It’s Just Like Camping – Only Better!
We have been avid campers for years. Beside taking little mini-excursions to the beach or the mountains, we have enjoyed several 3-4 week long camping trips over the past 15 years. One the last long trip, we took my 68-year-old mother-in-law, who had never been camping before in her life. Now that was a fun trip! She had a blast and so did the kids. We left from our home in SC, picked up Gram in TX, then camped across the southwestern United States and wound our way up to Colorado for a family reunion.
One thing I have noticed is that all 8 of us can live quite comfortably out of our 15-passenger van and our homemade storage box that we pull on a small trailer. Why, then, did our 1,900 square foot house seem so packed when we were at home? Obviously, we can live with a lot less “stuff” than we usually have around the house.
I thought of this many times over the 18 months we were out of our house, trying to sell it. We stayed in a missionary apartment for a year, then had to leave there and so stayed with friends and family for 6 months, until we could eventually move back into our home. (It never sold; the person who was trying to buy it couldn’t.) As I inspected each item coming back into the home, I asked myself, “Do I really want to move this item ever again? Will I use it? Will I fix it? Does it have any special meaning for me?”
We certainly accumulated a lot of “things” in 21 years of marriage. I imagine I wouldn’t have this much if we moved more often. But we have lived in the same home for 20 years. One can become quite comfy after that much time.
In our case, it was not just a simple act of moving all our “junk” from one location to another. Because we were living temporarily in various locations, our belongings were placed in a temporary storage area. We had to set up “housekeeping” in temporary areas, knowing each time we would be boxing up our necessities and moving them again. This unusual situation forced me to closely consider each item.
It’s so easy to say, “We need to keep that for the next baby.” After 7 children, however, I’m done. So now the temptation is to say, “I’m keeping this for my grandbabies.” I’m sure you’ve caught yourself looking at a slightly broken utensil, knowing you have a brand new one in the cabinet, and thinking, “Hmm…maybe I should keep this as a spare since it kind of still works.” And then there’s the ever popular situation of needing a specific screwdriver which you can’t find, so you buy a new set. After a few years of that, you’ll be like us, and have screwdrivers coming out the rafters.
A fascinating revelation came to me as I was organizing our storage area. I had lots of the same type of items, only they were in different boxes that had come from different areas of the house. Once all of the same type of thing was in front of me, it was easy to see which ones were old, scratched, or broken and either throw the extras away or give the better ones to Good Will, leaving me with just one of the item to store.
I began to feel a sense of freedom, as that of a burden being lifted off of me, each and every time a box went to the trash bin or the Good Will. I began looking at the boxes not just as one less box to move, but that much less weight to move! Some of the boxes had a lot of paper or other heavy items. Twenty pounds to the dump is twenty less pounds for me to have to find a home for or pick up and move a bunch of times.
Now, here we are, back in our house. And many, many pounds lighter. I no longer have anything stored under the house except a beautiful porcelain sink which I should probably sell since I’m afraid to install it and have it broken by my 4 year old, and a large inflatable swimming pool. That’s it. I used to have boxes galore, bookshelves, bicycles, hoses, and who knows what all stashed under there. I no longer have anything stored in either of my house attics. The attic at the driveway end has come clothing bags and stuffed animal bags that my daughters are storing until they have a home of their own. The attics USED to BOTH be filled with stuff. My barn attic has nothing of mine in it. It used to be almost full. Now, it has “guy” stuff up there – things my sons and husband are collecting, but not ME. My stuff is all either fitting on the main floor or going away. I refuse to “collect” stuff any longer. It’s a very free sense of home ownership – I now feel I own the house, and not the other way around!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Studies: Rambling Thoughts on Yielding
Sometimes, when I do a word study in Scripture, I like to look it up in the dictionary as well. I looked up yield and yielding and found the synonyms
surrender, relinquish, give way, comply.
The first area of yielding precedes discussion of all other areas. In order to obtain Heaven, a person must come to a time in their life when they can understand the Word of God, and yield to Christ as their Saviour. It is an act of yielding when we come to God and say, “Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I know I have done sinful things and I am sorry I have sinned against you. Please forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me of my sins thru the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and save me. I believe You paid the penalty for my sins, and made possible my entrance into Heaven, thru you only - nothing of my works. Thank you for dying to save me.” When we get saved, it is the greatest moment of our yielding – we are relinquishing our own good works to try and earn heaven in exchange for the perfect shed blood of Jesus. This yielding moment in our lives guarantees us of having a home in Heaven one day. Nothing else can.
After yielding to Christ in salvation, there are many areas in our lives that also require yielding. Once saved, the Lord works in our hearts and causes us to want to yield, or give over, our bad habits and worldly ways. Each person is different and the Lord works in each heart individually. Perhaps after you got saved, you yielded up bad language, or immodest attire, or drugs, or alcohol, or cigarettes, or lustful thoughts, or anything else that the Lord laid on your heart as wrong and sinful. Giving up sins is an act of yielding to the Holy Spirit of God in obedience.
