Finding Peace

3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

BIBLE VERSE

Daniel 3:3:19-23

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

BIBLE VERSE

Daniel 6:16-17

16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 17 And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.

I worry sometimes…like a lot. I mean I worry about everything. When I had my shoulder surgery, I was terrified of getting a nerve block in my neck.

I worry about kids, bank accounts, grocery prices. I worry when I see a shadow in the water while surfing that Jaws is lurking underneath.

I worried every time we moved, I was going to ruin my kids.

Worry is a natural part of my life.

I am not sure when this started. Perhaps in my childhood.

I was the youngest cousin on my dad’s side of the family. And, my older cousins loved to terrorize me. My cousin Greg, well he would tell me that he had an elevator in his closet. So, I would go in the closet, he would turn on scary music and a strobe light and convinced me that his elevator went into the depths of hell.

I was 5!!!

My cousins Carlton, Tina and Kevin in Oklahoma convinced me that Bigfoot was real and at night as I was sleeping at my grandpas house, they would sneak over, scratch on the windows, make wild banshee noises and draw giant feet in the mud outside my window.

I think they are to blame for my worry.

Really, life is unpredictable. And therefore, I think all of us are always prone to worry about the unknown. Life, being married, raising kids, growing older can be terrifying. There are so many twists and turns…and if you really think about it…so little is in your control. Its terrifying.

We are in a series called Retold, where we are looking at the Old Testament stories where we can perhaps see it in a new way.

In our scripture reading for today, we see some familiar stories. 3 hebrews thrown into a furnace and a man being tossed in the den of lions.

Now, these stories are so familiar to us, sometimes we miss a few things….we miss the context.

These 4: Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego all faced trials. And we typically look at them in isolation.

But just consider their stories in context. All four were ripped away from their home. They were prisoners of war. They were stolen from their families and their future. These young men would have to live life in a completely foreign context.

In his book the Reawakening, Primo Levi, gives us a modern day look at what type of anxiety this may have produced. He was a jew that survived the holocaust. When he was able to return home to Turin, he arrived to an unrecognizable world and he discusses feeling like a stranger on streets, unrecognizable accents from the mass migration in post-war Europe, guilt from surviving the jewish purge and even arriving at his old home only for it to be occupied by strangers.

Just this alone, strangers in a strange land for the four hebrews in the book of Daniel was certainly anxiety induced. They were kidnapped, taken to a very pagan land, and placed within a different kings watch, with strangers and accents from other prisoners of war from the Babylonian conquest.

But, not only that, they faced intense persecution. Three faced being burned alive at the kings rage. How often they probably saw the king fly off the handle at other slaves. How often did they see perhaps other slaves slaughtered at the whims of a mad king.

Daniel, thrown into a cave by a more compassionate king, but wearing only a few robes and sandals, how does he protect himself from slaughter?

Now, we have the benefit of children’s church, Sunday school classes, and cartoons possibly where you know the story in hindsight. We know the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say, but for all four as they were facing significant pain, agony and sure death did not.

Think about it, when the three are facing the flames for not bowing to an idol…they were resolved to their fate.

When the stone was placed in front of Daniel’s cave and darkness set in, he was unmoved.

BUT NONE OF THEM KNEW WHAT THE POTENTIAL OUTCOME WOULD BE. THEY HAD A CERTAIN PEACE

Where does that peace come from? Where does that resolve come from? Well, the basic answer is the Lord, but that may not always be helpful when you are in the midst of trouble. And here’s what I know because of life:

You are either in trouble, coming out of trouble or headed for it. Problems and pain are inevitable, so how do we face the fire and the den with a peace that “surpasses out understanding.”

Well, I think to gain perspective on these stories, we have to look at Paul who was no stranger to pain, persecution and trouble. And I think he gives us some very practical ways to deal with it:

BIBLE VERSE

Philippians 4:4-13

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. 10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Now, there are a couple of things I want to point out. First, the word anxiety or anxiousness is someone with a divided mind. We know this because of the way the word is used elsewhere:

BIBLE VERSE

Luke 10:41-42

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary.

(BACK TO PH 4: SCREEN)

And that seems how anxiety works. We lose our focus…we spiral out of control. Anxiety has a way to tear you a part from the inside and literally separate you from reality.

Anxiety is like being on a boat in choppy seas, you cant seem to get a footing. So, you go back and forth searching for something stable.

And this is why Paul says: for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

Which is his way of saying that, “I am the same no matter what…”. I have my footing no matter what.

WHY? HOW CAN THAT BE PAUL?

Well, if anxiety is what rips you a part and gets you off center.

Peace is finding stability.

Its finding proper footing. Getting your equilibrium and inner calm.

I have to think that this is what the 4 Hebrew boys had has everything in their life was being turned upside down.

