Typhoons and Temptresses

Suggested Reading: Genesis 39:1-10

In Karate Kid, Part II, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi go to Okinawa to visit Mr. Miyagi's dying father. Almost immediately upon arriving they both find themselves confronted by angry rivals seeking to demonstrate how much better they are than the heroes of the movie. Near the climax of the film, in the middle of a typhoon, Daniel's rival, Chozen, refuses to go help a little girl caught in the storm. Instead, Daniel has to save her. Upon seeing Chozen's cowardice and his refusal to help the little girl, his mentor Sato tells him, "Now, to me, you are dead." Chozen had wronged the little girl and her family by not helping but, worse, he had dishonored Sato by being a coward. Sato took Chozen's failure to help the little girl as a sin against himself.

As odd as that interchange may seem to most Americans, a similar kind of honor can been seen throughout scripture. In Genesis 39, Joseph, whose brothers had sold him into slavery, had worked his way up through the ranks at his owner's home and Potiphar had placed him in charge of everything. Potiphar's wife took notice of Joseph and repeatedly tried to seduce him. Joseph's response to her is found in Genesis 39:8-9: Look, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater than I am. He was withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God? (HCSB).

For Joseph, while sleeping with his master's wife would be wrong because of his relationship with her husband, Joseph spoke of the situation as a sin against God, not his master. Joseph would not have denied that sleeping with this woman was a sin against her husband, but he understood something deeper and more important: maintaining our integrity must be seen first, and foremost, in terms of our relationship with God.  If we are only concerned about not hurting people or not sinning against people, there may be times we think we can get away with something because no one will never find out. We can cheat on our spouse on a business trip because we are 300 miles away and she will never know. We can fudge our mileage when listing our tax deductions because no one will be able to prove us wrong. But that thinking only works if our focus is on the people involved. When we turn to consider God, who holds us accountable whether people know or not, who sees every hidden act and every desire of our hearts, we must view our behavior in a different light.

While it is important that we avoid hurting people and that we honor people's trust, it is more important that we live a life of integrity before God. We must remember that we ultimately reflect the One who sees everything we do and think, even if no one else ever knows. Does what you do in secret bring God shame or reflect his glory?

Preparing the Disciples for the Crane Kick

Suggested Reading: Luke 10:1-12, Luke 22:35-38

In the original Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio, once his training began with Mr Miyagi, Daniel couldn't wait to learn to kick or punch. He was overly eager to learn those things. But Mr Miyagi insisted on teaching Daniel balance and defense first. From the teacher's viewpoint, those things were foundational and he wanted Daniel to be able to defend himself and maintain his balance before he ever thought of going on offense. Eventually, however, he was allowed to begin kicking and punching and even learned the famous Crane Kick which won the tournament. But without his lessons in balance, Daniel never would have mastered the Crane Kick. He never would have won the tournament.

In the book of Luke, we see a similar dynamic with Jesus and the disciples. While training them, Jesus sends them out in pairs to preach the good news, but he has some special instructions for them. Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road (Luke 10:4, NLT).  But later, as he is preparing to send them out again, knowing he is about to leave them, Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything?” “No,” they replied. “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one!" (Luke 22:35-36, NLT).  Jesus wanted his disciples to have all of the necessary tools for survival, but he wanted all of those tools to be used in an attitude of faith. So the first time he sent them out, he made them rely on God not just for protection but also for food and shelter, because faith is foundational to all we do as believers. Without it, we can never use any of our other tools in the proper fashion.

Sometimes, we get frustrated that God isn't allowing us to do the things we want, that our life isn't moving fast enough. If you find yourself feeling like you are stuck, consider that God may want you to learn something important before you are ready to move forward. Maybe your faith needs to grow, maybe you need to learn a particular skill, maybe you need a particular experience to prepare you for something down the road. As good a trainer as Mr Miyagi was, God is even better.  If you feel like God is holding you back for some reason or another, search for the lesson you need to learn. That lesson may be essential for the rest of your life.

Changing the Future with a Deep Breath

Suggested Reading: Daniel 6:1-16 (or read the whole story here)

If you aren't familiar with Doctor Who, you aren't aware that the British television series features an alien called The Doctor, who travels through space and time solving problems and saving people from monsters. Often in the show, some nefarious alien species has altered time for their own benefit and the Doctor has to restore the timeline to save everyone. Every now and then, though, he encounters a fixed point in time, something that cannot be changed no matter how hard you try or how much time travel you do. Occasionally, even in the time travel realm of science fiction, some decisions can never be changed. They are permanent. Final.

In Daniel 6, Daniel found himself in a land where the king's law could never be changed. According to the laws of the Medes and Persians, any law the king made was a permanent law, without exceptions and without equivocation. So when some of Daniel's co-workers wanted to get rid of Daniel out of jealousy, they convinced the king to sign a law making it illegal to pray to anyone but the king for 30 days. Then they set the penalty for praying as being thrown into a den of lions. Once it was signed, they went and caught Daniel praying to God as they had predicted he would, and then ran to the king. The king hadn't considered this possibility and looked for a way to save Daniel from the law he had foolishly signed. But in the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.” So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you" (Daniel 6:15-16, NLT).

