Our friend, Tom Steipp, recently shared this devotional by Ephraim Kwok which we thought was thoughtful and worthy of sharing at such a time as this. We’re grateful for God’s Word…true and trustworthy as it is.
Living through trials
(Reference Daniel 3 and Daniel 6)
These are difficult and challenging time for many people, including Christians. The economy is uncertain and we are feeling insecure about our future. In the midst of our difficulties and trials, we are reminded that God will see us through, if we depend on His divine providence. There are several lessons we can learn from the book of Daniel on this topic.
God sees us “through”, but not escape “from”
It is very important to note that God never promised us that we would never see bad times or difficulties in our lives. In fact, He said in John 16:33 that “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” It should be clear to us that as long as we are in the world, we will experience tribulation. However, God did promise us that He will see us through and that we shall overcome.
In the case of the three Jewish young men in Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, God did not deliver them “from” the fiery furnace; instead, God miraculously saw them “through” the fiery furnace. Likewise, we can learn the same lesson from Daniel 6 – God did not deliver Daniel “from” the lion’s den, but God saw him “through” his ordeal inside the lion’s den and protected him.
As Christians, we often make the mistake of asking God to exempt us from the tribulation of this world. Of course God can intervene and deliver us, but more often than not, God would not deliver us from the turmoil, but God will see us through. This is especially relevant to us these days; will we be affected in today’s economic turmoil? The answer is yes and that we would be affected to some degrees or another, but rest assured that Jesus has overcome the world, and He promised to see us through.
Know when to bow down and when to stand up
In Daniel 3, the three Jewish young men were “standing up” while the rest of the people were “bowing down”. In reverse, in Daniel 6, Daniel was “bowing down” or knelt in front of God three times a day, as was his usual practice, while his accusers were standing before the king to accuse him.
As Christians, we must learn when to bow and when to stand. In difficult times, our human nature would turn us to dependency on men; for example, we are often tempted to rely on our own wisdom (or some powerful people of influence) to resolve our problems. But those efforts are futile, because only God can truly help. Psalm 20 states that “7Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” Psalm 121 tells us to lift our eyes to the hills, because our help is from the Lord. We must be careful not to give praises to men; instead we must make sure we give glory to God.
Adjust our expectations
Now that we understand that God sometimes allows us to go through tribulation (though He will see us through); we need to adjust our expectation while we are going through hard times. We can learn this truth from the story of Elijah during the drought as recorded in 1 Kings 17. Elijah pronounced a drought as judgment from God against the rebellious Israel. Was Elijah exempted from the drought? No, not at all! Elijah had to survive “through” the drought along with the rest of the people. However, God gave Elijah special provisions. First, God sent ravens to feed Elijah and he drank from the brook. Later, God sent Elijah to a widow who only had a small amount of flour and a little bit of oil. Nonetheless, God allowed Elijah and the widow to enjoy an unceasing provision from that small amount of flour and oil, until the drought is over.
A great lesson can be learned from this. In a manner of speaking, the “standard of living” of Elijah has deteriorated significantly during the drought. Eating from ravens is not what I would consider as gourmet meals, and for that matter, the same applied to the meager meals from the widow. Likewise, we as Christians must learn to adjust our expectation during times of difficulties. We must not behave as spoiled children and expect the same enjoyments as before; instead we should be thankful for whatever God has provided to us. Even if everything fails, we should still praise the Lord. See the words of encouragement from Habakkuk 3, “17Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—18Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.
In conclusion, we cannot be presumptuous and think that we are exempted from all difficulties in life. However, we can rest assured that God will see us through no matter what challenges that we might encountered. The key is that we must focus on God during our difficult times, and we have to learn to give thanks to the Lord and rejoice in the Lord irrespective of our circumstances.