Now, a lot of times, Christians stop there. They look at us as we walk through periods of anxiety or debilitating fear and say, just have peace.

Have you ever met anyone like that? Your life is being turned upside down, you are caving to the pressure of anxiety and the person looks at you and says…hey just stop.

Gee, I never thought of that before. Well, Paul certainly doesn’t do that. He actually indicates that this sense of peace, this stability, this inner calm can be learned. He says, for I have learned…

So, what did he learn…how did he get this type of stability in his life. Where did his inner calm come from. Well, I see three things: Intellect, Gratitude and Affections.

These three things you put into practice in order to grow in peace. Let’s look at each:

Intellect

I want to zero in on a couple of things. Here is what you have to understand.

Peace is not the absent of fear, but it is actually the presence of something.

In our society, we are told that peace is tranquility, but our idea of tranquil is that we go to the beach, golf course, the spa wherever and we turn off our mind. If we can just empty ourselves of the bad thoughts, then all will be ok. But, that simply is not true. Because, as soon as you pack up the beach chairs and dust off the sand, those thoughts come roaring back.

So, peace is not absent, but presence.

What is present, well Paul says, The Lord is at hand.

And then he says…

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So, God is present and guards. Phroureō (will guard) is a military term used of soldiers on guard duty. The picture would have been familiar to the Philippians, since the Romans stationed troops in Philippi to protect their interests in that part of the world. Just as soldiers guard and protect a city, so God’s peace guards and protects believers who confidently trust in Him.

Its a very vivid picture and Paul is saying that his presence comes and guards.

Now, we certainly see that picture when the three men were thrown into a fire…Nebuchennezar even noticed:

BIBLE VERSE

Daniel 3:24-25

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

Daniel testifies to this as well…

BIBLE VERSE

Daniel 6:20-22

21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.

So, God is at hand…Paul is trying to say…hey, your present circumstances…God is present with you. He guards you.

He is giving us a picture of what happens, but then he does something remarkable. He says, the way to get this is to use your intellect. THINK.

Look at what he says

BIBLE VERSE

Philippians 4:8-9

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Now, Paul is not saying…think about nature…or puppies or newborn babies. He’s not saying think about fun things. Really, Paul is tying this to God.

He’s saying, you want to have true peace in your life? You want stability?

Then understand the goodness of God, the greatness of God, the love of God, God’s holiness, his excellence. He is saying think about your life and think about your life in the hands of God.

Now, for those not in God…what is there? There is only this life and despair. But, for the believer, this isn’t it. So, your anxious about the diagnoses…God is sovereign and though that disease kill your body, it doesn’t kill you, because God is eternal.

The bank account is draining faster than expected, well, God is your source…not man. He will provide.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS….NOT ABOUT THOSE THINGS.

Here’s a picture. In Paul’s writing to the Thessalonians which was a very fatalistic culture. When you died, you were dust. Paul writes to them this:

BIBLE VERSE

I Thessalonians 4:13-14

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

What is this? Paul is reframing their intellect. You are not pagan that thinks this way. You are God’s child, so you think this way.

To gain peace and stability, you must reframe your thinking towards and about God.

Secondly,

Gratitude

I want you to look at this. Paul three times in a very short period of time urges the believers that one way to push against anxiety is worship…its gratitude. He says rejoice and then he says this:

BIBLE VERSE

Philippians 4:6

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

But look carefully here. It’s a little counterintuitive, isn’t it? Keller:

What we would say is you make your requests to God, and then you get your requests, and if you get your requests, you thank. That’s not what it says. It says you thank him as you make the request. “Why should I thank him as I’m making the request? Don’t I want to wait until I see what he’s going to do?” No. Paul says you’re never going to be content unless you make your request, that means you acknowledge life is in his hands, and you thank him for whatever he’s going to do.

Now, you maybe going…how do I thank God even in the bad…even in my anxiety. How is that supposed to help me with stability?

I want you to look at Romans 8…this is where thinking comes in:

BIBLE VERSE

Romans 8:28

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

God did not make the world to be a world filled with sorrow and death and violence and suffering, but he has a plan.

He didn’t create cancer, but he has a plan to get you through it ultimately…

He didn’t create pain, but he has a plan to get you through it.

He didn’t create chaos, but he has a plan to get you through it.

And no matter what you go through, it is for your good. He will make sure of it. How?

He has a plan to renew it. He has a plan to get it back. He has conquered all those things ultimately…and he will restore all of those things ultimately.

Notice, he never kept the 4 Hebrew boys from entering into their hardship, but he got them through it. Sometimes, it was spectacular like keeping them from burning or being eaten alive, and sometimes it was simply incremental. He got them through the home-sickness, the sadness, the frustration of being in a strange land. But what do we see…they are constantly rejoicing and pointing back to God as the one who is doing it, not them.

He worked these things out for their good and he will do the same for you.