The king had made a permanent decision without thinking through the consequences. I guess that makes him just like us sometimes. We burn bridges without thinking about whether or not we will need them in the future. We cross lines of innocence and purity that can never be uncrossed. We make decisions about relationships based on surface level emotions. We make life-altering decisions that can never be undone just because it feels like the right thing to do in a single moment or because someone flatters us and our good judgment goes flying out the window.

Sometimes, we face decisions that don't have significant consequences. But frequently we make decisions that will have a lasting impact we have no way of foreseeing. When we face decisions, we must take a step back and think through the consequences. Maybe you can live with that decision now. But will you be able to live with that decision when you can't reverse it? Will you still be comfortable with that decision ten years down the road? Or sixty?

Before you make a life-long decision, take a deep breath and work through the possible consequences. That deep breath might be the only thing that stands between you and a lifetime of regret.

The Deafening Roar of Minor Miracles

Suggested Reading: Daniel 3:8-27 (or read the whole story: Daniel 3)

The story goes of a man who was a known smuggler who crossed the border every day. Every day a border agent would stop him with his wheelbarrow and sift through all of the dirt inside the wheelbarrow, but he could never catch the man or figure out what was being snuck across the border. Every night, the man would walk back across the border empty-handed and come back the next morning with a wheelbarrow full of dirt. Eventually, the border agent gave up, never realizing the very thing being smuggled across the border was a bunch of wheelbarrows. Sometimes we miss the most obvious things because we are focused on the dirt.

In Daniel chapter 3, I recently noticed a miracle that I don't believe I've ever seen anyone call attention to. Daniel 3 is the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who are thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to worship the king's idol. Now, miraculously, they survive the furnace which is so hot that the guards who toss them in are killed while walking around with one who looks like a son of the gods. There are two miracles right there but the miracle I noticed was a different one.

We used to live in an area where we had to burn our own trash. One of the things I have learned is that fires can be loud. And the bigger the fire, the louder they get. But King Nebuchadnezzar had ordered a furnace, which was already a massive fire, heated seven times hotter than normal because he was so angry, so the roar of this fire was deafening. Then, when he realized the three men had been saved by their God, we read this: Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. (Daniel 3:26, NLT) How in the world did Nebuchadnezzar make himself heard over the roar of that massive fire, especially when those three men were in the very heart of the flames?

Granted, compared to being saved from the fire itself, the fact that Nebuchadnezzar was somehow heard isn't all that impressive, but it should have been no less impossible. Yet, of the dozens and dozens of times I have read that story or heard it taught or preached, I've never heard anyone ever mention that. It was a minor miracle that is easily overshadowed by the other events of the chapter. But it was still a miracle.

How many minor miracles occur in our lives that we never notice because they are overshadowed by more prominent events? How is it that a stop light can change the entire course of your day, starting off a chain of events that can last for years to come? Or think about that check that God laid on someone's heart to write two weeks before the need was even realized? What about that morning your alarm clock didn't go off because God knew you were going to need the extra sleep that day? Or when you make a choice to follow the Spirit's lead and the things you sacrificed to obey God end up working out anyway?

We continually experience "minor" miracles that are overshadowed by the larger events of the day. Thank God for those miracles, and try to keep your eyes open for God's "minor" movements in the future. Most of the time, we have more to thank God for than we realize.

Iocaine Powder and a Diet of Vegetables

Suggested Reading: Daniel 1:1-15

The Princess Bride was one of my favorite movies growing up. In fact, I tried to novelize the movie and was a couple chapters into writing it out when I realized the movie really did come from a book. One of the most memorable scenes from that movie is the battle of wits between Vinzini and the Man in Black, two men battling to the death, using only their intellects. Vinzini was supposed to guess which of the two wine goblets the Man in Black had poisoned with iocaine powder. The winner would get to keep the kidnapped princess while the loser died of poisoning. Rather than simply talking about who was smartest, they decided to put it to the test. Unfortunately, the idea of poisoning both drinks with a poison to which the Man in Black was immune never occurred to Vinzini.

In the book of Daniel, four young men also found themselves in a position where their beliefs were pitted against another's. Having been captured and re-educated by king Nebuchadnezzar after the conquest of Jerusalem, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were being told they needed to eat the king's meat which had probably been involved with sacrifices to idols. When Daniel requested a different diet, their caretaker warned them that he would lose his job if they showed up looking less healthy and robust than the other captives. Rather than accepting the argument that the king's meat would bring better health than the vegetables they had requested, Daniel responded, “Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water. At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s food. Then make your decision in light of what you see.” (Daniel 1:12-13, NLT) Daniel didn't accept the caretaker's rational but asked for a chance to prove his own, to put it to the test.

Like Daniel, we live in a world which believes very differently than our own faith has taught us to believe. We live in a world where we are told that abstaining from sex before marriage is unhealthy, where disciplining your child is considered archaic, and where getting ahead is the highest virtue. These things and many more are often in direct conflict with our faith, but we often forfeit the argument when that conflict occurs. Instead of wimping out, let's take the attitude Daniel had and challenge the accepted norms. Let us say, "Test me! Let me try it my way while you try it yours and let's see what happens." Allow those tests not only to serve as confirmation for you but as a witness to a world that desperately needs a light to shine in the darkness.

When conflict arises between the tenets of your faith and the world's belief system, don't just accept their arguments about what is best. Put them to the test and give God a chance to prove his word.