Bravery, Courage, & Faithfulness

When faced with a decision of whether to worship God or worship an image and a king, three brave men chose to serve and worship the one and only living God - even if that meant death.

The story involves Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. The king of Babylon had sent out a decree that everyone under the rule of his kingdom was to worship an image he created, and whoever did not worship it was to be sent into aa "fiery furnace" to burn. These three men knew their God and instead answered the king in the following manner:

"If that is the case, our God who we serve is able to deliver us from the burining fiery firnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve gods, nor will worship the gold image which you have set up" (Daniel 3:17-18).

Even more than their bravery and faithfulness to God is their audacity yet sureness of who God is. They knew God could save them, but if He decided not to, that didn't worry them. They knew their God was real and the only one to be worshipped and in whom they had life. In the end, they were thrown into the fire and the Lord delivered them in such a remarkable way:

"'Look!' he answered, 'I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God....and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them" (Daniel 3:25,27).

 They went into the midst of the fire and they went out unscathed.

And so it will be for them that believe in God and remain faithful - who choose Him even if it means death. And though He not deliver us from death, we know we will live forever with Him.

"For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's" (Romans 14:8).

We are the Lord's.

Persevere and endure until the end.

"For God is Love"

 Romans 5:3-5;

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

1 John 4:12-13;

"No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit."

John 15:5;

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

Galatians 5:22-23;

 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law."

 1 John 4:10-11;

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

1 John 4:8;

"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." 

What is the conclusion of the whole matter? God is love and He poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He showed us His love and gave it to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent to make peace between God and humankind and restore our relationship with Him. Therefore, through His love, we can love one another. But it is this constant relationship between God and us; this constant abiding in Him, that makes this love possible - for without us abiding in Him, it is impossible to love because God is love.

"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).

 Love is the key. The love of God is the key that gives us hope, that gives us character, that helps us to persevere, no matter the tribulations that assail us - and so we can glory in our tribulations and glory in God that sees us through it all when we abide in Him.

Persevere and endure until the end.

Restore us, O God, Cause Your Face to Shine

 Psalm 80:3

Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!

 Lamentations 3:22-23;

Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

These two verses, in context, are written in the middle of the worst of times for God's people. In psalms 80, there is a plea to God to restore His people; to cause His face to shine; to save us. The psalmist makes this plea in the middle of great despair and sorrow for God's people because as the psalmist puts it:

You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in great measure. You have made us a strife to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves (Psalm 80: 5-6).

Then in Lamentations 3, the writer is pronouncing these words right in the middle of affliction to God's people where they suffer through the famine, the sword, and pestilence. They were wasting away because God's judgments were upon His people who had forgotten him. The writer says:

My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the infants faint in the streets of the city (Lamentations 2:11).

 This is just a little of what the whole of Lamentations and the 80th chapter of Psalms describes.

Nonetheless, thought great and terrible sorrow consumed these writers and those whom they saw around them, they remembered their God - the only One who could save. The only One who is merciful. Though these calamities are upon us, the Lord is not through with us, to do good to us. All He is seeking is that His people would come to Him. He is the source of goodness and love, but when His people depart from that in order to fulfill their own temptations, then that goodness and love also departs. For God is Holy. He does not abide in the dark. He is light.

May God restore us, and cause His face to shine on us, and save us. Amen.

 Persevere and endure until the end.

God, Surely, Will Not Forget nor Cast Off Forever

 Psalm 77: 1-20

"I cried out to the God with my voice - to God with my voice; and He gave ear to me.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.

You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.

Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?

And I said, "This is my anguish; but I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of your deeds. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the people. You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You, they were afraid; the depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about. The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters, and Your footsteps were not known. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron."

Though trouble come, the Lord will not forget us nor cast us off forever. He is still gracious and merciful, giving us His tender mercies. Just as He was before, so He will be today. Though He became angry, His anger will not be forever. He will bring us to Himself. During troubling times, we must remember His goodness and wonders. So we will be comforted and encouraged.

Persevere and endure until the end.