Yielding over the outward sins are often easy, in comparison to yielding over the hidden, inward sins of the heart. But we need to yield, or hand over and release control of, these inner sins.
Sometimes women struggle more with sins of the tongue. I know there are a lot of times I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut; then I get myself in trouble. But I can’t blame the Holy Spirit - He’s there, telling me to be quiet, but I am unwilling to yield control of my tongue to Him. Psalms 39:1 offers wise counsel: “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.”
Two areas related to tongue trouble are gossip and bragging.
Do you struggle with gossip? I know how easy it is to fall into that trap. We need to yield our conversations to the Holy Spirit. He will keep us from gossip if we allow Him. If we feel a conversation is headed toward gossip, we can either change the subject or simply say we have to go. Job 6:24 says, “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.” Job 27:4 says, “My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.”
Do you struggle with bragging? Sometimes we like to be patted on the back and recognized for our great deeds. But what if no one notices we cleaned the church bathroom 15 weeks in a row? Worse yet…what if someone else gets the credit? Horrors! We want to scream from the pulpit, “I did it!” That’s pride, folks. Simple, ugly pride. We need to yield, to give over control of those emotions. Just let it go. It’s really not so important in the big picture who sees us work and who doesn’t. The One we serve, Jesus Christ the Righteous, sees all we do. If we are not rewarded here, we will be in heaven. And really – whose reward should we be working for anyway? Man’s or God’s? Psalms 12:3, “The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: (vs 4) Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” The Lord will not honor pride.
Sometimes we struggle with yielding control of our minds to Christ.
Does your mind replay songs from your past that Satan uses to bring up old habits and sins? As soon as your brain pushes the replay button, ask Christ to fill your mind with hymns and Scripture verses. He will! Don’t depend on your hymnal always being available. It may be taken away from you someday along with your Bible. Commit hymns and Scripture verses to memory, where no one can ever remove them. They are there to lift you up and encourage you whenever you need them. Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Yield yourself to Christ-honoring and spiritually uplifting music.
What do you do about impure thoughts? Yield your mind to Christ and to His holy Word. You can find help in the Scriptures. The Bible teaches us that what we fill our heads and hearts with is what will pour out of our mouths and what we dwell on mentally. So, follow the instruction of Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Do you struggle with anger? The Bible says to be angry and sin not, but this verse is usually ripped out of context by an angry person who is trying to justify having a temper tantrum. Being angry with sin and the destruction it leaves in it’s wake is fine. Having a fit because we can’t have our way or because someone is annoying us is not justified anger. We need to acknowledge that we will not always get our own way. We also need to realize there are lots of annoying people in this world. Standing in line at Wal-Mart will confirm that in about 5 minutes. Teach your children that when they get to be adults, there are going to be irritating people they will have to work with or see often or deal with. You cannot avoid them. Psalms 37:8, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Ecclesiastes 7:9, “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. God gives high marks to those that can control their temper, or rather, yield control of their temper to the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 16:32, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”
Do you have difficulty in yielding to God’s Will? Sometimes we don’t yield our lives because we don’t know God’s will. How can you know what God’s will is for your life? Sometimes it is not crystal clear and requires much patience and prayer. I admit, it can be frustrating when you run across folks who say they have always known exactly what God’s will for them has been. I have found that is not the vast majority of Christians, though. Most of us either stumble around and hope we have it right, or sincerely seek God through prayer and Bible reading. Sometimes, discovering God’s will is as simple as avoiding those things that are clearly NOT God’s will. Here are several examples:
Johnny comes home and says, “Mom - I found the girl I’m going to marry.” Mom says, “Oh - that’s wonderful - what church does she attend?” Johnny says, “Oh. She’s not a Christian, Mom. She’s not into church stuff.” Mom can rightly say, “Johnny, I don’t know who God has for you to marry, but I know it can’t be her because she’s not saved. Now, if she gets saved down the road and then you start dating, that may be another matter. But as of right now, that can’t be God’s will, because you’re not to be yoked with an unbeliever.
How about this one: Your best friend calls you up and says, “I’m thinking of getting a divorce. John and I can’t get along anymore. We both have peace that this must be of God.” You can say with all confidence that you don’t know what all God has in store for them, but divorce is not part of the picture because God has never said divorce was a good idea or the way to solve marital problems.
There are many things like that in Scripture. Sometimes it is easier to see what is NOT God’s will than what is, but at least you will then have parameters within which to look for God’s will. Yield to the Scripture, and make your life decisions in submission to God’s Word. He will reveal His will for your life if you are willing to yield.
