Friday, July 12, 2013
Tell Your Children
TELL YOUR CHILDREN
As a parent, I would tell my children stories about the sins of my youth. My purpose was to let them learn about the dire consequences that resulted from these mistakes. One example was riding my bicycle to town 5 miles away without letting my Mom know where I was. The reason for not telling her was my intention of doing something I knew she would disapprove of. On the way out of town, a car ran into my bicycle, causing me to fly off and break my jaw in two places. For six weeks I was unable to eat any solid food because of my teeth being wired together. That gave me several months to remember that “my sins would always find me out”. If we hide these stories from our children, they may need to learn all these lessons by personal experience.
I remember my parents letting us know the trouble alcohol brought young people in their young growing up years. That is at least in part what motivated them to change churches with the hope that we would avoid that kind of temptation. It left a lasting impression on my life’s choices, and I have watched many people ruin their lives and families with their addiction to alcohol and drugs. The Bible teaches us to tell our children our stories in the hope that they will see the need of obeying the word of God.
“Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”
Joel_1:3 KJV
God chose this easy to understand method of passing the baton of a living testimony for truth to always be kept alive in Israel. God’s people are to hand down their witness for the gospel to their children and grandchildren. This is our first responsibility; we are to begin at the family table. The person is a bad preacher who does not start his ministry at home. We are to reach out to the unsaved by all means, but our own home should be our first priority. Woe to those who reverse the order of God’s plan. Teaching our children is a personal responsibility; we cannot delegate this to a Sunday school teacher or day care center. These people can help us, but it is first and foremost our duty to teach our children about the wonderful works of God. It should be an enjoyable thing for us to talk about Jesus to our sons and daughters.
“Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.”
Celeste Sibley took her three children to a diner for breakfast one morning. It was crowded and they had to take separate seats at the counter. Eight-year-old Mary was seated at the far end of the counter and when her food was served she called down to her mother in a loud voice, "Mother, don't people say grace in this place?" A hush came over the entire diner and before Mrs. Sibley could figure out what to say, the counterman said, "Yes, we do, sister. You say it." All the people at the counter bowed their heads. Mary bowed her head and in a clear voice said, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food."
God blessed me with parents who told me about Jesus and the stories of how God worked in their lives. Will you join me and Celeste Sibley in passing on to the next generation our stories of how God has worked in our lives? God instructs us through Joel tell our children.
Alvin Yoder
7/11/2013
Saturday, July 28, 2012
I was wrong Please forgive me
PLEASE FORGIVE ME
How easy it is for us to say something that brings a breach between us and those we love. What can we do when that happens to us? If we don’t resolve the offence, it can separate close friends for a lifetime. It’s not enough to feel guilty about it; we must take an additional step that involves humility. The Bible clearly teaches that humble people will obtain help from the Lord, but prideful people will be resisted by him. King David had made a decision to count the people in direct disobedience to God’s command to not do this. Immediately afterwards, he felt guilty and humbled himself before God.
“After David had everyone counted, he felt guilty and told the LORD,
"What I did was stupid and terribly wrong. LORD, please forgive me.”
2Sa 24:10 CEV
King David paid a price for his disobedience, but God fully forgave him. The Bible says David was a man after God’s own heart. I wonder if his ability to say “I was wrong, please forgive me” was not the quality that gave him that title.
Peter Gregory wrote about an experience he had during his employment in a print shop. His employer had purchased an old printing press and wanted Peter to learn to print with it. Peter tried hard to learn the complex art of offset printing by trial and error. One day the employer came out to talk with him and said, “I’ll be blunt and to the point. Your printing is horrible and your designs are not much better!” Deeply hurt, Peter stuffed his angry feelings until he was driving home after work. He then started yelling out his frustrations to an empty passenger’s seat. He formulated just how he would let the employer have a piece of his mind the next day. After he fired up the antique printing machine the next day, his employer came walking into the print shop straight toward Peter. Before Peter could open his mouth to give him a piece of his mind, the employer spoke. “Peter, I owe you an apology. I came out here yesterday and spoke as though I knew something about what you were doing. I know I hurt you and had no business talking to you like that. I feel horrible. Will you forgive me?” Shocked, Peter forgot his original formulated speech and said, “That’s ok, don’t worry about it.” No one had ever apologized to him before, let alone an authority figure. The two men reconciled and became lifetime friends.