Peace; No Peace; & Labor Pains

"For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

At times like these, the Lord has said that there will be no peace because of the rebellion of His people:

"Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'? (Ezekiel 7:8-10)

Remember, God is the Prince of Peace and does not abide with evil and wickedness. So, God is asking, 'how could anyone speak of peace when it is clear that evil and wickedness is present?'

"They have healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14). 

"'For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down,' says the Lord'" (Jeremiah 8:11-12).

Time and time, again, the Lord said that many would be speaking of peace at a time where there is no peace - at a time when many events begin to unfold that would cause anguish like a woman in labor pains.

"We have heard the report of it; Our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor" (Jeremiah 7:24).

"Lord, in trouble they have visited You, they poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them. As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we been in Your sight, O Lord" (Isaiah 26:16-17).

These speak for themselves:

"We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and there was trouble!...I would comfort myself in sorrow; my hear is faint in me. Listen! the voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her? 'Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images - with foreign idols?'

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" (Jeremiah 8:15,18-20).

In Jeremiah chapter 6-9, the Lord speaks to His people: pointing out their rebellious attitude and actions; pleading with them that they turn, but they would not hear; not wanting to send the judgments, but He says:

"'...Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how should I deal with the daughter of My people? Their tongue is an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait. Shall I not punish them for these things?' says the Lord. 'Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?'" (Jeremiah 9:6-9)

Because of God's holiness and righteousness, He sends these judgments - it is a consequence of sin. But His mercy and grace are His warnings and delayings of the judgments. He does this so that we would prepare to go through the pains and anguish. But His people must pay attention and do what He says.

There are many words of comfort for when His righteous judgments come:

"But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as other do, but let us watch and be sober..But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing" (1 Thessalonians 5:4-11).

What we will go through is not His wrath; they are His bands of love, to purify us, and conform us into His image - "till we all come to unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). In God, through His Holy Spirit, to be perfect (or made whole and complete) is possible, for with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). Also, remember that Jesus suffered and we will go through this evil time "that we may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead," as Paull said (Philippians 3:10-11).

And Jesus, Himself, tells us:

"Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:20-23).

And, again: 

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). 

In Him, we will have peace and joy. This was spoken to the disciples when He had not yet died and resurrected - they were not going to see Him, but then they would.

But, now, it is also true, for we wait for the Lord's coming, again, when He will come to gather His people who are patient and remain faithful to Him; who keep His commandments; who have the testimony of Jesus Christ; who overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony; and who loved not their lives unto the death.

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know...I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:1-3,6).

Persevere and endure to the end.

He Will Guide

 "Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it." Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever yout urn to the left" (Isaiah 30:21).

God will guide those who have waited for Him, who have been on their knees before Him and have sought Him. He will be gracious to those who have heard and listened. 

God raised up many voices to warn of judgment. They called for the people to repent and to turn to God so that He will relent from the destruction that He would send because of the wickedness upon the land. But it was not so. Judgment is sure to come because the Bible said it would.

BUT, that does not mean that you cannot repent. Repentance and turning to God is still the answer, though judgment come. The worst is coming; like a domino effect, the judgments will fall one after the other and you will need to know what to do. Seek His guidance and He will lead those who are His, who repented, listened, turned to Him, and cried out to Him. As the verse above says, you will hear a word behind you that will guide you.

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You" (Isaiah 26:3).

He will give those whom He has warned, and who prepared, with peace. But do not stop seeking God. Ask Him for direction. He warned:

"Thus says the Lord: 'Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' Also, I set watchman over you saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen.' Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregations, what is among them. Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people - the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it'" (Jeremiah 6:16-19).

 BUT:

"Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may hav emercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him" (Isaiah 30:18).

 Though He "gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction," He will still be gracious and merciful (Isaiah 30:20). 

"He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength...But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:29,31).

Persevere and endure to the end.

 

It is Happening Again

Ezekiel was just one of God's prophets that God sent out to Israel to warn of the coming judgments that were to befall the nation. God warned them and called out to them to repent. But God knew that many were "impudent and hard-hearted," "a rebellious house"(Ezekiel 3:7,26). They were spiritually blind and deaf because they did not want to listen.

