Our Journey

Read Daniel 3:19-25 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, … He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning furnace…. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, 0 king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Daniel 3:19-20,24-25

I became a Christian in the ninth grade. During my senior year in high school, a few local thugs decided to give me a hard time. Sometimes I stood up to them and did not back down. But even as I did, I also struggled with what it really meant to be a Christian and how much I should “retaliate.” Sometimes when they made fun of me in front of my friends, I blew up and lashed out at them. It was a hard, tough time for me.

I did learn what it meant to trust God in difficult circumstances. I also learned that Christianity does not guarantee that you’re going to be extracted from problems in life. God will sometimes allow the heat to be turned up to drive you toward Him and make you what He wants you to be.

That was the experience the three men went through in Daniel 3. It would make for a wonderful story if it ended by the king saying, “Oh, I’m sorry, guys. You’re right. I shouldn’t have people worshiping idols. What was I thinking about? Your God is the only God to serve.” But that is not what he said. The king’s ego pushed him over the edge. He got so angry that he ordered the furnace be heated seven times hotter than it normally was.

So they threw the three men into the fiery furnace. Then in verse 25, he noticed a fourth person in the furnace. (Most scholars believe that this person was a preincarnate presence of Jesus Christ Himself.) Christ was there with them and walking about. Wherever Jesus is, there’s freedom and fellowship. When the heat comes, it doesn’t matter where you happen to be in—when you stand for Christ—God promises to be with you.

If you’re going through a hard time because you have stood for what is right, all of heaven’s resources are available to you. God Himself is with you. —Crawford W. Loritts

responding What happens when I begin to feel the “heat”—pressures, stress, relational problems—rising in my life? Do I seek God first in all things?
following I’d rather walk in the dark with Jesus than to stand in the light on my own.

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Read Isaiah 30:18-21 and Isaiah 58:6-7 18 For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. 19 He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. Isaiah 30:18-19
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose … 7 . . . to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him … ? Isaiah 58:6-7

Recently, my son took his family to see the stage production of The Lion King. They were having a good time until the point in the story where the young lion, Simba, wandered into the trap of his evil uncle, Scar. To usurp the kingdom from his brother Mufasa, Scar had arranged for a group of hyenas to cause a stampede that would endanger Simba and lure his father to the rescue. At that point Scar would kill Mufasa and start ruling as king. After the stampede ended, little Simba looked up, all alone, to see his father lying dead. In the quietness of that moment, with the dust and smoke still swirling on stage, Simba began to cry, “Help!” At that point, in the hushed theater, my 3-year-old grandson stood up on his chair and shouted, “Why doesn’t somebody help him?!”

Not surprisingly, no one rushed to the stage to help Simba!

But it’s a reminder of the sobering truth. Each day, scores of people within the reach of our resources are hurting and desperately in need of someone to rush to the stage of their life and help them. And here’s the issue for us: Will we just watch like detached observers in comfortable theater seats? Or will we get engaged and do something about it? We are called to be the extension of God’s hand to the needy and helpless within our reach.

The Old Testament is filled with accounts of God’s people crying out for help. Although their trouble was often self-imposed due to the waywardness of their devotion to God, I’m amazed that He was still eager to come to their aid. Amid the bad news the prophet Isaiah brought, he assured the people that “the Lord longs to be gracious to you; . . . How gracious He will be when you cry for help!” (Isaiah 30:18-19 NIV).

God’s ultimate act of grace and compassion came in human flesh, in the person of Jesus. His nail-pierced, bleeding hands redeemed us from our desperate situation once and for all. At the cross, Jesus took the heart of God into His own hands. As recipients of His grace we can do no less. Listen for that cry for help and let God extend His compassion through your helping hand today —Joe Stowell

responding Have people responded to my crisis? Am I helping others? Why or why not?
following Be ready and willing to rush to the stage of someone’s need today.

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Genesis 16:11-16 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” 13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Ismael, who was born after the flesh, the child of the bondwoman, must always bear the servile taint. The child of a slave is not free-born. Ishmael is not, cannot be what Isaac is—a child of the free woman. Now mark: I do not say that Ishmael ever desired to be like Isaac; I do not say that he felt himself to be a loser by differing from Isaac. But indeed, he was so. The man who is laboring for self-salvation by his own doings, feelings, and self-denials may be proudly ignorant of his servile state; he may even boast that he was born free and was never in bondage to any; and yet he spends his whole life in servitude. He never knows what liberty means, what content means, what delight in God means. He wonders when men talk about “full assurance of faith.” He judges that they must be presumptuous. He has scarcely time to breathe between the cracks of the whip. He has done so much, but he must do so much more; he has suffered so much, but he must suffer so much more. He has never come into “the rest which remaineth for the people of God”; for he is born of the bondwoman, and his spirit is ever in bondage.

