Clever and Effective Punishment from the hand of God
Today I was thinking about faith and what makes the faith of some of God's children deeper and stronger than others. I was considering all that we have seen in the course of the last few years and wondering why Christians would make decisions about their lives and health that were not based on faith. So many were fearful of losing jobs, or getting the flu, or even death. That fear caused them to make decisions that seem to make no sense. For many these decisions have proven deadly. What they feared would happen has happened. They relied on man's wisdom and not God's promises.
I've been trying to wrap my head around it and looking at Biblical characters who were faced with life-threatening situations but never wavered. I believe we are going to face more difficult things than the flu, and I want to make sure my own faith is strong enough to endure even the most frightening of possibilities. Four men stood out in my mind more than any others. They were faced with death if they did not comply with orders that went against their convictions. These four men were Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego and Daniel.
These four young men were in exile in Babylon. They were handsome, smart, of noble lineage, and were possibly also castrated and made eunuchs so they could never reproduce. If there were ever four men who had reason to doubt God, those four men had plenty. They never seemed to question their captivity or forsake their faith. These accounts are two of my favorite stories in the Bible. Both are in the book of Daniel.
The first three men did not kneel before an image of the king and the punishment was to be burned alive in a fire. They stood up to the king and said "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand." They would not deny their God for the sake of their lives. Their statement angered the king and he had the fire stoked to ten times normal. Without delay these men were thrown into the blazing furnace. The soldiers who threw them into the fire died from the immense heat of it! Then an even greater miracle happened. The king was astonished to see not only these three men walking around in the fire, but to see a fourth person who looked like "the son of God" in the fire, too!
They received not only an amazing miracle and deliverance from certain death, but they were met in the fire by their Messiah who would not be born for several hundred years! Their faith was rewarded in a way they could not have ever imagined. What a picture of salvation and our daily faith walk. The Savior of the world in the fire with us, and all are safe.
Daniel was faced with being torn apart by hungry lions if he didn't stop praying to God. He never gave it a thought. His faith was also rewarded as the mouths of the lions were closed by an angel of the Lord and he survived an entire night with hungry lions. God turned the punishment on his enemies and they were thrown into the lions den with their families and all were killed instantly. The king himself praised God because of Daniel's faith. "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel."
Great faith changes hearts. It not only changes the hearts of those exercising faith, but it changes the hearts of those who are watching. Exercising faith when everyone else is living in fear is a testimony to God's power, not our own. We should also praise God for HIS faithfulness, as we often saw Daniel do.
I was driving to work when thinking about these things. My spirit was high and I was laughing at the thought of how great God is to reward the faithful, when I started to wonder. Was there anyone in scripture who didn't exercise faith? If so, what did their story look like compared to these four men? It wasn't until this evening when I was on my walk that God brought to mind a stubborn man named Jonah. He wasn't facing death. He was facing ridicule from people he didn't like. Boo Hoo! God asked him to go and tell them to repent, and he refused. Over and over God said "GO", and he went the other way. He wasn't exercising faith, and was certainly not acting in love. Finally, God put him in a 3 day "time out".
God's time out was the belly of a big fish. Talk about unique and effective punishment! He was kept alive inside a fish in the ocean for three days and three nights. Have you ever tried to punish an obstinate 5 year old with just a 10 minute timeout? Not only can they not sit still, but they try everything they can to cut the time short. I bet many parents have thought up clever ways to implement a time out, but none more clever than God's big fish. It would end when HE said, not a moment sooner.
When the fish finally vomited the stubborn Jonah on the shore, He realized that he need to do what God said. Reluctantly he preached repentance to the people of Ninevah. They repented and God spared them. This made the obstinate man angry and he marched off like a 5 year old who didn't get a cookie. He couldn't even be happy that God had spared these people.
The story of Jonah is just as important as the story of Daniel or the three men in the furnace. While the faith of these men is important for us to understand, Jonah reminds us that God will sometimes ask us to do things we don't necessarily agree with, and we can fight him but ultimately he will put us all in a "time out". It looks different for each of us, but the end result is surrendering to God.
We don't read of Daniel ever getting a "time out". But I imagine that the exile itself was a "time out" and they learned early on, to trust God. They were not going anywhere for a long time, if at all. They needed to serve God in their circumstances. They were rewarded with high positions in government, honored by God and remembered by history.
Imagine Jesus showing up in the midst of that blazing fire with those three men whose faith would not be shaken. I wonder what they talked about. Did he tell them who he was? Did they laugh? How did it change their lives? Surely such an event would have had a huge impact on their faith, but we are never told what their lives were like after this incident. I know when I met Jesus my life was changed. I will never be the same. Having a relationship with your creator is the most mind-blowing of experiences. You find yourself talking to Him without wondering if He is listening. You just know He is. There is a peace you can't explain and often times laughter comes from deep inside and you know it is God running His finger over your funny bone just because.
Imagine Jesus preparing us for what is to come. We don't know if the coming persecution will happen in our lifetimes. We may all be called to stand in faith and reject a great evil, or we may just be called to share the gospel and help others to stand in faith. Both take a willingness to be obedient. By having a relationship with Jesus, walking and talking with Him daily, our faith is strengthened. I can't imagine not having him by my side as I walked through the fire of the last few years. I was stubborn and disobedient, but God was faithful and extremely patient. He had me in a time out that lasted longer than 3 days and nights. He needed my attention and my absolute trust. He was preparing me for what lies ahead. I can't say that I am ready. But I can say that I have learned not to fear and to trust what He says, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Romans 1:17 "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Revelation 14:12 "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus."
Revelation 17:14 "They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
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