God has always sent His prophets to warn the nations of judgment to cause them to repent and turn to Him. He did it then and is still doing it now. Many have been brought forth to warn the nation to do the same: Repent. But....they did not hear.

The judgment, then, is against the shepherds because they did not care for the sheep (God's people) and instead took advantage of them to feed themselves.

"...Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?...The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them" (Ezekiel 34:2,4).

As a result, the sheep were left to fend for themselves - "they were scattered" (Ezekiel 34:5). Even more, when the shepherds heard God's warning, they did not believe nor did they care. They only focused on the system of "feeding themselves" that they had created and thought they could remain as they were. But they were wrong:

"Thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed them no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them'" (Ezekiel 34:10)

And just like that, the judgment is that the shepherds were no longer going to have any of the flock to feed themselves with. And so it has become now.

But the hope for the flock is that they would have God as their Shepherd:

"I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord God. "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment." - (Ezekiel 34:15-16)

He will gather His people unto Himself once again. Just as it was back then for Israel, so it is now.

Persevere and endure to the end. 

A Lying Spirit

1 Kings 22:19-23;

"Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. And the Lord said, 'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will persuade him.' The Lord said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.'

And the Lord said, 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.' Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you."

Would you go into a battle that was sure to be lost?

The word of the Lord from Micaiah in 1 Kings retells a story about a king who wanted to go out to battle to regain lost territory, but the Lord forewarned that it will bring disaster. The king did not want to hear that he would fail, but wanted to hear that he would prevail. The king's prophets prophesied that he would go to battle and prevail. But there was one, Micaiah, who declared the truth:

"...I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, 'These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.'"

But a lying spirit was sent to the king through his prophets because the king had already determined in his heart that he wanted to go to war - no matter the outcome. For he said:

"There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil."

In other words, the king just wanted to hear what he liked. He wanted to hear that good would happen to him, no matter what he chose. He despised those prophets who differed from his views and desires. He just wanted to hear a word of prosperity.

The Lord did not hide the truth from him. He declared to him what was going to happen. The Lord advised that it would be best to "return to [the] house in peace." But seeing that the king did not desire to take heed to that advice, Micaiah declared a deeper truth: that the Lord had sent a lying spirit to the king's prophets - all because the king only desired to hear that he would prosper in every one of his decisions.

Take heed to God's warnings. Do not be deceived. What may seem the best, may not actually the best. Wait and be still. God has given advice, has declared the truth, and has given His warning.

Persevere and endure to the end.

Hear & Do

Ezekiel 33:30-33;

"As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, 'Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.' So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.

And when this comes to pass - surely it will come - then they will know that a prophet has been among them.'"

 Lord, help us to listen and do.

Persevere and endure to the end.

Above all, love.

And just like that, after God pled with us to return to Him, to return to our first love, to repent, to follow Him, and to listen to Him, the judgments that He so warned about, if we did not take heed, have now begun.

"For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17).

 But we are to...

"...count it all joy when [we] fall into various trials..." (James 1:2).

Fear is not the response. Rather, when all these things begin to come to pass, the response should be that of returning to Him - that of watchful prayer:

"But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers" (1 Peter 4:7).

For the end of all things is at hand, but it is just the beginning of the end. Severe trials will come to those who love God and obey the gospel of God. And it will be worse for those who do not obey the gospel of God. The difference for those who do love and obey God is that His promise of eternal life with Him is our end. Meanwhile, at the present time, He is our hope, trust, and the only one who will get us through. And though the suffering comes, joy will be in the midst of those who love and obey God.

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12-13). 

 All these things must come to pass. We may have fallen asleep. Maybe we forgot or ignored the Word of God and the warnings He gave us. Maybe we let the cares of this world drown us. Maybe we thought we were okay. Maybe we hoped it wouldn't come. But...

"...do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than we first believed" (Romans 13:11).

There is always hope and this is the time to wake up.

What is close to happening will not be easy. The "love of many will grow cold" because of the betrayals, killings, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and lawlessness (Matthew 24:12). But we must persevere in Jesus, who is love.

"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins'" (1 Peter 4:8).

 Persevere and endure to the end.