Many marriages could be saved and friendships restored if we would humble ourselves before God and one another. Perhaps the most powerful sentence in the whole wide world is… “I was wrong, please forgive me.”
Al Yoder
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Non Embellished Words
NON EMBELLISHED WORDS
Have you ever listened to people pray or talk, and afterwards wondered what they really said? Then at other times when we listen to a new Christian pray, we are touched and humbled by the simplicity and truthfulness of their prayers and thoughts about their walk with Christ.
The other evening a small group of nine people met in our living room, where we shared around some Scripture to sing and pray together. When we opened it for people to pray, a lady who is in the middle of a horrible divorce began praying something like this. “Lord, for years I haven’t been acting like you wanted me to. My life has been such a mess, but through these painful experiences you brought me to a fork in the road. I’m so glad now that I chose to take the right fork. Life is becoming so much better now that you are in my life.” Her prayer touched me deeply.
At a Men’s Supper on Thursday evening, a group of around 24 men were talking about “walking in the Spirit”. Some of us talked without specifics and stayed somewhat on the safe philosophical side of the subject, which makes it a little more difficult to understand and apply those thoughts to our own life. Then Dennis, a younger Christian spoke up and said, “Sometimes I do well and other times I don’t do well at all with this. For an example the other day I kicked the machine that wasn’t repaired like it should have been. I do much better on the days I read my Bible. On days I don’t read the Bible, I don’t do as well.” It was not hard to identify with and apply this young man’s thoughts to our walking in the Spirit, because he did not embellish his thoughts with religious lace.
Jesus taught us to speak and pray with all sincerity and get rid of our pious talking and praying. I liked how the Message bible paraphrased Jesus teaching in Matthew 5.
“You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace.
In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true.”
Matthew 5:34-37 MSG
Norman Peale tells the story of a rough character that came to his office one day. The man had a painful start to his life and had ended up (in the man’s own words) “feeling fed up and sick of the whole racket.” Norman told the man that only Jesus Christ can clean up all the hate, the money grabbing, sexual, heavy drinking pattern, and the unhappiness with life out of him. He told the man to get down on his knees and tell the Lord that he is sorry for all the rottenness in himself. Norman said the man fell to his knees and prayed like this.
“Lord, I’m a louse, but you know that without my telling you. I’m a no-account bum, and if I started telling You all the dirt I’ve done, You would not have the time to listen to anyone else, for You’re pretty busy. Besides, you know all about me anyway, so how could I fool you? But believe me God; I don’t want to fool you. I’m sick of the lousy way I live and think and act. I don’t want to be this way anymore. And that’s the truth, too, God. I gotta admit that even as I talk I’m holding back a few reservations, but please don’t let me be a phony. Help me to come clean as Dr Peale says. I can’t do anything about myself, so I put myself completely in your hands. Let your blood which fell from the cross, fall over me now. I’ve just got to be changed.”
Norman said the man stood up and said, “Gosh, I feel better. Strange, but that pent-up feeling is almost gone. I actually feel peaceful and sort of happy.” Norman checked up on the man some nine months later and his life was changing in a positive way for the better.
As I reflect on these stories of people whose words and prayers were not embellished with religious lace, I couldn’t help but think about Jesus story of the Pharisee and Publican in Luke 18. The Pharisee embellished his prayer, but the Publican pounded his chest and said, “God have mercy on me, I am such a sinner”! Jesus said the Publican met with God’s approval and the Pharisee did not. May God give us the humility to say it like it is, and to not embellish our words.