One definition of yielding is submitting. We can submit, or yield to, those in authority over us. For children, they can choose to submit, or yield to, their parents. For wives, they can choose to submit, or yield to, their husbands. For husbands, they can choose to submit, or yield to, the leading of the Holy Spirit. Why do I say “choose to”? Because of all God’s creations, humans are the only ones who can choose to obey or disobey God’s instructions. If we submit to someone else’s authority, it is a willing desire to cede our rights to that other person. It is a choice. A wife should never be forced to obey her husband. If a wife is in right relationship with God, and if her husband is loving her the way Scripture says he is to do, she will be willing to submit to her husband’s authority. Not as a slavemaster, or because she isn’t smart enough to make her own decisions. Quite the contrary – a woman is often intellectually smarter and may have better business sense than her husband. Submitting to his authority is merely a matter of the chain of command – she is willingly recognizing that God has a natural order to the family. God should be first, the husband in submission to God (rightly, justly, kindly, lovingly – NOT as a dictator), and the wife in submission to her husband (sweetly, kindly, lovingly, respectfully), and the children in submission to their parents.
We can show yielding as citizens of our country. We demonstrate our willingness to follow Christ by being willing to yield to those in authority over us. Even though we have a government that is not wholly righteous, it is our government, and Christ said we are to obey, as long as we do not disobey Scripture. 1 Peter 2:13, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake:” On a practical side, you are refusing to yield to authority if you ignore the speed limit, pass illegally, run a red light, etc. Every ticket you add to your collection shows an unwillingness to yield to your authority. After you collect enough of them, the state decides that you will yield - or give over - your license. You are refusing to yield if you do not pay your taxes, regardless of whether the government spends the money the way they should. How far should you carry this idea? You are refusing to yield if you eat grapes in the grocery store or pop a few Brach’s candies into your mouth without paying for them since that’s called stealing. Peter didn’t say, “Submit yourselves to the ordinances you like,” he said, “Every ordinance for the Lord’s sake.”
Yielding to authority is a good witness to a lost and sinful country. It would be great if our country would believe 2 Chronicles 30:8, “Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.”
We can yield as family members. Children and teenagers can yield their wills by obeying their parents. I Peter 5:5, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Colossians 3:20, “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” 1 John 3:7, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.”
Watching children run to please Mommy and Daddy is something that pleases the Lord, and it is a blessing to those around them. Few things are more becoming to a teenager than a right attitude toward father and mother. If he/she obeys with a happy heart, it is a delight to all around. If a teen girls serves her father, as unto the Lord, she makes known to all that she will be a help meet for a godly husband. Young ladies who have been an example of yielding to godliness are a precious commodity in today’s society. Young men who respect their fathers and discuss things with them in a kind and respectful manner are going to go far in many areas of life, including business and their own families one day. Those who have honored their parents and have remained pure until marriage deserve to be showered with praise and gifts when the wedding bells finally ring. All too often these days, Christian young men and women who have waited and done things right sit back and watch their impure counterparts receive huge weddings, gifts, money, houses, cars – so much. And of course they wonder where the good was in waiting. But, if they are wise, they will know that God is watching and there will be an eternal reward for them even if they do not “strike it big” here on earth. We need to make our young people see there is a much bigger picture than simply the here and now. That said, I think Christians would do well to reward the young people who HAVE followed God’s will and plan. If you want to be generous to someone getting married, be extra generous to the ones who are doing right.
On the flip side, it can be hard to joyfully attend a wedding, let alone buy a gift, for a young man or woman who has forsaken all their parents’ advice and marched a rebellious path to the altar. Beauty tip for ladies: Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft according to the Scriptures, and it certainly won’t give you a beautiful appearance. Years of wanton living take a huge toll on a pretty face.
Once a woman ropes in a husband, she quickly discovers the next hurdle in yielding: the realm of the husband and wife relationship. We can quote all the verses: Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Colossians 3:18, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” But sometimes, we just don’t want to turn our wills over to our husbands. We are unwilling to yield. Maybe it’s because we’ve always been independent. Maybe it’s because we don’t trust our husbands to make the right decisions. But that’s really for God to decide, and not us. There are, I think, extenuating circumstances. But generally, in day to day living, a woman can submit her will to her husband and be blessed for it.
If you are merging on a highway, and you refuse to yield right of way, you are likely going to experience a lesson in physics: Two cars cannot use the exact same position on the highway at the same time. So it is in marriage. The wife cannot hold the same position as the husband without causing an accident. If the wife refuses to yield long enough, she can create irreparable damage to the relationship.
God knew what He was doing when He put the husband in charge of the home. I realize that in our “completely humble and unasked for opinion,” we may not always think this is the best solution, but truly it is. Only one person can occupy the lead position, and God has chosen the husband. Why are we arguing with God? We have to be willing to yield, and God promises He will take care of us for obeying. Hebrews 13:17, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
Our husbands love us. Remember when they were dating us? They’d do anything for us. They’d still behave that way if we showed them the same respect and admiration we did when we were dating. They are our head according to the Bible - they must give account to God for how they lead us and our children. Let the husbands lead with joy and not with grief. It is unprofitable to us to not yield authority to our husbands.
