Adversity Turns The Tide.

Adversity Turns The Tide.

Daniel 3:23-30NLT

We dream of zero gravity. We imagine what life would be without any problems, or issues or challenges.

Did you know that astronauts that spend any length of time in zero gravity experience serious medical complications? Without any resistance, they lose muscle mass and bone density, they experience high pulse rates and heart palpitations, and they can barely walk after re-entering the earths atmosphere.

We may dream of zero gravity, but what we really need is a healthy dose of adversity. We need some Moabites to fight, and some Lions to Chase!

God never intended for you to live in zero gravity. I’ve been saying this for a few weeks now, “God wants us to have spiritual stories to tell generations after us.’ How we were delivered.”

In Daniel 3, we can read about adversity working within the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

They were young Hebrew men living in exile because of Israels disobedience. Nebuchadnezzar hand picked these men because of their IQ.

Daniel 3:1NLT King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

He commanded that everyone shall worship his god as they hear the sound of the musical instruments. They must bow and worship.

Paraphrasing, Daniel 3:12NLT  But some of the astrologers went to the king and informed him about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s refusal to bow. They said, “They pay no attention to you, Your Majesty. They refuse to serve your gods and do not worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Nebuchadnezzar, replied, The sentence for,“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is a fiery furnace heated seven times hotter.”

These three young Hebrew men worshiped Jehovah—their living God.

The furnace was heated seven times hotter, so hot, that Nebuchadnezzar’s men were killed because of the extreme heat.

Daniel 3:23-30NLT So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. 24 But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did,” they replied.

25 “Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!”

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. 27 Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!

28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!”

30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to even higher positions in the province of Babylon.

Can I tell you what worship really is? “Worship is forgetting about what's wrong with you and remembering what's right with God.”

Man's Search For Meaning ranks as one of the most thought provoking books ever written.

In it, Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl writes about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp.

He writes, everything was taken away from the Jewish prisoner. They were stripped of their clothing, their pictures, and their personal belongings. The Nazi characters even took away their names and gave them numbers. Frankel was number 119, 104. But Frankel says there was one thing the Nazis couldn't take away, everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.

If you refuse to live life without vision, that is, vision that’s greater than yourself, you too will experience loss freedom.

“You were created for adversity!” P.H

Please hear this, “Someday we may be as grateful for the bad things as the good things, because the bad things helped prepare us for the good things.”

1 Peter 4:1TPT Since Christ, though innocent, suffered in his flesh for you, now you also must be a prepared soldier, having the same mind-set, for whoever has died in his body is done with sin.

For several years in my ministry I picked up a man by the name of Lee Hammonds. Brother Lee, was a great example to follow. Lee was born without the use of his legs and that makes everything more difficult. However brother Lee Hammonds never complained, he always had a smile on his face, and I'm sure he still does.