Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were taken into exile but they trusted God with where they were taken and placed. They stood up for God against the kings.
I was thinking about this matter today since it was talked about this weekend at the Northern Indiana InterVarsity Fall retreat. I heard what was to be said but part of me was saying okay, so what does this have to do with today and with the life of being on campus. So, simply said, how does this relate to a college student? It seemed to me that the place of exile was the campus but how does the rest of the story relate to college life? I am in no way saying that I completly understand or anything but, I do finaly see some conection on how the life of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego can be seen as the college students life.
Like I said, this just came to me today when I was talking to a friend so bare with me and read on and see what you think or if I am on the right track with this or totaly not on the right track, whichever way you think, I would love to hear what you think.
1. OKay so to start out, the 4 were taken into exile and away from their homes.... The campus is the place of exile for the college students and they had to leave home to attend college.
2. The 4 had to learn a new language and were introduced to a new environment and culture (They were made to learn a new language and learn how to act and the culture).... College students are forced to take specific classes while in school and they are introduced to a new way of living and environment. They need to learn about the "culture" of the college student.
3. The 4 had to choose whether they should follow and do what everyone around them were doing or if they should go their own way.... College students face a lot of pressure from those around them and they have to in the end choose if they will join in or go there own way.
4. The 4 chose to go their own way and stand up for God and faced the punishment for doing so.... As college students on a secular campus we have the obligation to stand up for God with everything we do, when we do so then we will face the "punishment" of being ridiculed and made fun of, of loosing friends and making enemies, of being turned down and not listened to, and the list could go on forever. Even though the "punishment" today is not as bad as the 4 went through since they were thrown into a fiery furnice or thrown into a lions den, it is still scary to face and we don't want to go through any of it.
5. The 4 stood up to the king, the one that had all the control and was the power of them..... As college students it's not a king that we need to stand up to. But rather, it's our peers, our professors, our desires, or really anything that has ahold of our lives and are trying to prevent us from getting closer to God and doing His will for our lives. Our peers try to get us to sin and go against our morals, our professors ridicule and make fun of the Christians, etc. There are many things that get in our way, it could be our grades, our family, our boy friend / girl friend, our past, money, job, etc. It can in the end be absolutly anything. A lot of things get in the way of a college student to get closer to God and get to know Him and do Hid will for us while in "exile". We as college students need to take the example of the 4 and stand up to our "kings" and choose to trust God and follow Him.
6. The 4 were in life ending situations and faced a lot of trials but they trusted God and believed He would rescue them if it was His will.... As college students we need to be able to stand up to others and take risks and trust that God will be there with up and rescue us if we get in too deep with what we are doing. God promises to never forsake us nor leave us so why do we turn out backs on Him?
7. As Christian college students we need to put our full trust in God and believe that he will be with us. We need to be willing to be the answer to our prayers. We need to be willing to go out and stand up to our professors and peers and show them the love of God. We need to be the voice for God and say yes to Him when he calls us into action. We need to be like those 4 who did not think twice about what they should do, they let God move in them and they knew they needed to remain faithful to Him. We need to be willing to be faithful to God and help Him out and tell the campuses about Him. If we don't then who will, if we don't pray for the campus and our lost friends then who will, WHO WILL IF NOT US???
8. The place that the 4 were taken bacame their missions field and they helped bring others to know God..... As college students on the campus we need to be willing to bring others to know God and accept Him into their lives. We need to realize that the campus (our place of exile) is our missions field. God has called us here for a reason and that is to be "fishers of men" and to learn to take chances and risks and takr a stand for Christ. We are called to be servents of God and to be His voice. But, we can't do it alone. It takes EVERYONE and it takes complete trust and faith in God to accomplish it.
Even though I am still uncertain on what God wants from me and I am still wanting to be somewhere else out of "exile" and doing missions God has placed me here on campus for the year and he is making things work out. He has a plan for everything and he is able to use me while I am here and he is showing me and making things slowly make sense once again.
It's hard to step out of your comfort zone and to stand up for Christ but take a look at what I just said and the Bible is full of stories like this. These 4 were willing to risk their lives for God and we should be willing to do just the same since God did send His ONLY son to come and die for us. Standing up for Him and taking a stand is the least we can do for Him. So, take a stand and become more like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Trust in God and follow His leading. He will NOT give you more than you can handle and He will be with you to the end and he will come to your rescue if you get into too much. So now, I challenge you to just pray and seek what God is calling you do and then ask if that is what he wants from you. It's hard but trust God and put aside all distractions in your life and truly listen to God!!! Post how God works in you and what you think of this note!!! Jeremiah 29.
