Another Miracle
Sunday School is not nearly as novel as it once was. For many of us, it was our first glance into God's dealing with people in specific situations and showing His power and love for His followers, often through miracles. We learned stories that are the classics of scripture. Because we call them stories, some people have viewed them as a story in which could or could not be considered authentic. In some people's eyes, they became fictional stories, maybe with a spiritual application, but can not be factual. Efforts to rewrite what was once characterized as an unexplainable miracle into something much more palatable, even a "fairy tale." This effort to change things such as biblical miracles can be classified as "historical revisionism." Rejecting and changing the narrative changes the whole scope of what God and His Word are all about. It changes the dynamics of a "Christian world view." More dramatically it changes God and who He is. For instance, if we do away with "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth," we have taken away the supernatural power of God. What a vast amount of miraculous power it would take to create all that there is.
On the other hand, if God created everything, that kind of power would enable Him to do anything even above and beyond the most incredible of miracles. Each miracle is a testimony of the power of God over the natural realm, which He created. In the same way, taking those miracles away leaves a perception that there is no God with that kind of power. It is with great conviction that I believe these stories to be true in every aspect. I do not question their validity. Because of what I know to be true about God, I am convinced that a man could be thrown into a cage with a bunch of hungry lions and never even be scratched? Such is the story in Daniel 6, commonly known as “Daniel and the Lions Den.”
This is an incident in the life of a man that has learned to fully trust in God. He was taken captive by a foreign government as a teenager and taken to a foreign land to live out the rest of his life. His faith in God was challenged but was always found to be immovable, and he believed God in every circumstance. The challenge in Daniel 6 was whether or not to stay true to his commitment to spend time with God in prayer or to allow a government edict to force him into breaking a law of God. The proclamation was that no man was to pray to anyone except the King for thirty days. The law of God says, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." It was a bad law that was signed into effect by King Darius. It doesn't say that Daniel wrestled with it. It means he went to his place, and three times a day, he prayed to the Lord God Jehovah. This was all a trap, so he was caught immediately. The results were that he was thrown into a den of lions to spend the night. The next morning when the King came to see what happened, he was greeted by a live Daniel. Daniel testified that God sent angels to shut the mouths of the lions, and there was no harm inflicted upon him. The people who had schemed to set this trap were then thrown into the den, and it says that they didn't even reach the den floor until their bones were crushed. Historical revisionism would change or discard this story. I will not because I believe in God and who He is.
Don’t let “revisionist” warp your view of God. God is a God of power, which He uses in many ways but often uses it in the lives of people who trust in Him. He loves and is full of grace and mercy for all who will trust Him. This story is not only a reminder of that, but it is also a warning that some will try and rewrite the truths of God and who He is. Be aware!
Pastor Lynn Rettig
Musselshell Community Bible Church
WHAT GOD SEES
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Are you pleased, happy? Or do you criticize the work God has done in your life? Too fat, too thin, too long nose, too short nose, cheekbones not right, eyes too wide apart, eyes too close together, frown lines, hair too thin, too much hair……? Well we could go on and on, but this is to let you know that God doesn’t see what you see. God sees you as the person He created you to be. And I can prove it to you.
In 1Samuel 16:7, God plainly says “the Lord sees not as humans see, for humans look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart”. See. God doesn’t look at all those things you see with your outward, worldly eyes, but He sees your heart and what sort of person you really are from the inside out. So, God chose David to be King and even though David was the youngest and smallest of Jesse’s sons, he was the one God wanted. Was David perfect? No, just like us, David was a sinner. He was an adulterer and a murderer, yet God called him ‘a man after My own heart’. David had to pay for his sin because Jesus had not yet come, but David went on to fulfill God’s plan for him because His heart was right with God.
Another great example is Gideon. He was of the tribe of Benjamin – the smallest, least prominent tribe of Israel. Yet when God called him as he was hiding out and threshing grain, God said “the Lord is with you, mighty man of courage”. Gideon said, “What! You can’t mean me!” Well that is how God saw Him and if you read his story in Judges 6 you see that is what he became.
How does God see you. 1Peter tells us in Chapter 2:9-10. “For you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation purchased by God that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people at all, but now you are God’s people (actually His children if you have accepted Jesus into your life), once you wee unpitied, but now you are pitied and have received mercy” Paul tells us that we are heirs of the Father, joint heirs with the Son. Do you feel chosen, royal, priestly, beloved of God today? You should. You are all those things and more in the eyes of a loving Father Who gave His only Son for you. God will never, ever see your sinful nature. He can’t. He already punished it in Jesus on the Cross. We see the ugliness, God sees the beauty. We see the bad, God sees the good. Begin to look at other people through the eyes of God, but start with yourself. You are His beloved and He just wants to have a relationship with you.
Rev. Joyce Kaplan, M.Div., Retired United Church of Christ pastor.
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