Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “From the Lions’ Den to the Angels’ Den”. God rescues Daniel… as in a similar rescue earlier with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I guess God rescues those who have enough faith in Him. Or maybe He rescues those who are His favorites… who have not let Him down. Is this a valid conclusion? We are told that God will protect the faithful in the end “time of trouble” and none will be hurt. So does God always rescue His favorites? Some of us have had troubles… notable troubles… and have not been rescued from them. Is it because we have little faith? Are the truly faithful always rescued? Let’s look at some of the characters in Scripture to see:
• The “Exodus” throng miraculously rescued at the Red Sea (but in the end, only Caleb and Joshua making it into the Promised Land).
• Job was not rescued from the trouble Satan was allowed to throw at him (yet in the end, restoration).
• Elijah miraculously and marvelously rescued.
• Elisha, a true prophet who may have done more miracles than any other prophet, falls into a mortal sickness and dies (no miraculous rescue… see 2 Kings 13).
• John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, beheaded in prison while Christ stands-by and provides no miraculous rescue.
• Saul/ Paul miraculously stopped in his tracks and converted (yet in the end, executed, ministry cut short... no miraculous rescue from the Roman executioner).
Well, it seems that there is no real way to know if a miraculous rescue is in anyone’s future. Some of God’s ways are His own and we do not know. We cannot decipher all His ways. We can decipher many, though. He has left us His Written Word showing us the Living Word. In these we are to learn of Him and thereby learn to trust Him… in everything… regardless. In so much of life, we do know what way to go and how to live because of His Word. We know enough to trust Him… and leave the details unknown to us, up to Him.
What is in your future, my future? What will our last days be like? We so want to know. But we can be sure, God in His love and wisdom gives (or allows) His children only what is good. Is a mortal sickness good? Because God sees everything and everyone, and knows the end from the beginning, the answer may be “yes”. Your mortal sickness may be “good”. A lingering, painful death to heart disease may be “good”. The loss of a job, the loss of child, the loss of your abilities, the loss of all things on this earth... all are “good” in the hand of God.
Long ago and far away, humanity’s best “Man” was nailed to a cross under the instigation of the most religious people on this planet. With no miraculous rescue. That most awful instrument of torture, whereby the “Prince of Glory” died, has been proven to be the most powerful instrument of demonstrated love for all eternity. It did not appear so for 3 days, as Christ lay in the tomb. It appeared to be the symbol of monumental failure on the part of that best “Man” and failure on the part of God whom He called His “Father”. Yet, that “Man’s” horrible death was not the final chapter in His story or our story.
And so with us… personally. Christ trusted His Father… and so can we. We know not the details of our last days… or even this day today. But this “we know… that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). All things. Our painful death… or our miraculous rescue. All things are for good… ALL. Let us always trust Him… no matter appearances of perceptions. He is our God… and we can trust Him.
P.S. There is a miraculous rescue in the very end of time for all the faithful (I had to “give away” the ending of the story… or is it just the beginning of the story? As if you didn’t know already).
With brotherly love, Jim.