Here’s how some of us get around the leadership thing. Do you try and persuade your husband to yield to your control? Your husband often knows better than you do. Let’s say Delilah wants a new minivan. The old SUV works, but it looks awful and she wants a new one. Proverbs 7:21, “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.” Now I realize I’m pulling that verse out of context, but it just seems to fit so well here. End result: Samson has to take on a second job to pay for Delilah’s new minivan. Now he spends less time with Delilah and the kids, and more time at the office with the secretary. Is Delilah really enjoying her minivan now?
Do you defer (yield) to your husband (or anyone else for that matter) in a disagreement? Here’s an example. My husband and I were driving down the road and the topic of XY University came up. We began discussing the rules of the college, to be specific. We’d been married just a short time. My husband was very pro-XYU. I was not opposed in general to the college, but I did not attend there because I disagreed with some of their rules. I said, “Well, I think yada yada yada was a dumb rule.” Little did I realize that I had just flung the door open for a full discourse on the rules of XYU, why the rules were instituted, why the rules are not dumb, etc.
At some point in this overly lengthy discourse, I was able to latch on to some common ground. It was this: if I could agree to abide by the rules, then I could go there as a student. I could have let the conversation drop right there and we’d have both been happy and talked about something else. But I wasn’t into yielding yet, so I continued that I thought not only was that one rule dumb, but there were several others that I thought equally dumb. After listing them, I said that was why I didn’t go to XYU, I went to a college I could attend without getting kicked out.
This pointless conversation went on for quite a long time and ended with both of us being disappointed in the other. I could have avoided the whole thing if I had just deferred - or yielded - in the first two minutes of the conversation, when that little lifeline of common ground had been thrown to me. It was a pointless argument that I pursued. It had no bearing on anything and was not relevant to us at the time. Why was I so interested in arguing about it? Because I thought XYU had dumb rules and I wanted my husband to think they were dumb as well. I was so full of pride, I felt he HAD to see things my way. I wasn’t willing to let him have his own opinion. In the long and short of it, so what if I don’t agree with the rules at XYU? Or any other college for that matter. Until it is going to directly affect me, it is not worthy of a discussion that is going to cause division between me and my husband or any other fellow Christian.
It’s okay to defer - to yield - to another in a conversation. There are lots of things now I have learned people feel very strongly about and I defer to them without argument. I don’t lie and say I agree with them, but I can kindly say something like, “Well, I guess you have a point. I hadn’t seen it that way.” Or, “Well, I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.” If you want to avoid an argument, say something disarming. Why do we have to be right, anyway? In my case, it’s because I’m struggling with my pride and I’m refusing to yield. Arguments over non-important items are not worth the grief they cause.
How are you at yielding your time? Yielding can mean “not stiff or rigid, able to bend.” I used to get very upset when my schedule got messed up. Now I’m used to it. I had a great conversation with my mother-in-law one day. She said she was getting very frustrated because she would lay out the daily schedule of events, and almost daily a student with a problem would come in and cause her to have to rearrange everything.
She was praying about this and the Lord revealed to her that His divine appointments took precedence over her appointments. Once she understood that, she didn’t get so frustrated anymore. That really helped me a lot.
I homeschool year around because I never know from week to week what’s going to happen. One of my children may get sick or my husband may get sick, throwing off the daily schedule. A friend might suggest going berry picking or playing in the creek. That’s a memory for my children and I’m willing to make those memories and catch school up later. My schedule can yield; it can bend a little.
I can yield my plans for those who need help. I receive phone calls frequently from friends or relatives who need counsel on something. I always feel inadequate, but I am willing to listen and pray with them, and sometimes that is all they really need. That’s a divine appointment. I can yield my plans for God’s plans. There is a caution here - it is easy to get too busy and neglect your own family, and you need to be wise and not let that happen. Try to find God’s perfect balance so that you are willing to yield to God’s appointments and serve others while still meeting the daily needs of those the Lord has given you.
Yielding (or submitting) can be a part of the church family relationship. We are commanded to “not forsake the gathering together of the saints” for many reasons. We can share burdens, encourage others, and be encouraged ourselves. Ephesians 5:21, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Yielding can have the definition of being maleable - moldable - shapeable. Romans 6:13, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Yield yourselves - allow yourselves to be molded into instruments of God.
It is important to understand that you choose everyday - every hour - every minute - whether or not you will yield or whether you will strive for control. Who are you choosing to serve? Romans 6:16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Before we were saved, we didn’t know any better, and we were yielding ourselves to be servants of death. But, once we accept Christ into our lives, we can choose to yield to a loving Saviour, and be used by Him to further His kingdom. Romans 6:19, “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.”
