A Bible Overview + “He’ll Bring You THROUGH.”
He’ll Bring You THROUGH.
The other day, as I was reading Deuteronomy 8 for a Bible Study, something really stood out to me. Moses begins by saying, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” (Deut. 8:2-3)
Moses tells them very explicitly, God led you into the wilderness. He then continues on: “Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years…” (v. 40)
The clothes they came out of Egypt with lasted them 40 years! And, in spite of God leading them into 40 years of walking through a wilderness, their feet never swelled up.
Since last Thursday, that verse has been “milling about” in the corridors of my mind.
God sent them into trial, but sustained them THROUGH it. This verse merged with Is. 43, which I had read that morning: “WHEN thought passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee, when thou walkest through the fires, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isaiah 43:2)
God had spoken to His people through Isaiah, and said, “I’m going to allow you to go through some very challenging and difficult circumstances; So challenging and difficult that they can only be compared to deep water, raging rivers and hot fires. BUT these difficult environments will not destroy you or define you. You will go through them…. And when you come out on the other side, you won’t be the worse for wear.
This, in turn, reminded me of Mark 6:45-52, which I had read several times. In this passage, Jesus has just finished feeding multitudes: five thousand men, and the very next verse says, “And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and go to the other side before unto Bethsaida…and when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the SHIP WAS IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA and HE ALONE ON LAND. And HE SAW THEM TOILING IN ROWING; FOR THE WIND WAS CONTRARY UNTO THEM: AND ABOUT THE FOURTH WATCH OF THE NIGHT HE COMETH UNTO THEM…” (v. 45-49)
As I read that this week, “about the fourth watch of the night” jumped out at me. Jesus sent them onto the sea, and it very specifically says He saw them toiling in the storm, but He didn’t race out to them. From what I’m reading, the fourth watch is 3 AM to 6 AM. Jesus did not run to their aid the second He observed the perilous conditions they were in. He allowed them to “pass THROUGH the waters” before going to them, talking to them, and causing the wind to cease.
This, in turn, reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who found themselves in a pressure situation. They have been taken from their homeland, made rulers in their “new location,” and now, Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian king, has constructed an image of gold, which everyone is supposed to bow to. The punishment for not bowing and worshipping the image is severe: “…and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” (Daniel 3:6) As we learned in Sunday School, these “3 Hebrew Children” refused to bow, and in his fury, the king commands the furnace be made 7 times hotter than usual…so hot that the men who took the 3 of them to the furnace died getting close to the furnace. Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego “fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” (v. 23) THEY WENT INTO THE FIRE. But they didn’t just go into the fire, they passed THROUGH the fire, because the very next verse says, “Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was astonied, and rose up in great haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto him, ‘True, o king.’ He answered and said, ‘Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and THEY HAVE NO HURT; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’” (Daniel 3:24-25)
Nebuchadnezzar calls them out of the fire. (v.26)
The “three Hebrew children” walk out of the fire. “And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, UPON WHOSE BODIES THE FIRE HAD NO POWER, NOR WAS A HAIR OF THEIR HEAD SINGED, NEITHER WERE THEIR COATS CHANGED, NOR THE SMELL OF FIRE HAD PASSED ON THEM.” God didn’t keep them FROM the fire, but He brought them THROUGH the fire…and they didn’t even smell like smoke.
This reminded me of Daniel in the lion’s den. The king errantly signed a decree that no one could pray to anyone but him. This was a trap set for Daniel by some peers because they knew the consistency of his prayer life and his devotion to God. When Daniel heard the law was signed, he did what he’d always done, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” (Dan 6:10). Daniel was caught “red-handed”, breaking the new law. The king is greatly upset with himself when Daniel is brought to him to be punished as the law had been written being thrown into a den of hungry lions. The king tries to change the law, but can’t. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, “Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee.” Upon these words, they brought a large stone and laid it upon the mouth of the den. It would seem Daniel’s fate is sealed, but when the king goes to the lion’s den after a sleepless night and calls to Daniel, Daniel’s voice echoes back to him. “O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the lions’ mouths, THAT THEY HAVE NOT HURT ME.” The story continues on, “So Daniel was taken up out of the den, AND NO MANNER OF HURT WAS FOUND UPON HIM, because he believed in his God.” (Dan 6:23). Daniel went INTO, but came THROUGH, with not even one tooth mark!
(The same could not be said for those who had set out to destroy him! The king commanded that they now be thrown into the lion’s den, and the Bible says, “And the lions had mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came to the bottom of the den.” OUCH! They never even touched the ground that Daniel had slept on the night before!)
There are other stories coming to mind to go along with this concept, but I won’t flesh out all the details here.
Jesus himself, God robed in flesh, went into and THROUGH. He didn’t give himself an exemption, he went INTO the garden of Gethsemane, and “tasted death” (Heb 2:9) and was laid in a borrowed tomb. But the grave could not keep Him because He was just passing through. And after coming THROUGH, He was glorified.
WE ARE BETTER AFTER WE PASS THROUGH.
Job was BETTER after he passed THROUGH is trial.
The children of Israel got rid of their enemies when they passed THROUGH the Red Sea.
Paul and Silas had new converts when they went THROUGH midnight IN prison.
When we are walking with Jesus, we can rest assured there will be seasons where He walks us INTO trial, but if He walks us IN, He’ll walk us THROUGH, and ultimately, He’ll walk us OUT! “When thou passest THROUGH…” (Is 43). Paul said, “You must through much tribulation enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Acts 14:22). David said, “Even WHEN I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (Ps 23:4) NLT. Peter wrote, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness THROUGH manifold temptations:” WHY? “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be TRIED WITH FIRE, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:’ (I Pet 1:6-7)
Your faith is going to go through trial, just like gold goes through fire, but it’s never pointless. It proves its actually gold and it is better having come THROUGH fire. Trial “tests our mettle” and betters us for having walked through it! Trial proves our faith.
Circling all the way back to Deuteronomy 8, Moses is reminding the children of Israel not to forget God, “Who led thee THROUGH that great and terrible wilderness, werein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water, Who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee IN the wilderness with manna…” (v.15-16). He calls to mind that God led them INTO and preserved them THROUGH. They were fed IN trial. The saw the miraculous IN trial. Their shoes lasted 40 YEARS and their feet never swelled. God kept them THROUGH the wilderness.
If we’re IN, He’ll bring us THROUGH.
And we’ll always be better because of THROUGH!