Al Yoder
2/4/2012
Have you ever listened to people pray or talk, and afterwards wondered what they really said? Then at other times when we listen to a new Christian pray, we are touched and humbled by the simplicity and truthfulness of their prayers and thoughts about their walk with Christ.
The other evening a small group of nine people met in our living room, where we shared around some Scripture to sing and pray together. When we opened it for people to pray, a lady who is in the middle of a horrible divorce began praying something like this. “Lord, for years I haven’t been acting like you wanted me to. My life has been such a mess, but through these painful experiences you brought me to a fork in the road. I’m so glad now that I chose to take the right fork. Life is becoming so much better now that you are in my life.” Her prayer touched me deeply.
At a Men’s Supper on Thursday evening, a group of around 24 men were talking about “walking in the Spirit”. Some of us talked without specifics and stayed somewhat on the safe philosophical side of the subject, which makes it a little more difficult to understand and apply those thoughts to our own life. Then Dennis, a younger Christian spoke up and said, “Sometimes I do well and other times I don’t do well at all with this. For an example the other day I kicked the machine that wasn’t repaired like it should have been. I do much better on the days I read my Bible. On days I don’t read the Bible, I don’t do as well.” It was not hard to identify with and apply this young man’s thoughts to our walking in the Spirit, because he did not embellish his thoughts with religious lace.
Jesus taught us to speak and pray with all sincerity and get rid of our pious talking and praying. I liked how the Message bible paraphrased Jesus teaching in Matthew 5.
“You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace.
In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true.”
Matthew 5:34-37 MSG
Norman Peale tells the story of a rough character that came to his office one day. The man had a painful start to his life and had ended up (in the man’s own words) “feeling fed up and sick of the whole racket.” Norman told the man that only Jesus Christ can clean up all the hate, the money grabbing, sexual, heavy drinking pattern, and the unhappiness with life out of him. He told the man to get down on his knees and tell the Lord that he is sorry for all the rottenness in himself. Norman said the man fell to his knees and prayed like this.
“Lord, I’m a louse, but you know that without my telling you. I’m a no-account bum, and if I started telling You all the dirt I’ve done, You would not have the time to listen to anyone else, for You’re pretty busy. Besides, you know all about me anyway, so how could I fool you? But believe me God; I don’t want to fool you. I’m sick of the lousy way I live and think and act. I don’t want to be this way anymore. And that’s the truth, too, God. I gotta admit that even as I talk I’m holding back a few reservations, but please don’t let me be a phony. Help me to come clean as Dr Peale says. I can’t do anything about myself, so I put myself completely in your hands. Let your blood which fell from the cross, fall over me now. I’ve just got to be changed.”
Norman said the man stood up and said, “Gosh, I feel better. Strange, but that pent-up feeling is almost gone. I actually feel peaceful and sort of happy.” Norman checked up on the man some nine months later and his life was changing in a positive way for the better.
As I reflect on these stories of people whose words and prayers were not embellished with religious lace, I couldn’t help but think about Jesus story of the Pharisee and Publican in Luke 18. The Pharisee embellished his prayer, but the Publican pounded his chest and said, “God have mercy on me, I am such a sinner”! Jesus said the Publican met with God’s approval and the Pharisee did not. May God give us the humility to say it like it is, and to not embellish our words.
Al Yoder
2/4/2012
Sunday, February 6, 2011
LIGHT A CANDLE
Sitting in a room filled with people, the conversation drifted into idle talk about the awful government we have, how things are going from bad to worse, how young people today just don’t have a chance in a world like that, prices for gas and groceries are just out of sight, rioting on college campuses, surely Christ is returning in the next few days and months. The year was 1962. Sounds almost identical to some conversations I heard recently in a group of people that Jesus said are supposed to be the light of the world. I have been amazed at how one person can enter a room and fill it with doom and gloom in a moment’s time. Perhaps I have been more impressed when a room filled with doomsday talking people was suddenly transformed into light and hope by one man’s joyful walk and talk. It was as though we were all in a dark and dingy room when the Light of the world walked in, and suddenly we were immersed in sunshine…or should I have said Son Shine?
