SMBC Principal's Hour Express

If we serve Jesus over the long haul, there will be times when the trials and sacrifices feel so great that giving up might seem attractive. How do we persevere in such times? What is the secret to persevering through trials?

Is safety becoming a sacred value in our culture? Is our desire for safety trumping other concerns? What does God have to say to us about our yearning for safety?

Daniel’s practices of prayer provide a model of corporate, honest confession. His prayer gives us words to implore God to listen and act. The way God answers prayer doesn’t always follow the timelines in our minds.

Sometimes we experience suffering or tragedy that shakes our faith and makes us question God. How will we respond when a moment like this arrives? In Daniel 8, God sends a sobering vision to prepare his people to stand firm, even in the blackest of nights.

How should we respond when faced with threat and uncertainty? What can we expect as God’s people, awaiting the return of Jesus? Daniel 7 affirms our experiences and shapes our expectations.

As followers of Christ, we face all sorts of pressures from a variety of sources not to trust God and not to live for him. How do we resist these pressures and live courageous lives of trust?

Belshazzar pitted himself against God. Daniel, now old, stood against his might and spoke God’s warnings, calling him to repentance. Where Nebuchadnezzar had repented and acknowledged God, Belshazzar stood defiant and proud. Humans, he said, knew better than God. He dared God to show himself. In time, God would show himself; but now, he acted swiftly against Belshazzar’s rebellion.

We will all face situations where people with power over us want to stop us from doing gospel ministry. Where is God in those situations? Daniel 4 has a profound answer to this question, equipping us to live by hope in a hostile world.

Persecution and hardship frequently confront God’s people with a sobering question: are you prepared to die for what you believe? Daniel 3 takes readers back to the Judean exile to consider Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – three men who lived in the midst of an increasingly hostile empire. Yet, at the moment of exposure, these men were willing to defy the king and surrender their lives rather than worship any god other than their own God. A pattern is thus set for every time and place of faithful endurance.

There is much we can be anxious about in our lives, especially during a global pandemic. When we are anxious, there is a danger we’ll seek solice in unhealthy and destructive solutions. Yet God offers a better way. How does God soothe our anxious souls?