On the other hand, he who is born of the freewoman, and understands that salvation is of the grace of God from first to last, and that where God has given His grace, He does not take it back, for “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”—such a man accepting the finished work of Christ, and knowing his acceptance in the Beloved, rests in the Lord and rejoices exceedingly. His life and his spirit are filled with joy and peace, for he was born free, and he is free, yea, free indeed.

On the other hand, he who is born of the freewoman, and understands that salvation is of the grace of God from first to last, and that where God has given His grace, He does not take it back, for “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”—such a man accepting the finished work of Christ, and knowing his acceptance in the Beloved, rests in the Lord and rejoices exceedingly. His life and his spirit are filled with joy and peace, for he was born free, and he is free, yea, free indeed.

Does my reader understand the freedom of the child of God, or is he still in servitude under the law, afraid of punishment, afraid of being sent away into the wilderness? If you are in this latter case, you have not received the promise, or you would know that such a thing could not be. To Isaac, the child of the promise, the heritage belongs, and he abides forever, without fear of being cast out.

Those that are born as Ishmael was, according to the flesh, and whose religion is a matter of their own power and strength, mind earthly things, as Ishmael did. —Charles H. Spurgeon

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Read Psalm 139:16 and Isaiah 55:9 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. Psalm 139:16
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

It gets hot in Texas in the summer. A few years ago, on one of those really hot days, I was waiting outside an auto repair shop while a mechanic worked on my air conditioner. I decided to call my wife, Mary. The second she answered the phone, I knew something was wrong.

“Steve, your mom just called. Mike died about an hour ago. He had a heart attack just after he got to the office.”

I could not process what I was hearing. Mike? Dead? No way. Not Mike. Not now. His daughter, Laura, is graduating from high school next week. She needs him there. This can’t be real. But it was real.

My brother, Mike Farrar, had died of a heart attack at the age of 48.

When that happens to someone that young, people say things like, “His life was cut short” or “There’s no rhyme or reason to this.” That’s understandable. People want to offer comfort but aren’t sure what to say.

The trouble is, both statements are wrong. Mike’s life wasn’t cut short. He simply came to the end of the days God ordained for him. Humanly speaking there were medical issues that contributed to his death. But that didn’t frustrate God’s plan. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” The word translated “workmanship” is poiema - the root of the word “poem.”

When a poet writes a poem, it’s his or her workmanship. In the same way, God is the Poet who authors the verses of our lives. He determines their content and number. And He makes sure the verses rhyme.

So as sad as Mike’s death is, my family and I know there is a rhyme and reason to God’s timing in his life. Mike was quite a piece of work—and in my opinion, one of His most outstanding poems. And just like Moses, Joseph, Peter, Paul, and countless others before him, when he finished living out the poem of good works God had written for him, Jesus Christ signed His name at the bottom of the page and took Mike home—his work complete, his poem finished, his joy made full. That’s a promise the Bible tells us is ours, too.
You can count on it. —Steve Farrar

responding Were there situations in my life that I couldn’t make sense of at the time?
following One song says, “When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.”

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Read Jeremiah 33:3 and Ephesians 2:8-10 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 We ore His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10

What are your dreams for the future? You have some, right? Your dreams are about what matters most to you. Ask yourself, “If I could see God do anything with my life, what would it be?”

You could be saying, “Well, I don’t have any dreams like that.” I think you do. Reflect again. Sometimes we don’t focus on them because we’re fearful they won’t come true.

Are you willing to let God give you a vision for your life? As His child, He wants to do something in and through you that only He could orchestrate—something big and extraordinary. Ephesians 2:10 explains God’s purpose for our lives: You “are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

So let’s dream a little: Does that something great God has prepared for you to do relate to your career? Or in your home with your spouse and/or kids? Is it about you being part of what God is doing at your church? Maybe God has His sights set beyond all that. Maybe He’s thinking globally!

But in all this dreaming, remember you can do nothing great for God by yourself. It’s almost incredible to think Almighty God would stoop to work through broken and imperfect vessels like us in the first place, not to mention doing something big for His own glory. But, come to think of it, that’s always been His strategy. Amazing!

Determine to spend some time thinking about and asking God to show you what big dream He has for you to accomplish this year and in years to come. Fight the urge to rationalize all the reasons why it can’t happen (I’m too young/too old, the dream is too big, I’m not able, etc.) Journal your prayers or talk with a friend about how you would love God to use you.

Believe that God sovereignly orders the pieces of your life to make you a fruitful part of His plan. In this moment, things may not be exactly as you would hope them to be but gain strength from the promise of Philippians 1:6 that God continues a work in your life that He fully intends to finish. Follow His lead with confidence. —James MacDonald

responding What plan could God be shaping in my life even while I am in pain?
following God wants you to love the dream He has dreamed for you.

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