SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2013 7:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: True Faith
Confesses the Lord
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
3:13-18
Message of the verses: “13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. 14 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? 15 “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?" 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 “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. 18 "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.’”
Nebuchadnezzar had a great problem with anger and it again shows up here in this section. It is hard to believe that a man who had conquered most of the known world but could not control his own temper. “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32).” On the other hand we see three young men who were very calm and got directly to the point that they would not worship the king’s idol or the king’s gods because they had great conviction and great faith in the one true God. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15).”
In his sermon on this chapter of Daniel John MacArthur
tells the story about a wealthy man who ran a company and one day this man told
those who were working for him that it would be necessary for them to work on
Sunday. One of the men who was working
for him came to him and told him that he could not work on Sunday because of
his faith to which the man told him that he would have to dismiss him. The man told his boss that he did not want to
be dismissed, because his mom was sick and he was taking care of her. He was dismissed and was then out looking for
a job, but could not find one. The owner
of the company had a conversation with a man who was going to start a bank and
was looking for someone he could trust to work for him. The owner of this company told him about the
young man that he had to dismiss to which the man wondered why he should hire a
man who had been fired from his job. The
owner of the company told him that even though he had fired him that because he
had stuck up for his convictions this would be a man he could trust with his
money. You can see this story is similar
to the one we are looking at from Daniel three for these three men stuck to
their convictions even though it could mean that they were going to die a
painful death that very day.
I believe that through all of the rage and anger that
Nebuchadnezzar had that he truly had respect for these three men. After all it was just a short time before
this that he had called their God the God of gods. He may have forgotten this because of his
anger for he did ask what God could deliver them from the fiery furnace. He
would find out very soon!
The three men could have compromised, looking for a
reason not to be true to their convictions and the God who instilled these
convictions in their hearts, but they did not.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “true
faith doesn’t look for loopholes; it simply obeys God and knows that He will do
what is best. Faith rests on commands
and promises, not on arguments and explanations.”
Throughout history the Church has always grown through
adversity, and we see in Mark 13:9 these
words that Jesus spoke, “"But be on your guard; for they will deliver you
to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand
before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.” Jesus suffered and died for us and if the God
of all the earth can suffer for us then we may someday have to suffer for the
cause of Christ.
“16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.” These three young men were saying to Nebuchadnezzar that they did not need to defend themselves or defend our God and the reason for this is that God would defend both us and Himself. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Our task is to obey God and trust Him, and He will do the rest. ‘Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation’ (Isa. 12:2).”
These three men were men of faith and they did not presume that God would step in a do a miracle, but they knew that if it was His will to do so that He was completely able to do it. We cannot presume what God is going to do, especially in situations like this, but we can have faith that what He will do will be the best for us and will bring glory to Himself. I want to conclude this section by quoting again Dr. Wiersbe because I believe he addresses a very important point: “Hebrews 11 lists the names and deeds of great men and women of faith, including these three Jewish men (Heb. 11:34), but at verse 36, the writer says ‘And others’ and then lists people who seem to be failures in spite of their faith (vv. 36-40). The Greek word means ‘others of a different kind,’ that is, others who had faith but didn’t see God do the miracles. Not everybody who prays is healed, but God always gives strength to bear with pain and grace to face death without fear. The three Hebrew men believed that God could deliver them, but they would trust Him even if He didn’t. That is how faith is supposed to operate in our lives. See Habakkuk 3:17-18.” “Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The writer to the
Hebrews says “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen (Heb. 11:1)” He then goes on to speak of men and women who
demonstrated this kind of faith in their lives.
This teaches me along with the passage we have looked at that I can
always trust God for He is faithful. I
may not always understand what is going on, but I can still trust the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to give me the wisdom to make
the decisions that need to be made today and may they be done for His honor and
glory.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Cor. 517-18
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Patience and comfort of the
Scriptures.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “To whom was Jesus’ coming
first announced, and by whom?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
5/9/2013 8:29 AM
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