Category Archives: Morning Thoughts

Philip Conley's Morning Thoughts

Morning Thoughts (Daniel 3:29 – “Religious Liberty”)

Morning Thoughts,

“Religious Liberty”

Daniel 3:29, “There I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.”

This morning, children of God have varying circumstances, some of which are their own doing, while others are outside of their control. Living in America all my life, I have been blessed by many things that I had no control over bringing to pass nor maintaining. Truly, those of us living in this land have been blessed to live with freedom and liberty that are unknown to countless multitudes of God’s children in other places and at other times. Not the least of these is religious liberty and freedom. There has never been an occasion during the scope of my life that I have worried about being killed or jailed for going to church, preaching, reading my Bible, etc. This great blessing is – unfortunately – underrated by many in this land due to the fact that we have never known anything else. Without any kind of comparison or contrast in our personal lives, we live many days just assuming that this circumstance will continue upon us. There is no promise in Scripture that it is guaranteed. We do not have to worry over our eternal home when this life is over as that has been promised to us unconditionally. (I Thessalonians 5:9-10) However, blessings like religious liberty are contingent upon our steadfastness like many other promises are. (Isaiah 1:19-20)

Sometimes when I read the Bible, I will come across something that reaches out and slaps me and makes me think, “Where was that all those times I have been through here before?” In point of fact, it has been there all the time, but I just saw it. The verse before us is one such example. Though I have studied the contents of Daniel 3 numerous times, this particular thought had escaped me. The context of this lesson is that Daniel’s 3 friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were faithful to the Lord by not bowing down to the image that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Due to their obedience, the king had them thrown into a burning fiery furnace for their disobedience to him. The Lord delivered them from the fire, and upon their emergence, the king was dumbfounded about the series of events. He knew they threw 3 in, but he saw a 4th in the person of Jesus Christ. When they came out, they not only were not harmed but did not even have the smell of smoke on them or have a single hair singed. God’s providential deliverance was so manifest that the king makes the decree in our study verse.

Granted, the king was still lacking in his knowledge of God like he was at the end of chapter 2, but he still says something in this verse that is grand to consider. Though Daniel and his 3 friends were promoted to great honour in the land of Babylon, they were still members of a subservient people at this time. The nation of Judah had been delivered into Babylonian captivity for 70 years due to their prolonged disobedience. Some of the captives – like Ezekiel – were regulated to the labour camps, while others – like Jeremiah – were left in the ruins of Judah to keep and dress the land for the king. Daniel’s story tells of life for some of the more well favored captives that were taken into the palace to be counselors to the king amongst his other wise men. This position allowed them the opportunity to serve in faithfulness in a more manifest way leading to more manifest blessings that not only affected themselves but their entire race and nation.

Nebuchadnezzar’s decree did not give the glory to God that his declaration would at the end of chapter 4, but he still uses his authority in a very unusual way. He not only promotes these youths, but he decrees that their God can be worshipped without recrimination. No one that served the Lord God of Israel would have to fear for their wellbeing in worshipping Him. Anyone who gave them grief over their religion stood in jeopardy from the king himself. Their lives would be in danger as well as their whole house being made a ruin. Consider the situation. This nation is captive. They are bound to the law of the Babylonians that ruled over them. Any Jew that tried to live in accord to the heritage of their Jewish worship could be in jeopardy for doing so. Yet, due to the faithfulness of 3 Jewish youths in not participating in idolatry, the roles were reversed. Babylonians would be in danger and peril for speaking against those that they ruled over. Surely this circumstance is rare in the annals of human history. Human history is full of stories of the rulers making the rules for the ones they rule over. This story has one of the rulers setting the rules in favor of those ruled over.

When this lesson reached out and slapped me, it caused me to reflect in great consideration about things to come. Doubtless we in this country see our freedoms and liberties eroding away daily, and without Divine Intervention we will surely see changes in my lifetime that could not be imagined 30-50 years ago. The time may come when my life is in jeopardy for preaching my convictions. It could become a crime against the state to preach “Thus saith the Lord…” However, in my previous considerations, I had always thought that if that day came we would end up being more like John the Baptist than this situation. John the Baptist preached his convictions and lost his head over it. Such could still end up being the case. However, this lesson shows that it does not have to be that way.

This lesson teaches us that if God’s faithful few will remain steadfast in their convictions great things can happen not only for us but others that we know and love. Thousands of Jews were blessed by the efforts of 3. Their efforts granted freedom and liberty that the slaves that Ezekiel ministered unto could probably not imagine would ever come. If I was chained to a rock working from sunup to sundown, I would not expect my masters to give me liberty and freedom for religion or anything else. But, to hear a decree that put my masters’ lives in jeopardy from preventing me from calling upon God would be great mercy in my difficult circumstance. No, I do not know the future, but this lesson shows what could be our case even in the midst of hard times. If we find ourselves in a type of bondage, faithfulness should still remain and abide with us. It blessed Daniel a couple of chapters later in a den of lions. It blessed these three in a burning fiery furnace. However, it blessed so many others as well.

When hard times come, we may be delivered out of them into our abiding home in heaven, or we may be delivered through them as these 3 were. The good news is that deliverance comes either way. They said as much to the king in verses 16-18. They did not know whether they would be delivered from the fire. But they knew 2 things: 1. God was able and 2. They would be delivered – one way or another. If the fire took their lives, they went to heaven where the king could not touch them. If they were taken out of the fire, they were delivered from the king in that his word could not harm them. We should look at the uncertain future the same way. I do not know if I will be delivered from the evils that are coming, but I know that God is able and that I will be delivered one way or another. By remaining steadfast through this knowledge, we may end up blessing ourselves and others with liberty and freedom unimaginable in those difficult circumstances. However, for the time now present, let us spend time in fervent thanksgiving to God that we still have this liberty. He has been so good to us to bless us with it all these years. May His mercy abide with us so that our lives and those of our children and others following after us would have these things and be faithful in them.