Luke 11:36 If your whole body is full of light and not darkness, it will be as bright as a lamp shining on you."
Does a room light up when we walk into it, or does it get darker?
Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” I don’t think about abundant living when listening to complaining and fearful thoughts about life. I think about lack and poverty and death. If it’s the goodness of God that leads people to repentance and if we are to be the light of the world…should not we who have the Light of the world living inside us be lighting candles rather than cursing the darkness? Is it possible that we don’t spend enough time letting God’s Word shine in our hearts? Jesus taught that “out of the abundance of the heart…our mouth speaks.” It’s not so important to watch what we say, as to what we take into our hearts by what we read and listen to and watch.
The Psalms teach us that the Bible is like a lamp shines on our path to let us see where we are going. It’s also helpful to others who are following closely behind us. I thank God for teachers who saw what was, rather than what wasn’t…who saw the glass half full instead of half empty…who proclaimed the “Good News” instead of proclaiming the bad news. May God help us to become candle lighters instead of being candle snuffers.
May we fulfill Jesus command for us to “let our lights shine” by the way we walk and talk. May the computers and rooms and communities and businesses we walk into be transformed as we stop cursing the darkness and begin lighting candles. Maybe we should light a candle and set it in the room today as a reminder to LIGHT A CANDLE where ever we go.
Selah…
Al Yoder
2/6/2011
Luke 11:36 If your whole body is full of light and not darkness, it will be as bright as a lamp shining on you."
Does a room light up when we walk into it, or does it get darker?
Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” I don’t think about abundant living when listening to complaining and fearful thoughts about life. I think about lack and poverty and death. If it’s the goodness of God that leads people to repentance and if we are to be the light of the world…should not we who have the Light of the world living inside us be lighting candles rather than cursing the darkness? Is it possible that we don’t spend enough time letting God’s Word shine in our hearts? Jesus taught that “out of the abundance of the heart…our mouth speaks.” It’s not so important to watch what we say, as to what we take into our hearts by what we read and listen to and watch.
The Psalms teach us that the Bible is like a lamp shines on our path to let us see where we are going. It’s also helpful to others who are following closely behind us. I thank God for teachers who saw what was, rather than what wasn’t…who saw the glass half full instead of half empty…who proclaimed the “Good News” instead of proclaiming the bad news. May God help us to become candle lighters instead of being candle snuffers.
May we fulfill Jesus command for us to “let our lights shine” by the way we walk and talk. May the computers and rooms and communities and businesses we walk into be transformed as we stop cursing the darkness and begin lighting candles. Maybe we should light a candle and set it in the room today as a reminder to LIGHT A CANDLE where ever we go.
Selah…
Al Yoder
2/6/2011
Feeding Sheep
I listened to a fellow pastor who raises sheep on his farm. It intrigued me how he gets up in the middle of the night to help the sheep have little lambs to keep them from freezing. He makes sure they are protected from coyotes and wolves. He also sees to it that they have adequate food and water. I see this same pastor up late at night looking after God?s lambs and sheep in the Church family. We are blessed to have a pastor who cares this much for our spiritual well being, that he lays aside his own needs to relate to our needs. There is a Bible story where Jesus had teaches Peter about the connection between loving Him and feeding His sheep. Some of Jesus disciples had been fishing all night, but in the morning, their nets were still empty. Discouraged, they came toward shore when someone called out to them, ?Have you caught anything?? They replied, ?No,? and the man told them to cast their net on the other side of the ship. They tried it and within moments, their net was full of fish and starting to break! (John 21:3?6.) When the disciples realized that it was Jesus standing there on the shore, they came and had breakfast with Him. After they ate together, Jesus turned to Peter and asked him three questions:
?Peter?.do you love me more than these? Feed my lambs.?
?Peter?.do you love me? Feed my sheep.?
