Tuesday night I was feeling good and went to my men’s Bible study class. I have been the teacher of the class for 10 years and “taking a break” from teaching that class and my Bible study class at church have been really difficult. It was great to be there with the men. They are an inspiration to me and have been very supportive during this journey. Pat Mennega has taken over the teaching responsibilities and he did a great job with the wrap up Tuesday night. The evening certainly “cheered my heart.” Since I do miss teaching, I hope you will forgive me if my post today sounds a little like a teaching lesson. One of the advantages of being sick and having your own blog is you get to define what the blog says.
One of my favorite stories about faith is found in the Old Testament book of Daniel. It is a story of three young Jewish men who had been taken hostage into Babylon. Their names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; although we know them best by their assigned Babylonian names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
They were bright, wise, and good looking; but their most important character trait was their faithfulness to God. They were outstanding in every way. I am confident they were selected to be Outstanding Young Men in Judah and then later selected to be Outstanding Young Men in Babylon. Even as captives, they rose through the ranks to positions of prominence in Babylon.
Although good, honorable and above reproach, the Babylonians resented them. Human nature hasn’t changed. Their enemies wanted them out of office. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and required that the people in Babylon bow down and worship the image. Worshipping idols and images was a “no no” to faithful Jews. So the bad guys squealed to Nebuchadnezzar. “Look who refuses to bow the knee.” The good guys were in a predicament. Do we fall down and worship the idol or stand up for what we believe? Nebuchadnezzar didn’t like it when people didn’t do what he said. Nebuchadnezzar had an anger management problem, and the Bible says he was in a rage. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were arrested, read their Miranda rights, waived their right to an attorney, (be still my lawyer heart) refused to put up a defense and confessed (a confession of faith). Nebuchadnezzar threw the book of matches at them and sentenced them to DEATH BY FIRE IN A BLAZING FURNACE. (I just did that so you would appreciate that it was capital punishment.)
Listen to what they told Nebuchadnezzar.
16 “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 NIV
In legal terms, they appealed to a higher authority and threw themselves on the mercy of the Judge.
I’m in a predicament. I don’t know what my future holds. I am praying for a complete and total recovery. I’m praying for remission. (Remission is becoming one my favorite words.) I don’t know what is going to happen, but I know Who holds the future. I pray that I will have faith like these young Jewish men. I want the kind of faith that boldly proclaims, “My God is able to rescue me from these nasty little diseases, but regardless of the outcome, I will not waiver from my faith in the goodness of God.”
Bob
“Faith isn’t about getting what we want.”
One of my favorite stories about faith is found in the Old Testament book of Daniel. It is a story of three young Jewish men who had been taken hostage into Babylon. Their names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; although we know them best by their assigned Babylonian names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
They were bright, wise, and good looking; but their most important character trait was their faithfulness to God. They were outstanding in every way. I am confident they were selected to be Outstanding Young Men in Judah and then later selected to be Outstanding Young Men in Babylon. Even as captives, they rose through the ranks to positions of prominence in Babylon.
Although good, honorable and above reproach, the Babylonians resented them. Human nature hasn’t changed. Their enemies wanted them out of office. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and required that the people in Babylon bow down and worship the image. Worshipping idols and images was a “no no” to faithful Jews. So the bad guys squealed to Nebuchadnezzar. “Look who refuses to bow the knee.” The good guys were in a predicament. Do we fall down and worship the idol or stand up for what we believe? Nebuchadnezzar didn’t like it when people didn’t do what he said. Nebuchadnezzar had an anger management problem, and the Bible says he was in a rage. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were arrested, read their Miranda rights, waived their right to an attorney, (be still my lawyer heart) refused to put up a defense and confessed (a confession of faith). Nebuchadnezzar threw the book of matches at them and sentenced them to DEATH BY FIRE IN A BLAZING FURNACE. (I just did that so you would appreciate that it was capital punishment.)
Listen to what they told Nebuchadnezzar.
16 “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 NIV
In legal terms, they appealed to a higher authority and threw themselves on the mercy of the Judge.
I’m in a predicament. I don’t know what my future holds. I am praying for a complete and total recovery. I’m praying for remission. (Remission is becoming one my favorite words.) I don’t know what is going to happen, but I know Who holds the future. I pray that I will have faith like these young Jewish men. I want the kind of faith that boldly proclaims, “My God is able to rescue me from these nasty little diseases, but regardless of the outcome, I will not waiver from my faith in the goodness of God.”
Bob
Comments
And hear, hear on the blog autonomy. You write what you want, whenever you want, however you want.
Today, you blessed my heart. I have encountered glimpses of radical faith in my life but how I long for it to be consistent in the mundane so that when I encounter those mountains it will already be established. I used to believe that if I had faith to move mountains that God will reward my faith with what I wanted in the first place. And sometimes that will happen. Now I see that THE RADICAL FAITH IS THE REWARD in and of itself because with it comes TRUST and CONTENTMENT of the outcome. I have realized the outcome is not the prize. It is the journey to the outcome that has already been established before God ever established US in our very lifetime. Our times are in HIS hands and who else's hands would we want them in? I shudder at how often I think mine are all sufficient.
I am praying for you, Mr. Bugg. For that same outcome of remission but I rejoice in the testimony of faith you are living each and every day.
Emily speaks of you in such glowing terms. It's obvious she loves and respects her dad. I can see why. Even in just one little blog entry, it is clear that you are a man of character who loves the Lord and depends on Him, and you guide others to do the same. I love your sense of humor (I laughed out loud at the capital punishment reference! I'm in a law class this semester at DBU so it was all the more funny to me).
I'll check your calendar frequently to see what's going on, and I will continue to read your blog entries. I can also see where Emily gets her writing skills. :-)
Sandee Smith
we are reminded once again that God is truly in control...
Take good care of yourself.
Ted & Carol