This will be a multiple part study. That said, in my personal study and growth I want to see more than what I’ve heard for most of my life growing up in church and attending Sunday school. What do I mean? Well if you’ve spent any amount time growing up in Sunday school you no doubt have heard all the tales from the Bible and probably have missed their deeper meanings. I’m not just talking about as a child either. I know many churches use curriculums and I’ve been a teacher myself so I know what Bible stories are being told and what we as teachers are told to convey about them to the students. It never felt quite right, but not quite wrong either. When I began to homeschool my own children my perspective changed a lot as I was digging deeper into what I was reading in preparation to teach my kids. This preparation became a meaningful study of the scripture for me and opportunity to discuss with my own children at home. It also meant that I had to correct things they were hearing at church or that I had to go deeper to explain what God’s word was actually saying. If you don’t study the Bible at home with your children, I’d encourage you to do so. Teaching kids doesn’t mean you have to water down what the Bible says either. Just teach them the truth. In the end this will help them as they grow up to have a better and deeper understanding of the scripture and their relationship with Christ. There is equally no reason to make things too simple, losing the actual meaning, for adults. Just speak the truth. The Holy Spirit will take it from there. You can’t change hearts, only he can.

Some of what I want to look at are these Bible stories we are often taught during our lifetime being a follower of Christ. One key question when you read these stories should be, “What does this tell me about God?” Admittedly, I’m still working through this way of reading the scriptures so there will be more as time goes on I’m sure. If you’ve been a Christian a long time you know that God is described in a list of attributes but are those being looked at a deeper level when we read the scripture? Do you understand them? Does it have purpose or meaning? Why does it matter? Are we just seeing ourselves on those pages? Remember, the Bible is God’s story, not ours. It’s about Him and not about us. Some topics that I want to dig deeper into are:

• The 3 men thrown into the fire
• The 3 men on the crosses at Calvary
• The parable of the good Samaritan and with that the Samaritan woman at the well.
• Joseph
• Jonah (which I already mentioned in another post)
• The rich man and Lazarus
• Abraham and Isaac
• Etc

I’m going to tackle one of these today, briefly, for the sake of time. In case you forgot, I’m not here to tell you what to think, or how. I’m not out to change your mind. When I decided to transform this blog into what it’s heading towards, it wasn’t taken lightly. This is something I’ve wanted to do a long time but didn’t feel I could, or should; meaning, I had doubts. I still have doubts, but my goal is still what my goal was when my blog focused on homeschooling, and that is to provide encouragement, direction, and insight. You don’t need to agree with me, but I hope that you read with an open mind and consider my thoughts and maybe even be shown something you’ve never thought about before which sends you the the scripture for personal study. I don’t have to be right. This isn’t a competition…the only winners here are those who have placed their trust in Christ, the redeemer for the penalty of sin. Don’t delay, choose the winning team.

Daniel 3 : This is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (those are their Babylonian names) being thrown in the fiery furnace. Please read the chapter. As I was re-reading this chapter I couldn’t help but to see what could be overlooked when people teach this story. Maybe they know the message but it doesn’t come across. They seem to focus on the 3 young men and making that about us rather than focusing on what this story tells us about God. So, I often hear it this way, “God will walk you through the fire.” What they are saying is that no matter what you face, God will get you through it. What does that mean? Let me give an example. My mom died of cancer in 2014 at age 63. It was a very short 4 months for my family and I to go through because she probably didn’t tell us right away and she also didn’t get diagnosed until very late. My mom was a believer and she was suffering a tremendous trial; mentally, physically and spiritually. What was the end of her trial? She died. She did not get better like many prayed for. For unsaved family and friends this was not a happy ending. This was not the resolution they were hoping for. But to my mom, perhaps, and to those of us who believed in Christ…we knew better. That was a happy ending, for my mother to be present with the Lord. From our perspective God did “walk her through the fire”. No matter how painful it was for her, and for us, he was there.

If you read the story of these 3 young men they trusted God would rescue them, but if he didn’t rescue them from the fire, they knew they were still going to be rescued in death. But that’s not all this story is really about. Sure we can look at these young men in their steadfast faith, their refusal to bow before a false god, and apply that to our lives as something to aspire to be like. There’s nothing wrong with that. But what does this story tell us about God? Look deeper. I could not help but to see it this way, God is faithful to those who are faithful. What do we see? We see 3 obedient and faithful young men who trusted God with their whole being. They didn’t back down. They knew if they did not bow before that gold statue that the consequence was going to be death; that the King would order their demise. They didn’t fight, they simply stated the fact to the King that they would never worship other gods or bow before that statue because they revered God. They were not concerned with whether they burned alive or not because they knew, God being sovereign, would remain faithful to them and whatever happened was God’s will, his plan. Ultimately what happened? God was glorified. His power and glory were revealed by his faithfulness shown to everyone who watched those 3 young men come out of that fire totally unharmed and it didn’t go un-noticed to King Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 3: 28-29: Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.”

Sure the King still had a long way to go, and that’s another story where you can see who God is and how he works. The King did eventually come to understanding; Daniel 4:34 says, But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever: For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. Read chapter 4 to see what happened for the King to make such a declaration. God always has a plan.

The lessons here are we serve God, not man. God is to be glorified. God is to be worshipped. God is to be honored and obeyed. God will deliver us. He is faithful and through the shed blood of Christ we can be restored and have assurance of an eternal destiny with the Lord. God can do anything and He deserves our praise. Whatever you’re facing today, if you’ve put your trust in Jesus, you belong to him, and you will be restored and have a promise of eternal life which sure beats the opposite of eternal death. God works on his timeline and he is working even if you don’t see it. The point is, remain steadfast in your faithfulness. Don’t become weak and throw in the towel or reject God.

God is faithful to those who are faithful.

We serve an amazing God whose love and mercy endures forever.

Incidentally, I asked my 18 year old what she’s been taught about this Bible story, as in, what was the message? She has been taught this story is about trusting God. Sure, that can be a part, but then I asked, why? Why do we put trust in God or how? What does trusting God look like? So then I explained to her about how if we read this looking for what it says about God, it shows us. God is faithful to those who are faithful. These 3 Judean men gave us an example of what it looks like to be faithful, to fully trust in the sovereignty of the God they served and why they did it. They were not afraid. They loved God so much that keeping his commands seemed simple. They showed no doubt, and they of course are not the only examples of this in scripture. What does obedient faith look like? Read it for yourself. It’s very easy for people to be swayed, become complacent, or “take the easy way out”. It’s much more difficult to persevere but that’s exactly what we are told to do, to persevere to the end in obedience.

Don’t overlook the 4th figure seen in the fire either. Most people believe that to be Christ. Christ is seen throughout the scriptures, old and new testaments. As with my previous post, Christ has existed since the beginning, he wasn’t created, he is one person of the Godhead. Therefore, it’s not unreasonable to think this 4th figure was in fact Christ, even though the King described him as an angel.

https://read.csbible.com