Sometimes we need to yield to Godly counsel. Have you ever been in a dilemma and needed counsel? How do you go about it? Do you pick out one or two godly friends and ask their opinion and then pray about it and try to follow their wisdom, or do you run around from one person to another, hoping to find someone to tell you what you want to hear?
Sometimes, godly counsel is offered to us when we aren’t looking for it. My mother-in-law is a good one for that. She has, upon occasion, offered advice without our asking for it. Most of the time, she has been right on the money. Because she is a sweet, godly lady, it is easy to listen to her, and I am thankful for that. It would be harder if she were overbearing; however, if the message were the same, the truth would be the same, and my yielded response should be the same. Being told what we are doing wrong is never pleasant, but it can be very helpful in our walk with the Lord. But we have to be humble and willing to listen - we have to be yielded.
We need to yield to the Holy Spirit in witnessing. If we are standing in line somewhere, and the person next to us strikes up a conversation, the Holy Spirit may start immediately impressing on us to say something. We never know when someone – including ourselves – will take our final breath. If we have an opportunity to share something of Christ, we need to do so.
One thing I noticed in studying verses on the word yield or yielding, Scripture refers to those terms most often when talking about harvest. This tree yielded up this fruit, and that land yielded up so much, etc. The dictionary does offer a definition of yield as a return, a profit, a harvest.
We can have a yield of diffusing strife: Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:18, “A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.” Proverbs 19:11, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.” We don’t have to take offense every time someone says or does something we don’t like or don’t agree with. “Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.” Yield - give it up - let it go.
We can have a yield of winning battles: James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” In submitting to God, you are putting yourself under the protection of the Almighty.
We can and should have routine yields of Galatians 5:22,23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” We should also be bearing fruit in seeing souls saved. Mark 4:8, “And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.” If you are not seeing any of these fruits being yielded in your life, you are sowing the wrong seeds. Perhaps you are not walking in the truth of the Bible as you may think you are.
In contrast to reaping good things, choosing to do things our own way will yield us disaster: Hosea 8:7, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”
If we do not yield our lives to God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we ruin our testimonies before the lost. You’ve heard the saying that one bad apple ruins the whole barrel. The same is true for your life. Lost people watch you, and if they see sins springing from your life, they won’t want the fountain. James 3:12, “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”
Lastly, yielding means maleable - moldable. Like clay in the potter’s hand. If you think about it, being a human being and not just a lump of clay, having a potter press down and force changes in our lives is sometimes going to be uncomfortable. How about when he uses one of the little tools and etches a pattern in us? That’s going to hurt once in a while.
But the idea is that we are willing - we have a choice. Real clay has no ability to get up off the potter’s wheel. But we can decide whether, like Isaac, we will lie down and be used of God, or whether we will walk away and say, “I can do fine on my own.” On our own, we will create out of ourselves dirty, broken, useless vessels, unsuitable for use. But in the hands of the Master Potter, we can yield our lives to be molded into the image of Christ and be used by the Potter to be a blessing to others and to further Christ’s Kingdom.
surrender, relinquish, give way, comply.
The first area of yielding precedes discussion of all other areas. In order to obtain Heaven, a person must come to a time in their life when they can understand the Word of God, and yield to Christ as their Saviour. It is an act of yielding when we come to God and say, “Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I know I have done sinful things and I am sorry I have sinned against you. Please forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me of my sins thru the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and save me. I believe You paid the penalty for my sins, and made possible my entrance into Heaven, thru you only - nothing of my works. Thank you for dying to save me.” When we get saved, it is the greatest moment of our yielding – we are relinquishing our own good works to try and earn heaven in exchange for the perfect shed blood of Jesus. This yielding moment in our lives guarantees us of having a home in Heaven one day. Nothing else can.
After yielding to Christ in salvation, there are many areas in our lives that also require yielding. Once saved, the Lord works in our hearts and causes us to want to yield, or give over, our bad habits and worldly ways. Each person is different and the Lord works in each heart individually. Perhaps after you got saved, you yielded up bad language, or immodest attire, or drugs, or alcohol, or cigarettes, or lustful thoughts, or anything else that the Lord laid on your heart as wrong and sinful. Giving up sins is an act of yielding to the Holy Spirit of God in obedience.
Yielding over the outward sins are often easy, in comparison to yielding over the hidden, inward sins of the heart. But we need to yield, or hand over and release control of, these inner sins.
Sometimes women struggle more with sins of the tongue. I know there are a lot of times I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut; then I get myself in trouble. But I can’t blame the Holy Spirit - He’s there, telling me to be quiet, but I am unwilling to yield control of my tongue to Him. Psalms 39:1 offers wise counsel: “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.”
