Tag: gospel

  • The Chickadee, the Magpie, and Job: Trusting God’s Plan

    Side-by-side photos of a chickadee perched on a lichen-covered branch with fresh green leaves, and a black-and-white magpie standing on a rock against a soft green background.

    In summer and winter, you can hear the “dee dee dee” of the black-capped chickadee around these parts. When it gets cold, you hear them less as they hide somewhere to stay warm. 

    They are social birds and are often seen feeding with nuthatches and other species. I’ve never seen them get aggressive at all.

    Chickadees are fascinating to watch and friendly, too. With a little coaxing and some patience, many a chickadee has been persuaded to eat from a person’s hand. Their cute coloring, friendly nature and delightful song make them a pleasure to have around.

    There are some other birds that we don’t have here but were common everywhere else I lived. Magpies are beautiful, with their black-and-white coloring, but they are also noisy and aggressive. They drive other birds away and dig in garbage. They have even been known to dive-bomb at people during the nesting season. Their shrill scream is somewhat less pleasant than the chickadee’s lovely little song.

    Magpies are quite intelligent and learn to differentiate between people, and I am told they can be taught to talk. 

    Both birds have their place in the overall scheme of things. My preference for the chickadee over the magpie does not mean the magpie has less value. Everything has a purpose in God’s overall scheme.

    Job understood that fact, even amid misfortune greater than most of us can comprehend. He was a prosperous man with a large family. In short order, all his children and their families were killed, and his wealth was stripped from him. How did he respond? With both grief and worship.

    Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:20-21 ESV

    Even then his suffering continued. Satan was permitted to attack His health;

    So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:7-10 ESV

    Here in the West, we are used to instant solutions to our problems. Perhaps we have lost sight of something very important. Perhaps suffering and discomfort have a purpose. Perhaps we miss out on much of what God has planned for us by our desire to live comfortable, secure, risk-free and pain-free lives.

    Now I know that enduring magpies rather than enjoying chickadees hardly qualifies as suffering, but perhaps it suggests discontentment with God’s plan and a desire to put my own in its place. Maybe I will have to look at them with different eyes the next time I see them.

    Until next time, I pray we all learn willingly to accept the good and the bad as part of God’s plan. God is worthy of trust and praise despite our circumstances.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God

    SUMMARY

    My preference for chickadees over magpies made me wonder how often I want my plan instead of God’s. Like Job, may we accept both the good and the bad, because God is worthy of trust and praise whatever comes.

    TAKEAWAY

    Everything has a purpose in God’s overall scheme. What we prefer does not decide what has value.

    Job met devastating loss with both grief and worship. He received the bad from God as well as the good.

    Suffering and discomfort have a purpose. Wanting comfortable, pain-free lives could cause us to miss much of what God has planned for us.

    YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

    Tribulation produces perseverance

    The good news of the gospel

    Everyone knows the truth – even if they deny it

  • Daniel and the Lions – how old was Daniel?

    Sometimes the Sunday school version doesn’t match the text

    Daniel and the lions - A man in a dark robe sits cross-legged on the stone floor of a cave, his back to the viewer, surrounded by resting lions as beams of sunlight stream down from an opening above.

    I was reading in Daniel last week when I read something about Daniel and the lions. It’s funny how the things we learn and assimilate at an early age tend to stick with us throughout our lives. That’s true for Sunday School Bible teaching. Unfortunately, what we’re taught is often a sanitized, condensed or even erroneous version. It’s not done maliciously, but it happens.

    Let me give some examples. Noah is pictured with pairs of animals in almost every Sunday school illustration – the Bible says seven pairs of clean animals and pairs of unclean. The three magi who show up to see the infant Christ – we all know the image. The problem is that we don’t know how many magi there were, and they didn’t arrive until he was a child; the word suggests he was already weaned. Mary riding a donkey to Bethlehem – great image, possible even, but the Bible doesn’t say.

    Now let’s look at Daniel and the lions.

    Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”  And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.  Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”  Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. Daniel 6:16-24 ESV

    Daniel was saved, and the king glorified God. It’s a marvelous account of God’s protection and judgment.

    How old was Daniel? From childhood illustrations, I always pictured him as a young man.

    Daniel was likely in his 80s, as nearly 70 years of captivity had passed. He came as a teen and was sent to the lions’ den after Persia had conquered Babylon. We usually see him illustrated as a young man.

    Believers need to make a habit of reading the Word for themselves. It’s important that we know the true stories and not rely on someone else’s telling or a childhood drawing.

    Read the Word. Read the Word. Read the Word.

    Kevin

    #ReadTheBible #BibleStudy #SundaySchool #Scripture #Lions

    SUMMARY

    Daniel was likely in his 80s when he faced the lions, not the young man our Sunday school pictures show. Make a habit of reading the Word for yourself so you know the true account and not someone else’s telling.

    TAKEAWAY

    What we learn as children sticks, and the Sunday school version is often sanitized, condensed or wrong.

    Daniel was likely in his 80s when he was cast into the den, not the young man of the illustrations.

    Make a habit of reading the Word for yourself rather than relying on someone else’s telling.

    YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

    You need to read the Word.

    Our struggles have a purpose

    Find freedom with the truth of the gospel

    Blown by the wind? Read the Word