King David was overwhelmed by the anti-God spirit of his day. He cried out to the Lord, “Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred” (Psalm 25:19). Likewise, Psalm 124:2-3 tells us: “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us.”
Today, a radical, pagan religion is a kind of Babylon with mad leaders like King Nebuchadnezzar. This religion is threatening the whole world with its demand to worship its deity. Terrorist organizations with religious support are demanding: “Bow to our god, or we will blow up your airplanes. We’ll bomb your towns, trains, buses and tunnels. We’ll kidnap you, torture you and behead you. Our religion is going to prevail.”
In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden god in Babylon and demanded that it be worshiped. Every official, leader and citizen in over one hundred provinces in Babylon had to fall down before this god or face death. There were but two choices: bow or burn. If anyone refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol, they would be roasted alive in huge ovens.
Once, while taking a “prayer walk” and talking to God about my concerns over the health of several family members, a Scripture passage became very real to me: “But with whom was he grieved forty years? . . . And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?” (Hebrews 3:17-18). I found myself praying through tears: “Lord, those people made You cry! Have I also made You cry because of my unbelief? I’ve had precious times with You for over fifty years, Jesus.
“We see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). Only one sin kept Israel out of the Promised Land.
Canaan represents a place of rest, peace, fruitfulness, assurance, fullness, satisfaction, everything a true believer longs for. It is also a place where the Lord speaks clearly to His people, directing them, “This is the way, walk in it.” But Israel could not enter the Promised Land because of one sin.
Luke 1 includes one of the most revealing cases of the seriousness of unbelief. You remember the story of godly Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Zacharias was a devoted priest who suffered because of a single episode of unbelief. His story illustrates just how seriously God takes this sin.
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
What is our “time of need”? It is whenever we have failed our blessed Lord. The moment we sin, we are in need of grace and mercy, and God invites us to come boldly to His throne, with confidence, to receive everything we need. We’re not to come to Him only when we feel upright or holy; we are to come every time we are in need.
Sin makes us want to hide from God’s presence. Here is the essence of unbelief among Christians: when we sin, failing God, we tend to run from His presence. We think He is too angry to want to commune with us. How could He possibly share intimacy with us when we’ve sinned so grievously?
In Daniel 3 we are given a powerful example of the power of praise during a time of affliction in the story of the three Hebrew children, whom King Nebuchadnezzar threw into the fiery furnace. These men weren’t being tested to see if they had faith; the fact is, their faith was what put them there. Clearly the Lord was after something else. Think about it: The heathen Babylonians weren’t influenced by these men’s prayers or preaching. They weren’t impressed by their wisdom and knowledge or by their holy living.
“If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:17–18).The apostle Paul is saying that in light of the glory that awaits him, what is his trial in comparison?