Two areas related to tongue trouble are gossip and bragging.
Do you struggle with gossip? I know how easy it is to fall into that trap. We need to yield our conversations to the Holy Spirit. He will keep us from gossip if we allow Him. If we feel a conversation is headed toward gossip, we can either change the subject or simply say we have to go. Job 6:24 says, “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.” Job 27:4 says, “My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.”
Do you struggle with bragging? Sometimes we like to be patted on the back and recognized for our great deeds. But what if no one notices we cleaned the church bathroom 15 weeks in a row? Worse yet…what if someone else gets the credit? Horrors! We want to scream from the pulpit, “I did it!” That’s pride, folks. Simple, ugly pride. We need to yield, to give over control of those emotions. Just let it go. It’s really not so important in the big picture who sees us work and who doesn’t. The One we serve, Jesus Christ the Righteous, sees all we do. If we are not rewarded here, we will be in heaven. And really – whose reward should we be working for anyway? Man’s or God’s? Psalms 12:3, “The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: (vs 4) Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” The Lord will not honor pride.
Sometimes we struggle with yielding control of our minds to Christ.
Does your mind replay songs from your past that Satan uses to bring up old habits and sins? As soon as your brain pushes the replay button, ask Christ to fill your mind with hymns and Scripture verses. He will! Don’t depend on your hymnal always being available. It may be taken away from you someday along with your Bible. Commit hymns and Scripture verses to memory, where no one can ever remove them. They are there to lift you up and encourage you whenever you need them. Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Yield yourself to Christ-honoring and spiritually uplifting music.
What do you do about impure thoughts? Yield your mind to Christ and to His holy Word. You can find help in the Scriptures. The Bible teaches us that what we fill our heads and hearts with is what will pour out of our mouths and what we dwell on mentally. So, follow the instruction of Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Do you struggle with anger? The Bible says to be angry and sin not, but this verse is usually ripped out of context by an angry person who is trying to justify having a temper tantrum. Being angry with sin and the destruction it leaves in it’s wake is fine. Having a fit because we can’t have our way or because someone is annoying us is not justified anger. We need to acknowledge that we will not always get our own way. We also need to realize there are lots of annoying people in this world. Standing in line at Wal-Mart will confirm that in about 5 minutes. Teach your children that when they get to be adults, there are going to be irritating people they will have to work with or see often or deal with. You cannot avoid them. Psalms 37:8, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Ecclesiastes 7:9, “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. God gives high marks to those that can control their temper, or rather, yield control of their temper to the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 16:32, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”
Do you have difficulty in yielding to God’s Will? Sometimes we don’t yield our lives because we don’t know God’s will. How can you know what God’s will is for your life? Sometimes it is not crystal clear and requires much patience and prayer. I admit, it can be frustrating when you run across folks who say they have always known exactly what God’s will for them has been. I have found that is not the vast majority of Christians, though. Most of us either stumble around and hope we have it right, or sincerely seek God through prayer and Bible reading. Sometimes, discovering God’s will is as simple as avoiding those things that are clearly NOT God’s will. Here are several examples:
Johnny comes home and says, “Mom - I found the girl I’m going to marry.” Mom says, “Oh - that’s wonderful - what church does she attend?” Johnny says, “Oh. She’s not a Christian, Mom. She’s not into church stuff.” Mom can rightly say, “Johnny, I don’t know who God has for you to marry, but I know it can’t be her because she’s not saved. Now, if she gets saved down the road and then you start dating, that may be another matter. But as of right now, that can’t be God’s will, because you’re not to be yoked with an unbeliever.
How about this one: Your best friend calls you up and says, “I’m thinking of getting a divorce. John and I can’t get along anymore. We both have peace that this must be of God.” You can say with all confidence that you don’t know what all God has in store for them, but divorce is not part of the picture because God has never said divorce was a good idea or the way to solve marital problems.
There are many things like that in Scripture. Sometimes it is easier to see what is NOT God’s will than what is, but at least you will then have parameters within which to look for God’s will. Yield to the Scripture, and make your life decisions in submission to God’s Word. He will reveal His will for your life if you are willing to yield.
One definition of yielding is submitting. We can submit, or yield to, those in authority over us. For children, they can choose to submit, or yield to, their parents. For wives, they can choose to submit, or yield to, their husbands. For husbands, they can choose to submit, or yield to, the leading of the Holy Spirit. Why do I say “choose to”? Because of all God’s creations, humans are the only ones who can choose to obey or disobey God’s instructions. If we submit to someone else’s authority, it is a willing desire to cede our rights to that other person. It is a choice. A wife should never be forced to obey her husband. If a wife is in right relationship with God, and if her husband is loving her the way Scripture says he is to do, she will be willing to submit to her husband’s authority. Not as a slavemaster, or because she isn’t smart enough to make her own decisions. Quite the contrary – a woman is often intellectually smarter and may have better business sense than her husband. Submitting to his authority is merely a matter of the chain of command – she is willingly recognizing that God has a natural order to the family. God should be first, the husband in submission to God (rightly, justly, kindly, lovingly – NOT as a dictator), and the wife in submission to her husband (sweetly, kindly, lovingly, respectfully), and the children in submission to their parents.
