Let's continue on our study of the Book of Daniel that we began a few weeks ago. We ended last time on these words:
Because they chose to obey God over the king, then God taught them and made them wiser than the others and placed them in a more favored position with the king, because of the wisdom they displayed when it was time for them to be tested.
The King thought they were under his study and teaching following the way of his world but they were not. They rejected it, so now we are looking at how God in His wisdom begins to interfere with the plans of the world of the wicked to save His people and then use them to destroy the world and set up a new kingdom. All of us need to set a new King in our Dome. This starts with the decision to face our struggles and the refusal to give in to the pressure of opposition internally and externally. We will cover more of this in Part 2 of this blog subject...
Look at how God sets Daniel apart "secretly" to teach him (Dan. 1:8-14) then gives the King a dream and makes the king to challenge all those the he (the king) taught to tell him the meaning. They all failed him. Then Daniel PRAYS and is given the meaning in a "Night Vision." God will sometimes separate us for His own purpose but in this loneliness he is working on us and our development is taking place under his guidance. Friends don't understand, Family does not understand, WE don't even understand what is happening to us. We become a soul in transition.
So if God sets us a part from the world and teaches us and favors us then nobody can take credit for our growth, development and understanding but Him. So he makes us something new and different. And like the King, when the world sees us they are forced to bow down.
Because they chose to obey God over the king, then God taught them and made them wiser than the others and placed them in a more favored position with the king, because of the wisdom they displayed when it was time for them to be tested.
The King thought they were under his study and teaching following the way of his world but they were not. They rejected it, so now we are looking at how God in His wisdom begins to interfere with the plans of the world of the wicked to save His people and then use them to destroy the world and set up a new kingdom. All of us need to set a new King in our Dome. This starts with the decision to face our struggles and the refusal to give in to the pressure of opposition internally and externally. We will cover more of this in Part 2 of this blog subject...
Look at how God sets Daniel apart "secretly" to teach him (Dan. 1:8-14) then gives the King a dream and makes the king to challenge all those the he (the king) taught to tell him the meaning. They all failed him. Then Daniel PRAYS and is given the meaning in a "Night Vision." God will sometimes separate us for His own purpose but in this loneliness he is working on us and our development is taking place under his guidance. Friends don't understand, Family does not understand, WE don't even understand what is happening to us. We become a soul in transition.
So if God sets us a part from the world and teaches us and favors us then nobody can take credit for our growth, development and understanding but Him. So he makes us something new and different. And like the King, when the world sees us they are forced to bow down.
Resisting temptation and pressure from the world, the suffering and trust we must have...
Look at the 3rd chapter of Daniel and it's powerful meaning. Remember to read these full verses yourself along with the writing.
Verses 1-7
The King has gone back to his old ways despite what we read in the previous chapter where he learned the true power of the God of Daniel and bowed down. We see now that he has returned to his old ways and has made a golden image for the people to worship as god besides God. (This can seen today in how we go back and forth between hearing God's word but going right back to the same behavior soon after)
God is a word that means "force and power" anything that has power in our lives could be a god that we bow down to and worship. Money, sex, drugs, cars, our possessions, people in our lives, etc. So this golden image or "highly" valued image that the king set up was a lifestyle that went against what is natural and right, but he was successful in forcing people to follow his way of life because the punishment was to be burned in an oven if you refused.
To be burned in an oven could also mean the heat of the pressure that comes from resisting temptations, lust, greed, vanity, peer pressure, rejection, because now we are going against the world and everything the is acceptable in society. That is real heat and whenever any one of us decides we are going to be better and do better then our opposition comes immediately.
VERSES 8-15
Here comes the haters (smile). These are jealous and envious people who want to point you out in the crowd and make people to put added pressure on you trying to portray you as a person who thinks you are better because you don't go with the crowd. Now look what happens next:
Verses 16-20
The three Hebrew boys are tried on what they say they believe. That's not just external pressure that's eternal pressure. Are we willing to prove our belief with action not just words. They decided in verse 17 and 18 that they would rather die than follow in the way of life and worship that the king had set up. Right here we are being told that to follow God against the world takes great strength, more than lip-service.
Verse 19-23
God further test His servants. The sight gets real dramatic, the fire is raging hot, it's so hot the guards burn up just from the heat of the fire while pushing the boys into the furnace and the boys fall in. It was interesting that they were bound fully clothed "coat, leggings and turbans", and clothing is used to protect from the elements. So perhaps this could be the King's way of saying, I will destroy what you clothed yourself in, and your faith wont stand up to the fire. They were bound fully clothed in their garments to make a point. Sometimes the intensity of trials can make us lose faith or believe God is not with us in great trial, because in our estimation we don't deserve to "go through this". We have a very immature understanding of trial, that trial is punishment when that is not always the case. If we stopped and actually thought about it, if God were to punish us for our sins we would all be dead. Our trials are designed to grow us from one stage to another in our personal development as human beings.
Verse 24-30
God shows that He is not going to save us from the fire of trial, opposition, pressure, or rejection, etc. But that He will be with us "in" the fire keeping us cool if we put our complete trust in Him. And that He will use us to prove to the world that He is God and that He makes His servants to overcome the world and be rewarded for all they go through trying to remain obedient to His to will. I hope that you found this look at the Book of Daniel helpful. As usual I encourage you to Push On Through Struggle and know your reward is on the other side.
Brother Tremikus
