jesus told Satan: Matt 4:4 "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" 

Ps 119:116 Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live;

The life of God within us, is fed by the words of God that sustain us.

Jesus told His disciples: John 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. What is fruit? It’s the biproduct of a tree’s life. Our fruit is the evidence we belong to the Lord. That evidence is the life that flows out of our relationship with the Father. It’s what results from us believing and expressing that belief in our daily lives. Or what we’ve called Living Biblically.

Living Biblically boils down to a series of points:

·       Understanding who God really is,

·       Believing the Bible to be a true representation of God’s intentions,

·       Expressing faith that God can be trusted in all matters of life,

·       Realizing there is a thread of God’s purpose running throughout history,

·       Receiving the gift of relationship which God provided by Jesus’ death,

·       Choosing to live according to His precepts.

Precepts: general statements intended to regulate behavior or thought. The days of keeping the Law of the OT are over. We don’t live by laws. We live by the precepts of God’s word.

Ps 103:17-18 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. 

James 1:22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 

What God has said is true. It is to be believed and lived. That’s how faith works. Doing what we believe God has told us in His Word.

Let’s go back to Moses. After God made clear what He expected and Moses had told the people, Moses went back up on the mountain for an extended time to receive the Law, as well as the instructions for the Tabernacle and the social rules for how the people were to live as a community.

Then, when he came down, he carried the 10 Commandments on tablets of stone. It was at that time the people were worshipping the golden calf. Remember, they already knew this was wrong, but chose to ignore God’s command and had reverted back to old patterns of their life from Egypt. It had just been a little over a month since they agreed not to do this and that they would honor all the commandments. They didn’t even make it past the first one. As a result, 3000 died.

Did God expect what happened? Of course. So, why did He deliver them in the first place, knowing many of them would rebel so soon? He had made a promise. Ex 2:23-24 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

It was His covenant, the agreement with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember, God is working from a plan, not just whimsically deciding what’s next. He had a purpose for Egypt: to give them a safe and prosperous place to grow into a nation. With that done, it was now time for that nation to move into transformation.  

See, they couldn’t go directly to the land, they needed a transitional time. Time to get Egypt out of them and make the covenant personal. Both would take time.

God never intended them or us to live by the faith of our ancestors. Grandma’s faith isn’t our faith.

The covenant God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had to become their God. To live out that covenant would require a transformed life. That life came with requirements attached and a question: Would they accept the requirements?

In other words, they had the heritage of the people of God, but would they live the life of that heritage by adding these things into their lives and removing others things from their lives?

Why so strict? Partly to get Egypt out of them. Secondly to define who they were and what God expected from them. Without that structure, they would have been left to their own imaginations for coming up with a preferred lifestyle. And we know, by how they treated God’s commands, it would have been mixed with Egyptian Paganism.

God was drawing them to a singular heart of devotion for Him alone with no room for devotion to any other god. They could no longer be bi-religious – a little bit pagan, a little bit Jewish. They couldn’t mix into their lives whatever they wanted and expect good results.

2Kings 4:38-40 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, "Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets." Then one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were. So they poured it out for the men to eat. And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, "O man of God, there is death in the pot." And they were unable to eat. 

He was adding a little extra to the pot, hoping for something more pleasing. A little extra flavor or more texture. But what he added destroyed what made the stew good to eat and, in fact, made the stew worthless. When God gives the recipe for life, we go by the recipe without adding to or taking away from it.

Moses took a nation that didn’t know God personally or know how to live in a way that pleased God, and struggled with paganism and had to teach them how to live. Though he got them out of Egypt, it took time to get Egypt out of their hearts. To do so, they had to turn away from Egypt and turn toward God.

Same for us.

Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

The choice not to conform to the world must be followed by the commitment to be transformed by the precepts of God’s word.

I imagine the people coming out of Egypt thought they’d just get free and relocate, never expecting the life-transforming work God had planned for them. I imagine it’s the same for us as well. We want God to make us free but have to learn how to live within that freedom.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Getting Israel out of Egypt was a matter of miracles and logistics.
2. Getting Egypt out of Israel required transformation.
3. It was a two-step process.
4. Step one was removing anything that might interfere with, distract from or replace their devotion to God.
5. Step two was adjusting themselves to live according to the instructions God gave them.
6. It is the same for us.