We can show yielding as citizens of our country. We demonstrate our willingness to follow Christ by being willing to yield to those in authority over us. Even though we have a government that is not wholly righteous, it is our government, and Christ said we are to obey, as long as we do not disobey Scripture. 1 Peter 2:13, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake:” On a practical side, you are refusing to yield to authority if you ignore the speed limit, pass illegally, run a red light, etc. Every ticket you add to your collection shows an unwillingness to yield to your authority. After you collect enough of them, the state decides that you will yield - or give over - your license. You are refusing to yield if you do not pay your taxes, regardless of whether the government spends the money the way they should. How far should you carry this idea? You are refusing to yield if you eat grapes in the grocery store or pop a few Brach’s candies into your mouth without paying for them since that’s called stealing. Peter didn’t say, “Submit yourselves to the ordinances you like,” he said, “Every ordinance for the Lord’s sake.”
Yielding to authority is a good witness to a lost and sinful country. It would be great if our country would believe 2 Chronicles 30:8, “Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.”
We can yield as family members. Children and teenagers can yield their wills by obeying their parents. I Peter 5:5, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” Colossians 3:20, “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” 1 John 3:7, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.”
Watching children run to please Mommy and Daddy is something that pleases the Lord, and it is a blessing to those around them. Few things are more becoming to a teenager than a right attitude toward father and mother. If he/she obeys with a happy heart, it is a delight to all around. If a teen girls serves her father, as unto the Lord, she makes known to all that she will be a help meet for a godly husband. Young ladies who have been an example of yielding to godliness are a precious commodity in today’s society. Young men who respect their fathers and discuss things with them in a kind and respectful manner are going to go far in many areas of life, including business and their own families one day. Those who have honored their parents and have remained pure until marriage deserve to be showered with praise and gifts when the wedding bells finally ring. All too often these days, Christian young men and women who have waited and done things right sit back and watch their impure counterparts receive huge weddings, gifts, money, houses, cars – so much. And of course they wonder where the good was in waiting. But, if they are wise, they will know that God is watching and there will be an eternal reward for them even if they do not “strike it big” here on earth. We need to make our young people see there is a much bigger picture than simply the here and now. That said, I think Christians would do well to reward the young people who HAVE followed God’s will and plan. If you want to be generous to someone getting married, be extra generous to the ones who are doing right.
On the flip side, it can be hard to joyfully attend a wedding, let alone buy a gift, for a young man or woman who has forsaken all their parents’ advice and marched a rebellious path to the altar. Beauty tip for ladies: Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft according to the Scriptures, and it certainly won’t give you a beautiful appearance. Years of wanton living take a huge toll on a pretty face.
Once a woman ropes in a husband, she quickly discovers the next hurdle in yielding: the realm of the husband and wife relationship. We can quote all the verses: Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Colossians 3:18, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” But sometimes, we just don’t want to turn our wills over to our husbands. We are unwilling to yield. Maybe it’s because we’ve always been independent. Maybe it’s because we don’t trust our husbands to make the right decisions. But that’s really for God to decide, and not us. There are, I think, extenuating circumstances. But generally, in day to day living, a woman can submit her will to her husband and be blessed for it.
If you are merging on a highway, and you refuse to yield right of way, you are likely going to experience a lesson in physics: Two cars cannot use the exact same position on the highway at the same time. So it is in marriage. The wife cannot hold the same position as the husband without causing an accident. If the wife refuses to yield long enough, she can create irreparable damage to the relationship.
God knew what He was doing when He put the husband in charge of the home. I realize that in our “completely humble and unasked for opinion,” we may not always think this is the best solution, but truly it is. Only one person can occupy the lead position, and God has chosen the husband. Why are we arguing with God? We have to be willing to yield, and God promises He will take care of us for obeying. Hebrews 13:17, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
Our husbands love us. Remember when they were dating us? They’d do anything for us. They’d still behave that way if we showed them the same respect and admiration we did when we were dating. They are our head according to the Bible - they must give account to God for how they lead us and our children. Let the husbands lead with joy and not with grief. It is unprofitable to us to not yield authority to our husbands.
Here’s how some of us get around the leadership thing. Do you try and persuade your husband to yield to your control? Your husband often knows better than you do. Let’s say Delilah wants a new minivan. The old SUV works, but it looks awful and she wants a new one. Proverbs 7:21, “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.” Now I realize I’m pulling that verse out of context, but it just seems to fit so well here. End result: Samson has to take on a second job to pay for Delilah’s new minivan. Now he spends less time with Delilah and the kids, and more time at the office with the secretary. Is Delilah really enjoying her minivan now?
