Today's Message: NO MATTER WHAT—I TRUST AND FOLLOW
I WILL NOT COMPROMISE
Bad things happen—people do and
say hurtful things—and trials and tests come our way. That’s normal.
Our faith is tried every day but sometimes, a test comes that might
be “to the death”. It might cost us everything to follow God and
maintain our testimony. So, we have to be prepared to follow Him NO
MATTER WHAT!
If you have
a “limit” or a “price”, believe me, the devil will pay that price to
see you turn your back on God. In fact, he actually would rather see
you compromise a little more and a little bit at a time. That way,
he can drag it out and eventually harden your heart to the point
that you won’t even notice or care.
But, if we
love the Lord and truly believe, then we will have no limits on our
faith and no price that would cause us to deny the Lord or turn from
Him—or COMPROMISE!
All through
the Bible, we see amazing stories of faith during crisis, illness,
persecution, and threat of death. One story is that of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego—or Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael.
Daniel 3: 4
Then the herald loudly proclaimed, "This is what you are commanded
to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language:
5 As soon as you hear the sound of the
horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you
must fall down and worship the image of gold that King
Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does
not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing
furnace."
King
Nebudchadnezzar was the ruler of the known world. He had a huge
golden statue built to represent himself and all of Babylon was told
to worship the golden statue. The three Hebrew boys politely but
firmly refused. We know what the outcome of that test was, but the
boys had no idea what would happen. Still, they chose to follow
God. They said:
Daniel 3:17-1817If
our God, Whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18But if not, let it be known to you, O
king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image
which you have set up!
And they
stuck to it even though the king was furious with them.
He had them thrown into a fiery furnace that was so hot it destroyed
the people that threw them in. But, they were untouched by the fire.
Furthermore, the king who was watching saw FOUR MEN walking around
in the furnace—one like the Son of God. Well, that pretty much
astonished the king.
Daniel 3:24
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked
his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw
into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king." 25
He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound
and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
26
Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace
and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most
High God, come out! Come here!"
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire,
27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and
royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not
harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their
robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
The three young men
were honored and rose to great positions in the Kingdom, but that
wasn’t there motivation. Their motivation
was to please God and be faithful to Him. They didn’t know whether
they would live or die, but they were determined to serve and follow
God—NO MATTER WHAT!
Of
course, there is another story of the three boys and Daniel that
happened even before that.
When they were brought as captives to Babylon, they were given all
sorts of unclean foods to eat—foods that were forbidden to them by
the Torah (the law of MOSES). They could have just said “Well,
hey—we’re slaves now. We can’t control what they serve us. So, we’ll
just eat what’s available. Besides, that pork roast and
chocolate-rum-whipped cream-caramel-bacon side dish looks pretty
good.” They put their lives on the line by going to the head
official and asking for permission to eat just vegetables.
Daniel 11:1
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed
over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12
"Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but
vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13
Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the
royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you
see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested
them for ten days.
15
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better
nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice food
and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
They stood
up for what they believed and would not compromise or defile
themselves. There are many ways today that we have opportunities to
just mix with the worlds way of doing things so that we don’t have
the hassle of standing up for what we believe. It’s easier to just
go along with what others do—but at what cost to our faith and our
testimony. Standing up for God will cost us, but we have to be ready
to do it.
It’s easy to
turn away when a brother or sister is being spoken against or
persecuted wrongly. It might get us the same treatment if we stand
up for what’s right. Are we willing to do it?
On the other
hand, we might want to do something but in order to accomplish it,
we might have to “fudge” a bit or tell a little “white “lie”. Will
we do it or will we take the hard road—but the right road.
Something I
learned many many years ago is this “WHATEVER YOU COMPROMISE TO
GAIN, YOU WILL END UP LOSING ANYWAY—AND YOU WILL LOSE OUT IN YOUR
RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD TOO.”
Doing things
the free and easy way (and the wrong or dishonest way) will end up
costing you so much more in the long run.
Now we go
to a completely different story—but with the same kind of
determination to follow and trust God—the story of Job. In the midst
of his trials Job said:
Job 13:15-16 15Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own
ways before him. 16He also shall be my
salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.
Last
Sunday, the message was about wintertime—seasons of our life and our
soul. Job was going through a bleak and cold winter of his life and
his soul.
It’s easy to say “I
will trust God no matter what” when we are untried and untested, but
it’s a whole different story when we are in the middle of suffering
and pain—when everything has been taken away from us and everyone
has turned against us.
That was Job’s
situation when he spoke those words. His whole world had come
crashing down. His children were dead, his wealth was gone, and he
was sick and in pain. And to top things off, his best friends were
sitting with him and accusing him of every sin they could think
of—and they could think of plenty.
The devil had one
goal with Job: to get him to curse God to His face.
Job 2: 3
Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?
There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a
man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his
integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any
reason."
4
"Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his
own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and
strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your
face."
6
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but
you must spare his life."
7
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job
with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his
head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken
pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes
And Satan even
used Job’s wife to try to incite him to do just that:
9
His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity?
Curse God and die!"
10
He replied, "You are talking like a foolish [b]
woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In
all this, Jobdid not
sin in what he said.
But, all through
his sickness, pain, abandonment and persecution, he did not do what
Satan wanted him to do. In fact, he said:
Job 13:15-16 15Though he slay me, yet will
I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. 16He
also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before
him.
But that didn’t
mean that he took it without arguing with God. Finally, after all
his tormentor/friends spoke, God spoke and when Job saw the holiness
of God, he repented of his complaining attitude. I think there is
little doubt that no one has suffered ore than Job. No one has
suffered more than losing all their property, all their money, all
their children, all their reputation.
And although we may
complain sometimes and get tired of our suffering, still, if we come
into the presence of God, like Job, I don’t think we’d be
complaining.
Can we stand up,
like Job, and say “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him?”
If we can, there
are great rewards. For Job, it was restoration of everything and
much much more. For us, it will be what God knows is best for us.
JOB'S WINTER WAS ABOUT TO END. HE
MAY HAVE THOUGHT HIS LIFE WAS OVER--BUT THE NEXT PART OF HIS LIFE
WOULD BE EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST PART.
But there was one
step that had to come first. Before Job could be restored, he had to
pray for his friends—the same friends that had been accusing him for
days and days. He did it.
Can you do it?
There are people that have hurt you—maybe even accused you of sin or
unbelief simply because you are in pain and suffering. That’s the
worst part of an attack like this; it not only brings devastation
and sickness and loss, but it robs us of the comfort of most friends
and even causes them to accuse us. BUT WE MUST FORGIVE AND PRAY FOR
THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE HURT US. And I mean pray for their good—not that
they get zapped by a lightning bolt or choke on their ice cream.
And Job’s friends
needed that prayer because God was angry with them for what they had
said to Job. God told them:
"My
wrath is kindled against you
and your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right,
as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven
rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a burnt
offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will
accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for
you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has
done." Job 42:7-10
And God
restored Job.
So we
have the stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who would
not compromise and who would worship God no matter what. And we have
the story of Job who would trust God even through the most adverse
circumstances and pain any human (other than Jesus) has had to
suffer.
I WANT TO
BE LIKE THEM. HOW ABOUT YOU?
Take time
to check out Maureen's new article on nutrition and Roma's wonderful
testimony. Both will bless you!