?Peter?do you love me? Feed my sheep.? (John 21:15-17)
Jesus used several different Greek words for love in these questions. The word love in His first two questions to Peter was the Greek word agapao. In the third question He used the word phileo. Each time Peter?s response was: ?I love (phileo) you.? The word agapao means ?to esteem, love.? It is an act of the will and implies love for the sake of meeting another person?s needs. It is the kind of love that God shows us, and that we are to show to Him and other people. The meaning of phileo includes ?having affection for someone, to befriend.? It is usually based on mutual interests. Peter was upset when Jesus asked him, ?Do you (phileo) me??
When Jesus instructed Peter, He used two different words that are translated as feed. ?Feed (bosko) my lambs. ? Feed (poimaino) my sheep. ? Feed (bosko) my sheep.? The Greek word bosko means ?to provide food,? while the Greek word poimaino has a broader meaning. It includes all of a shepherd?s responsibilities, such as training, protecting, and leading, in addition to feeding. Jesus was telling Peter and us as pastors to care for both lambs and sheep. A young lamb has unique needs and requires different levels of care than an older sheep.
The word ?my? in Jesus instruction is also significant. These were not Peter?s sheep, they were God?s sheep. Peter brought this out in I Peter 5:2 to fellow pastors when he wrote: ?Feed (poimaino) the flock of God which is among you.? Jesus had charged Peter, to be a spiritual leader in His Church who would feed and tend His lambs and sheep. He wanted Peter to help new Chris tians to grow into maturity and then keep tending and feeding them even after they are mature. This applies to Chris tian leaders as well as parents, who are to be the spiritual leaders in their homes. As parents we should first think of our own children and then all those who are in our sphere of influence. As leaders, our love for Jesus is directly linked to how well we tend and feed those in within our care.
Selah....
Al Yoder
?Peter?.do you love me more than these? Feed my lambs.?
?Peter?.do you love me? Feed my sheep.?
?Peter?do you love me? Feed my sheep.? (John 21:15-17)
Jesus used several different Greek words for love in these questions. The word love in His first two questions to Peter was the Greek word agapao. In the third question He used the word phileo. Each time Peter?s response was: ?I love (phileo) you.? The word agapao means ?to esteem, love.? It is an act of the will and implies love for the sake of meeting another person?s needs. It is the kind of love that God shows us, and that we are to show to Him and other people. The meaning of phileo includes ?having affection for someone, to befriend.? It is usually based on mutual interests. Peter was upset when Jesus asked him, ?Do you (phileo) me??
When Jesus instructed Peter, He used two different words that are translated as feed. ?Feed (bosko) my lambs. ? Feed (poimaino) my sheep. ? Feed (bosko) my sheep.? The Greek word bosko means ?to provide food,? while the Greek word poimaino has a broader meaning. It includes all of a shepherd?s responsibilities, such as training, protecting, and leading, in addition to feeding. Jesus was telling Peter and us as pastors to care for both lambs and sheep. A young lamb has unique needs and requires different levels of care than an older sheep.
The word ?my? in Jesus instruction is also significant. These were not Peter?s sheep, they were God?s sheep. Peter brought this out in I Peter 5:2 to fellow pastors when he wrote: ?Feed (poimaino) the flock of God which is among you.? Jesus had charged Peter, to be a spiritual leader in His Church who would feed and tend His lambs and sheep. He wanted Peter to help new Chris tians to grow into maturity and then keep tending and feeding them even after they are mature. This applies to Chris tian leaders as well as parents, who are to be the spiritual leaders in their homes. As parents we should first think of our own children and then all those who are in our sphere of influence. As leaders, our love for Jesus is directly linked to how well we tend and feed those in within our care.
Selah....
Al Yoder
Friday, January 28, 2011
GOD'S WAYS vs MY WAYS
GOD'S WAYS vs MY WAYS
Our son recently told us that he and our grandson Conner had received a similar gift for Chris tmas. When he went to use his gift, it was missing from the place he thought it was supposed to be. He went to his son's room and retrieved "his" gift and let Conner know that he was very unhappy that he had taken his gift. He then exhorted him not to lie when Conner denied having taken his dad's gift. Later our son came across his gift exactly where he had remembered leaving it and really felt humbled. He went to Conner and asked his forgiveness for his wrong judgment. I felt deep gratitude that our son was able to humble himself in this way. Our grandson loved his dad for it.