But how do we get there…only through gratitude. God your are getting me through the fire. God your goodness is getting through the pain…the loss…thank you God!

Your gratitude again is reframing…

But finally,

Affections

I want you to look at this again…look at the words:

BIBLE VERSE

Philippians 4:8-9

Keller: The first three have more to do with the mind. “… whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right …” But then look. “… whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, [whatever is] excellent …” This is attraction. This is love. He says it’s not enough just to think on the right things. It’s also important to love the right thing.

Augustine of Hippo, in his great works known as the Confessions, the City of God and on Christian doctrine talks about how sin is really disordered love.

He famously said that “the essence of sin is a disordered love.”

He would state this:

But living a just and holy life requires one to be capable of an objective and impartial evaluation of things: to love things, that is to say, in the right order, so that you do not love what is not to be loved, or fail to love what is to be loved, or have a greater love for what should be loved less, or an equal love for things that should be loved less or more, or a lesser or greater love for things that should be loved equally. (On Christian Doctrine, I.27-28)

In other words a disordered love is dislocated from its proper center in love for God, and then, being out of order, it leads us to love people and things in wrong ways. And so, impacted by sin, we try to love things in ways that do not give us life:

A father tries to feel love and acceptance in life through others’ acclamations of his child’s athletic accomplishments

A daughter tries to receive love from her mother by always doing the right thing or pursuing goals her mother likes but the daughter does not

A man tries to feel loved through serial sexual experiences with others but finds intimacy and love elusive

A woman escapes an unhappy marriage through an emotional affair but still fees empty

But it is not only that we love things wrongly in our Fallen state. We also, apart from God, evaluate love wrongly in ways that reveal our utter disorder:

someone’s love for sports overruns their priorities and ruins their marriage

someone’s love for their work becomes obsessive, ruining the family they are trying to support with that work

someone’s love for interacting with others on social media loses all bounds, ruining their actual face-to-face friendships

As Augustine writes elsewhere, real love knows how “to love things……in the right order, so that you do not love what is not to be loved, or fail to love what is to be loved, or have a greater love for what should be loved less” (On Christian Doctrine, I.27-28).

Now, you maybe wondering, how does this cure anxiety. Well, anxiety or fear is generally created because of a loss or disruption of something you love.

Well, Augustine would say that “Only loving the immutable can bring tranquility…” Put another way…Only loving the unchanging can bring peace/stability. So, order your loves rightly.

You love your health but age and sickness bring you anxiety.

You love your kids, but they are far from perfect so you worry.

You love your job, but in this economy, you might lose it.

Now, that’s not to say that those things are not important…health, family, job…all those things are important, but they are not the most important.

Yet, we build lives and entire industries upon those things. And we have constant anxiety we will lose them. This is what Augustine means. Put things in their right order. When they are out of order, you will place them on a pedestal and idolize them. And they can come crashing down…so place your affections you love of God because that is the only thing that cannot be ripped away…

What am I saying…all those things change and shift…only God is sure.

Paul says in Romans:

BIBLE VERSE

Romans 8:37-39

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Adapted from Keller: Let me prove it to you. We have a case right in front of you. Horatio Spafford was an American lawyer who lost everything he had in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Only two years later, he sent his wife Anna and their four daughters on a ship across the Atlantic Ocean to England for a trip. The ship hit another ship on the way and began to sink. As it was sinking, Anna got the four little girls together and they prayed. Then the ship went under the water and they all were scattered into the waves. All four little girls drowned.

Anna was found unconscious by a rescue ship, floating. They rescued her, they took her to England, and she cabled Horatio Spafford with the words, “Saved alone.” When Horatio Spafford was on the ship over to England to bring his wife home, he began to write a hymn, which we’re going to sing at the end. “It is well with my soul … peace like a river …” He wrote that. Here’s what I want you to think about. Why would a man dealing with his grief, seeking the peace of God, the peace like a river, spend the entire thing on Jesus?

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

What does that have to do with his four little girls who are dead? Everything. Do you know why? Look, when things go wrong, one of the ways you lose your peace is you say, “Maybe I’m being punished.” But no! Look at the cross. All the punishment fell on him. Another thing you say is, “Maybe God doesn’t care.” No! Look what he did for us! Look what he bore for us! The Bible gives you a God who says, “I’ve lost a child too, but not involuntarily. Voluntarily, for your sake.”

You sing that hymn, and you watch a man using his intellect, displaying gratitude, and ordering his affections in the right way, into the peace of God. It worked for him under those circumstances. It worked for Paul under his circumstances.

It worked for the Hebrew 4.

It will work for you. Let’s pray.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,

"It is well, it is well with my soul."

It is well with my soul;

it is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

let this blest assurance control: that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more; praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend; even so, it is well with my soul.

Related Media

Related Sermons

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.