Sunday, April 23, 2006
God Is Able, but He Might Not
Daniel missed the event everyone was talking about in Babylon.
“Did you hear what happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Their God saved them from the fire! Not a hair on their heads was burned; I hear their clothes didn’t at all smell like smoke!”
“Yep, I saw them! It’s true…they weren’t even singed. The fire never touched them!”
Here is a time and place in history when God was obviously real and acting in BIG, supernatural ways. It’s like Elijah’s showdown with Baal, and David’s miracle confrontation with Goliath; it is Moses and the Egyptians at the Red Sea all over again. How do you think these three had such courage to face their deadly punishment and to stand firm in their faith? It wasn’t because Daniel had told them how great God is! It wasn’t because they led disciplined lives under Hebrew law. Witness and discipline has severe limitation. No, most likely it had to do with faith building throughout childhood as they heard the stories over and over of their heritage as God’s Chosen. A new believer is vulnerable if all they know is what someone told them yesterday or what God did today.
God had saved Israel with supernatural intervention—That is, outside of scientific observation. Perhaps they had not witnessed any of these events firsthand! And it wasn’t that these three friends of Daniel were counting on the super powers God had displayed to save them now. The understanding was, “Even if God doesn’t spare our lives, we refuse to bow to your fake god statue!” They simply knew with all their heart, mind, and soul that God is real and living, One awful God to be feared. Prayers were their native language because they knew, “Our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us…” even though He might not. These three young Jewish men had no idea if their confrontation with false religion on this day was going to be an epic moment. They didn’t seem to care, did they? There was nothing said about the God of Israel showing Babylon and their king that “Jehovah God is the One, True God!” The goal in pure simple form was, “We will worship no one, nothing but the God of Israel!” But God used this amazing display of loyalty to put on a fantastic show! It turned an entire kingdom upside down in an instant. Bam!
Is this the kind of firework theatrics Anonymous (from a previous comment) is looking for? The commenter is asking for a supernatural exposition of God’s Reality. I honestly don’t know if we will see God’s power in this way any time soon, and I have reasons for the dubious attitude.
As any regular reader knows, I don’t like to 'babble on' for too long and I have much to say so, the reasons next time…
“Did you hear what happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Their God saved them from the fire! Not a hair on their heads was burned; I hear their clothes didn’t at all smell like smoke!”
“Yep, I saw them! It’s true…they weren’t even singed. The fire never touched them!”
Here is a time and place in history when God was obviously real and acting in BIG, supernatural ways. It’s like Elijah’s showdown with Baal, and David’s miracle confrontation with Goliath; it is Moses and the Egyptians at the Red Sea all over again. How do you think these three had such courage to face their deadly punishment and to stand firm in their faith? It wasn’t because Daniel had told them how great God is! It wasn’t because they led disciplined lives under Hebrew law. Witness and discipline has severe limitation. No, most likely it had to do with faith building throughout childhood as they heard the stories over and over of their heritage as God’s Chosen. A new believer is vulnerable if all they know is what someone told them yesterday or what God did today.
God had saved Israel with supernatural intervention—That is, outside of scientific observation. Perhaps they had not witnessed any of these events firsthand! And it wasn’t that these three friends of Daniel were counting on the super powers God had displayed to save them now. The understanding was, “Even if God doesn’t spare our lives, we refuse to bow to your fake god statue!” They simply knew with all their heart, mind, and soul that God is real and living, One awful God to be feared. Prayers were their native language because they knew, “Our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us…” even though He might not. These three young Jewish men had no idea if their confrontation with false religion on this day was going to be an epic moment. They didn’t seem to care, did they? There was nothing said about the God of Israel showing Babylon and their king that “Jehovah God is the One, True God!” The goal in pure simple form was, “We will worship no one, nothing but the God of Israel!” But God used this amazing display of loyalty to put on a fantastic show! It turned an entire kingdom upside down in an instant. Bam!
Is this the kind of firework theatrics Anonymous (from a previous comment) is looking for? The commenter is asking for a supernatural exposition of God’s Reality. I honestly don’t know if we will see God’s power in this way any time soon, and I have reasons for the dubious attitude.
As any regular reader knows, I don’t like to 'babble on' for too long and I have much to say so, the reasons next time…
