November 3
“Many of the exiles suffered persecution. Not a few lost their lives because of their refusal to disregard the Sabbath and to observe the heathen festivals. As idolaters were roused to crush out the truth, the Lord brought His servants face to face with kings and rulers, that they and their people might receive the light. Time after time the greatest monarchs were led to proclaim the supremacy of the God whom their Hebrew captives worshiped.”
Desire of Ages, page 28 from the chapter, 'The chosen people'
Babylon wasn’t an easy place to live in. Even Daniel faced his fair share of problems. He was, however, given wonderful privileges of sharing his faith where others could not.
Years ago I built a statue modelled on the image found described in Daniel 2. He was over 2 metres tall and could attract a crowd. It was when I took him to the Isle of Man that his greatest day came. The day was sunny, the crowd was large. Prince Charles walked past and looked at the statue and told me, “He’s a big lad”, and then passed on.
If I was Daniel I would have been able to give a great response. I’m not Daniel.
God spotted something in Daniel that He could use. One quality that God appeared to be able to use in Daniel was his ability to offer help. You know the story, it is found in the book of Daniel, in chapter 2. The man in charge in Babylon was King Nebuchadnezzar, used to getting his own way he needed a dream interpreting quickly. The regular advisers couldn’t provide the needed help. Daniel stepped forward, gave the needed guidance and impressed the King.
Through the years that followed Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar developed a relationship where Daniel had to respond to challenges to his faith while Nebuchadnezzar gradually developed a deep respect for God and His people.
I’m not a Daniel, you won’t meet Nebuchadnezzar – but we still have a responsibility to, as the reading puts it, help people to see the light.
Are there lessons here? Your influence may well take years to come to fruition. Nebuchadnezzar had to go through many experiences as he slowly progressed towards ever more revealing confessions of faith. Those who do help people ‘see the light’ are not going to be immune from trouble.
Talk about this with your prayer partner. Recognise the need for a long term plan as well as short term plans – and realise that as partners you are there to support each other in God’s cause.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
From October 21st this site will continue going through 'Desire of Ages' - but begin to advance rather faster than one paragraph at a time.
Our sister site, at the Upper Room, will progress at a rather slower pace - one paragraph at a time. If you want to head to our sister site for the slower trip through an excellent book you will eventually follow a link to the Upper Room. This will start on October 21st.