Often God's ways go against our natural inclinations. However, when we obey anyway we reap the benefits of doing things His way.
God said, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts". (Isaiah 55:9)
In Matthew 5 we are told to seek forgiveness for a small offense from those who have hurt us in much greater ways. A son who was deeply hurt by his father went and asked his father to forgive him for not having a loving attitude toward him. To his surprise his father began to weep and asked his son to forgive him for all the ways he had hurt him over the years. Not long after, the father became a Christian.
Our natural way would be to retaliate with some disrespect to try to humiliate the person who is hurtful to us. Our ways tend to put even greater distance between the very relationships that we need the most. God's ways are more difficult in the beginning but His way is always the "higher way".
Our way says the one with the greatest offence should make the first move to be restored. God's way says the one who is most spiritual should take the initiative to be reconciled. That is exactly what Christ did for us when we had no desire or even the ability to do so on our own. God's ways just can't be improved on!
Let's demonstrate our trust in Christ by obeying His commands even if we don't understand His reasons for them.
Selah....Al Yoder
Our son recently told us that he and our grandson Conner had received a similar gift for Chris tmas. When he went to use his gift, it was missing from the place he thought it was supposed to be. He went to his son's room and retrieved "his" gift and let Conner know that he was very unhappy that he had taken his gift. He then exhorted him not to lie when Conner denied having taken his dad's gift. Later our son came across his gift exactly where he had remembered leaving it and really felt humbled. He went to Conner and asked his forgiveness for his wrong judgment. I felt deep gratitude that our son was able to humble himself in this way. Our grandson loved his dad for it.
Often God's ways go against our natural inclinations. However, when we obey anyway we reap the benefits of doing things His way.
God said, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts". (Isaiah 55:9)
In Matthew 5 we are told to seek forgiveness for a small offense from those who have hurt us in much greater ways. A son who was deeply hurt by his father went and asked his father to forgive him for not having a loving attitude toward him. To his surprise his father began to weep and asked his son to forgive him for all the ways he had hurt him over the years. Not long after, the father became a Christian.
Our natural way would be to retaliate with some disrespect to try to humiliate the person who is hurtful to us. Our ways tend to put even greater distance between the very relationships that we need the most. God's ways are more difficult in the beginning but His way is always the "higher way".
Our way says the one with the greatest offence should make the first move to be restored. God's way says the one who is most spiritual should take the initiative to be reconciled. That is exactly what Christ did for us when we had no desire or even the ability to do so on our own. God's ways just can't be improved on!
Let's demonstrate our trust in Christ by obeying His commands even if we don't understand His reasons for them.
Selah....Al Yoder
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
In the Lion's Den
IN THE LION’S DEN
As a young boy, I went to the barn and crawled over a wall into the bull pen’s feeding trough. Next I crawled onto the floor with the bull standing in front of me. Taking a stick I would poke the big bull that snorted and made me feel like I was the ringmaster in a circus. The crowd was made up of my brother and sisters who were standing in the walkway outside the pen. In a moment’s time the bull suddenly picked me up with his head and slammed me against the wooden wall of the pen. If it had not been for my brother Wilbur’s quick reaction to scare the bull away, it may have been my death. IThe bull dropped me and I felt like God had sent Wilbur to pull me off the floor and into the safety of that manger. For about an hour I was unable to stand on my legs to walk. God spoke to me in a powerful way through that experience and probably also to my siblings who were watching. This experience came back to me as I was reading through the book of Daniel.
