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.
Upon picking him up every Sunday morning, I would take him from his wheelchair and pick him up by his belt strap in the back, (that gave me the leverage I needed to move his body around). Lee’s outlook on life was and is about others maturing and others saved.
Brother Lee used to tell new people he met. “Give me a couple hundred dollars until I get on my feet.”
I want you to remember this, God is in the business of recycling our pain and using it for someone else is gain.
Paul wrote some powerful words of truth in, Romans 8:28NKJV And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
If you’re saved, then that makes you called according to His purpose. In actuality, you’ve become more accounted for, because the Lord has an investment in you! P.H
Listen again to Romans 8:28TM That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Right this very moment, it might not look good; However, God’s got a blueprint for your life with your name written on it. He will complete what He started.
Philippians 1:6NKJV being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Let me just remind you—God specializes in hard times, He specializes in depression, in pain and hurt, even suffering. He specializes in your setbacks, and makes it a setup. He can heal your brokenness. He will take your troubles.
Back up two verses from verse 28. Romans 8:26-27TLB 26 And in the same way—by our faith—the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows, of course, what the Spirit is saying as he pleads for us in harmony with God’s own will.
You'll never live any better than you'll live with the Holy Spirit. He will guide you, keep you and protect you, plus He will teach you all things. Every morning you awake tell the Holy Spirit good morning. All day long, be aware of His presence. Every night tell the Holy Spirit good night. PH
If you know the HolySpirit is with you understand this, “Adversity is often the seedbed of opportunity.
“Adversity is often a blessing in disguise.”
Think about this fact, All the trials of King David made him a man after Gods own heart. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s fiery finance brought promotion. All the trials of Benaiah made him Chief-In -Command over Solomons army.
Think about this, Benaiah’s adversity gave him an opportunity to distinguish himself as warrior.
Without those extremely adverse conditions, Benaiah would have faded from the script of Scripture. However, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Benaiah chased a Lion into a pit on a snowy day, and killed the loin!
King David was living with the Philistines, Psalm 34, is a Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech.
David writes, Psalm 34:19NKJV Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34:19NLT The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
How does God rescue? He gives us the Holy Spirit to live within (Colossians 1:27).
He comforts
He intercedes.
He teaches.
He convicts.
He delivers.
And of course, He saves.
Benediction.