In Hope,
Bro Philip

Philip Conley's Morning Thoughts

Morning Thoughts (Job 14:14-15 – “Work of His Hands”)

Morning Thoughts,

This subject is by request.

“Work of His Hands”

Job 14:14-15, “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.”

This morning, people do different things based on a variety of motivations. Greed, love, pity, and guilt are some of the many reasons – both bad and good – that can stimulate someone to do something. One of the constants for the action is that someone acts towards a person or thing in which they have a vested interest. Maybe the interest does not affect them directly (such as charitable work), but the action means something to them personally which is why they do it. Again, the motives may be purely selfish or completely selfless, but either way, there is an interest of some kind for the work performed. When we think of God’s work upon or towards something, we may scratch our heads at what He does or how He does it, but He has an interest in what He does. To think that God is irrational or chaotic in His dealings is to ascribe foolish or no motivation to Him, which behavior does not reside within His character. He is a moral and rational being that does things for reasons and purpose, whether we can discern what or why He does things or not.

In our study verses, Job postulates on a question that man has been asking for generations. Unfortunately for many men of human philosophy, they fail to see that one of the oldest records still extant actually answered the question posed. Whether man shall live or not after this life is over has fascinated men of various cultures and walks of life, but Job unequivocally answered in the affirmative. Yes, there is life after this one, and it is affected solely by the power of God’s effectual call. Though our bodies may lie in the grave for thousands of years (as Job’s body has), there is coming a time when His voice shall raise those bodies from ashes and death to life and immortality. (John 5:28-29) To deny this concept is to deny the plain declarations from Scripture that the resurrection is a reality, and Paul dedicated a whole chapter (I Corinthians 15) on the subject to address the heresy that plagued the church by some advocating that there is no resurrection.

One of the things I appreciate about hard to understand concepts like the resurrection is the amount of plain ink that God dedicates to subjects like this one. Human minds cannot fathom how God could speak dust out of nothing and then form man from that lifeless substance. It is just as impossible for us to understand the intricacies of how that dust will be raised and re-fashioned into a glorified body that will live with Christ for all eternity. However insurmountable the ability of man to comprehend the “ins and outs” of it, God simply says to us, “I spoke once and gave life in the beginning, and I’ll speak at the end and bring life again at the end.” Nothing more needs to be said. We can see the effects of God’s powerful voice all around us while viewing the creation, and therefore, we have all the evidence that we need that God can do it again, and He will do it since He said He would. Trying to probe further into the details leads to murky thoughts that we need not engage in, and therefore Scriptural ink is used to declare the simple reality of it while also addressing the consequences that it brings about.

At the end of our study verses, we see where God’s interest lies in this work. Years after Job declared these things, the Psalmist asked what about man would make God mindful of him. (Psalm 8:3-4) When we try to fathom the power and majesty of an eternal being contrasted against weak vessels of clay, it is mind-boggling sometimes. However, Job here makes as good and simple a declaration as we can find on the subject. Why would God have such mercy and grace? Surely it is for Christ’s sake yes, but what motivated Him in the beginning to do anything for or to us? Job here says that His resurrection power displayed upon man is for the simple reason that He has a desire toward the work of his hands. Now, we can see from Scripture that creation in general can be considered the works of His hands or His handywork. However, in this context, the work of His hands is simply us. He has a desire towards us!

The word “desire” literally means to long for or yearn after. We think of that type of desire when a young man is madly in love with a maiden. Should his intentions be honorable, he longs to be with her for the rest of his life within the bonds of holy matrimony. While we may not understand why God would have this desire towards weak and broken men, yet Job here says that He does. Resurrection power stems from a motivation of desire. God desires that we live with Him forever. His call is made out of that desire, and the effect will be complete, total, and perfect. When looking at this ruined sod that we live on, there is no doubt that we cause the great grief and turmoil that we see. Yet, in spite of all that, God desires us. The bride sang to her husband that she was his and his desire was toward her. (Song of Solomon 7:10)

While there seems from our vantage point to be no conceivable reason why God would have this desire towards us, one day we will see it and know it in its fullness. Many people howl and moan when we preach that God hates people. Statements such as, “That’s not fair” and “God can’t do that” abound. Yet, the great mystery of God to us is not why He hates certain individuals like Esau. The mystery is why He loves lowlifes like Jacob. Looking at the expanse of my existence here, it befuddles me that God would love me. When thinking about my desire towards my wife before we were married, there was much to desire. She possesses both outward and inward beauty. Man in his weakened condition possessed no beauty that would be attractive to God. The very best we could attain was vanity and filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

Therefore, God in His great love wherewith He loved us worked upon us first inwardly (regeneration), and will one day work outwardly on us (resurrection). Both of these events will make us shine in the glorious image of His only begotten Son. On that day when we stand perfected in His sight, we will know Him as He knows us. Since He knows us down to the thoughts and intents of our hearts, we will know Him down to the thoughts and intents of His heart. As we look upon Him with adoration for all eternity, we will see, feel, and know the adoration that stimulated His actions to and for us. Until that day, I will await till my change come just as Job did and his body still does. However, while I still live here, I can rejoice in the knowledge of life after death, the source by which it comes, and the motivation behind it. Though I cannot declare the intricacies of how it will happen nor fully understand why it came about, I thank Him and praise Him for the desire that He has toward me that He would want me where He is forever. Praise His holy and blessed name!

In Hope,
Bro Philip