Skip to main content

New Article: Focus on God’s Strength, Not Yours

 

               When reading scripture, it is easy to get the facts right and the application wrong.  Take the story of Daniel and the lion’s den for example.

               Five hundred years before Christ, a man named Daniel lived in the Persian Empire.  God blessed him, and he eventually rose to be second in command in the entire kingdom.  This displeased some of his coworkers because he was a foreigner and they decided to get rid of him.  After digging through his history and work records, they could find nothing wrong, so they came up with a different plan.

               They convinced King Darius that it would be a good idea to have everyone in the kingdom pray to him for the next month.  This would be unifying, and it would show loyalty to the king.  Darius thought this was a good idea and issued the order.

               In response, “Daniel… went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10-11).  The punishment for not following the order was that he was thrown into a den of lions.  As you likely know, God protected Daniel and the next morning he was found safe and sound.

               The application that we often make about this story is, “You need to be like Daniel!”  There is even a song called “Dare to be a Daniel” that encourages people to stand up for God, be courageous and do the right thing.  The problem is that I am not normally courageous, strong, and brave!  Telling me to try harder, be better and act like Daniel is discouraging. 

               Interestingly, though, nothing in scripture tells us that Daniel was brave on his own.  In fact, we know nothing about how he felt.  All we know is that he had confidence that his God could help him (see verses 11 and 23).  This story, like most others in the word of God, is not about a brave follower who stood up, but rather about someone who trusted God and got a much better result than they could have ever imagined.

               That is a much more encouraging lesson!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This.... Which Way Are You Leaning?

   When Ben Patterson agreed to join three friends climbing Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park, he did not realize what he was signing up for.  Early in the day, it became clear that he was completely unprepared for the task.  In an effort to keep up with his more experienced friends, Ben took a shortcut.  It did not occur to him that there might be a reason the others had not selected this route, but he soon found out why.  Ben became stuck on the glacier.  He could not move up, down or sideways and one wrong move would send him sliding down a forty-five-degree slope to the valley floor miles below.   That is when one of his friends came to the rescue. His buddy leaned over the edge and carved some footholds in the ice.  He told Ben to step to the first foothold and immediately swing his other foot to the second, then his buddy would pull him to safety.  Lastly, his friend gave him one more piece of advice....
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: The Biggest Problem Is Not Out There!

In a time when everyone has a vocal opinion on everything and judgment is everywhere, maybe we need to reconsider the words of Jesus. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).  Here are two observations to consider. First, when we look for what others are doing wrong, we are starting in the wrong place.  “Take the log out of your eye” is the first move.  Start with yourself!  It is easy to judge others and make excuses for ourselves.  Yet, that is completely backwards! If we are honest, we never get past making ourselves better.  There is always more to do.  This, then, leaves very little time to point out...
Post a Comment
Read more