Delighting in the Challenge

“Lead me . . . because of my enemies . . .” Psalm 5:8

Let’s contrast two familiar Bible stories.  When David fought Goliath, he took a sling and killed the giant, and the Philistine army fled.  There was an overt act of God, a miracle of intervention to make Israel safe.  God answered by changing the environment.  We’d love to live that story.

On the other hand, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were challenged by the king to worship his idol.  They politely declined.  He insisted.  They said, “We are going to risk death. We know that God can save us.  We don’t know if He will.  But we won’t worship the idol.”

“Well, into the furnace,” he replied.  And they heated it seven times hotter, so hot that the men who threw the Hebrews into the furnace were killed by the radiant heat.

A few minutes later, Nebuchadnezzar saw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walking around in the furnace with a fourth person who didn’t look like any of them.  The king was amazed and horrified and called them out of the fire.  He issued a decree that no one was to say anything negative about the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Notice that this time God did not change the environment.  He left His own boys in the bad environment.  He left them in the place of maximum risk.  And in that place of maximum risk, He showed His power.

I find it fascinating that in our Christian culture today, the default position for anyone in pain is to pray, “God, change my circumstances!”  I get the emails every day, asking if I will help them persuade God to fix it.

And I wonder, what happened to the other option?  Where are the people who are willing to walk into a horrifying situation if that will give God more bragging rights?

Listen to how David, Noble Subject that he was, responded in his own dilemma: “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies — make straight your way before me.  Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction.  Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.” Psalm 5:8-9

Sounds like politics hasn’t changed much in three thousand years.  David was dealing with shenanigans just as nasty, ruthless and cutthroat as any today.  And he came to God and said, “God, here I am, and it looks like I have to be in this situation.  Therefore, will you give me wisdom to walk through the minefield?  Will you make a straight path in front of me so that I can navigate this deceptive, treacherous, murderous environment and demonstrate Your greatness by coming out on the other side?”

There are always two solutions.  David and Goliath: change the environment.  Or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: survive the environment with the power of God.

So many of us who claim to be Noble Subjects prefer the David and Goliath route.  “Get me outta here.  Solve the problem.  Make the bad guys go away.”  There are a ton of those prayers in Scripture, and that option is not wrong.  Sometimes God wants to change the environment.

But He also asks, “What about Option B?  What if I want to make you untouchable?  What if I want to give you the wisdom and the power to walk in the presence of all sorts of evil and escape unscathed?”

Spirit, I ask you to evaluate your environment.  Do you feel safe or threatened?  Are there people and circumstances that challenge your very life, or at least your joy, peace and stability?

If so, how are you praying?  Only “fix it” prayers?  “Give me another job.  Give me another church.  Make them go away.”  Those aren’t necessarily wrong prayers.

But is there any possibility that God wants to do a Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego thing, that He wants to compel evildoers to acknowledge the immensity of His protection in the midst of the threat?

Spirit, if that is the King’s choice,  I bless you to receive from Him extraordinary wisdom, extraordinary skill and extraordinary tact in dealing with a volatile situation.  I bless you to run to Him as David did to ask for a fresh infusion of joy, grace, wisdom and endurance.  Even in the place where others have fainted, may you shine for Him.  May He demonstrate His power more fully than if He had never let you be there at all.

It is right to ask for the environment to change.  It is also right, powerfully right, to ask God for wisdom to shine in the midst of a dark and oppressive situation.  I bless you to know when it’s time for each, and I bless you with courage in either place.  I bless you, spirit, with being a Noble Subject who can reach for wisdom and not just for release.

I bless you in Jesus’ name.

Copyright by Arthur Burk with Margaret Lehman
August 2020
All Scripture is from NIV unless noted.

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