Daniel had a similar experience in the Bible when he was probably in his early eighties. King Darius had chosen Daniel to be one of three administrators who kept an eye on 120 bureaucrats so they would not try to cheat the king out of tax money they were to collect from the people. Now Daniel was an exceptional administrator. Even though he was eighty, he was very healthy and wise. The king intended to make Daniel the Prime Minister and it angered those other leaders. They envied him, so they tried hard to find out where Daniel had done something wrong, but were unable to find anything. They initiated a ridiculous law that said everyone had to pray to the King or be thrown into a den of hungry lions. To obey that law would have meant that Daniel would violate his conscience in praying to the living God. In spite of the law, Daniel went to pray in his customary place facing Jerusalem. His fellow workers saw this and reported it to the king. The king had no choice but to follow through with the law he had signed with his own signet ring. So Daniel was thrown into the hungry lion’s den. King Darius regretted having made the law and could not sleep all night long. Early the next morning he came to see if Daniel was still alive.
The King called out in an anxious voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"
Daniel said, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king."(Daniel 6:20-21)The king had Daniel pulled out of the den, and then the King ordered the men that instigated this law to be thrown into the den along with their entire families. Before they even hit the floor, the lions devoured them. God had truly shut the lions mouths for an innocent man, and brought vengeance on the evil minded men who opposed him.
Unlike Daniel, I was not entirely innocent entering the bull pen, but God sent an angel to deliver me with my brother’s quick reaction. However, let’s not crawl into the den intentionally! If you happen to find yourself being taken advantage of by some people in your life, remember Daniel and cry out to our God. He is still able to send an angel to shut up the mouths of the lions when we get thrown into the den or even as in my case, when having crawled in on our own volition!
Selah…
Al Yoder
1/26/2011
As a young boy, I went to the barn and crawled over a wall into the bull pen’s feeding trough. Next I crawled onto the floor with the bull standing in front of me. Taking a stick I would poke the big bull that snorted and made me feel like I was the ringmaster in a circus. The crowd was made up of my brother and sisters who were standing in the walkway outside the pen. In a moment’s time the bull suddenly picked me up with his head and slammed me against the wooden wall of the pen. If it had not been for my brother Wilbur’s quick reaction to scare the bull away, it may have been my death. IThe bull dropped me and I felt like God had sent Wilbur to pull me off the floor and into the safety of that manger. For about an hour I was unable to stand on my legs to walk. God spoke to me in a powerful way through that experience and probably also to my siblings who were watching. This experience came back to me as I was reading through the book of Daniel.
Daniel had a similar experience in the Bible when he was probably in his early eighties. King Darius had chosen Daniel to be one of three administrators who kept an eye on 120 bureaucrats so they would not try to cheat the king out of tax money they were to collect from the people. Now Daniel was an exceptional administrator. Even though he was eighty, he was very healthy and wise. The king intended to make Daniel the Prime Minister and it angered those other leaders. They envied him, so they tried hard to find out where Daniel had done something wrong, but were unable to find anything. They initiated a ridiculous law that said everyone had to pray to the King or be thrown into a den of hungry lions. To obey that law would have meant that Daniel would violate his conscience in praying to the living God. In spite of the law, Daniel went to pray in his customary place facing Jerusalem. His fellow workers saw this and reported it to the king. The king had no choice but to follow through with the law he had signed with his own signet ring. So Daniel was thrown into the hungry lion’s den. King Darius regretted having made the law and could not sleep all night long. Early the next morning he came to see if Daniel was still alive.
The King called out in an anxious voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"
Daniel said, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king."(Daniel 6:20-21)The king had Daniel pulled out of the den, and then the King ordered the men that instigated this law to be thrown into the den along with their entire families. Before they even hit the floor, the lions devoured them. God had truly shut the lions mouths for an innocent man, and brought vengeance on the evil minded men who opposed him.
Unlike Daniel, I was not entirely innocent entering the bull pen, but God sent an angel to deliver me with my brother’s quick reaction. However, let’s not crawl into the den intentionally! If you happen to find yourself being taken advantage of by some people in your life, remember Daniel and cry out to our God. He is still able to send an angel to shut up the mouths of the lions when we get thrown into the den or even as in my case, when having crawled in on our own volition!
Selah…
Al Yoder
1/26/2011
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