Do you defer (yield) to your husband (or anyone else for that matter) in a disagreement? Here’s an example. My husband and I were driving down the road and the topic of XY University came up. We began discussing the rules of the college, to be specific. We’d been married just a short time. My husband was very pro-XYU. I was not opposed in general to the college, but I did not attend there because I disagreed with some of their rules. I said, “Well, I think yada yada yada was a dumb rule.” Little did I realize that I had just flung the door open for a full discourse on the rules of XYU, why the rules were instituted, why the rules are not dumb, etc.
At some point in this overly lengthy discourse, I was able to latch on to some common ground. It was this: if I could agree to abide by the rules, then I could go there as a student. I could have let the conversation drop right there and we’d have both been happy and talked about something else. But I wasn’t into yielding yet, so I continued that I thought not only was that one rule dumb, but there were several others that I thought equally dumb. After listing them, I said that was why I didn’t go to XYU, I went to a college I could attend without getting kicked out.
This pointless conversation went on for quite a long time and ended with both of us being disappointed in the other. I could have avoided the whole thing if I had just deferred - or yielded - in the first two minutes of the conversation, when that little lifeline of common ground had been thrown to me. It was a pointless argument that I pursued. It had no bearing on anything and was not relevant to us at the time. Why was I so interested in arguing about it? Because I thought XYU had dumb rules and I wanted my husband to think they were dumb as well. I was so full of pride, I felt he HAD to see things my way. I wasn’t willing to let him have his own opinion. In the long and short of it, so what if I don’t agree with the rules at XYU? Or any other college for that matter. Until it is going to directly affect me, it is not worthy of a discussion that is going to cause division between me and my husband or any other fellow Christian.
It’s okay to defer - to yield - to another in a conversation. There are lots of things now I have learned people feel very strongly about and I defer to them without argument. I don’t lie and say I agree with them, but I can kindly say something like, “Well, I guess you have a point. I hadn’t seen it that way.” Or, “Well, I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.” If you want to avoid an argument, say something disarming. Why do we have to be right, anyway? In my case, it’s because I’m struggling with my pride and I’m refusing to yield. Arguments over non-important items are not worth the grief they cause.
How are you at yielding your time? Yielding can mean “not stiff or rigid, able to bend.” I used to get very upset when my schedule got messed up. Now I’m used to it. I had a great conversation with my mother-in-law one day. She said she was getting very frustrated because she would lay out the daily schedule of events, and almost daily a student with a problem would come in and cause her to have to rearrange everything.
She was praying about this and the Lord revealed to her that His divine appointments took precedence over her appointments. Once she understood that, she didn’t get so frustrated anymore. That really helped me a lot.
I homeschool year around because I never know from week to week what’s going to happen. One of my children may get sick or my husband may get sick, throwing off the daily schedule. A friend might suggest going berry picking or playing in the creek. That’s a memory for my children and I’m willing to make those memories and catch school up later. My schedule can yield; it can bend a little.
I can yield my plans for those who need help. I receive phone calls frequently from friends or relatives who need counsel on something. I always feel inadequate, but I am willing to listen and pray with them, and sometimes that is all they really need. That’s a divine appointment. I can yield my plans for God’s plans. There is a caution here - it is easy to get too busy and neglect your own family, and you need to be wise and not let that happen. Try to find God’s perfect balance so that you are willing to yield to God’s appointments and serve others while still meeting the daily needs of those the Lord has given you.
Yielding (or submitting) can be a part of the church family relationship. We are commanded to “not forsake the gathering together of the saints” for many reasons. We can share burdens, encourage others, and be encouraged ourselves. Ephesians 5:21, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Yielding can have the definition of being maleable - moldable - shapeable. Romans 6:13, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Yield yourselves - allow yourselves to be molded into instruments of God.
It is important to understand that you choose everyday - every hour - every minute - whether or not you will yield or whether you will strive for control. Who are you choosing to serve? Romans 6:16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Before we were saved, we didn’t know any better, and we were yielding ourselves to be servants of death. But, once we accept Christ into our lives, we can choose to yield to a loving Saviour, and be used by Him to further His kingdom. Romans 6:19, “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.”
Sometimes we need to yield to Godly counsel. Have you ever been in a dilemma and needed counsel? How do you go about it? Do you pick out one or two godly friends and ask their opinion and then pray about it and try to follow their wisdom, or do you run around from one person to another, hoping to find someone to tell you what you want to hear?
Sometimes, godly counsel is offered to us when we aren’t looking for it. My mother-in-law is a good one for that. She has, upon occasion, offered advice without our asking for it. Most of the time, she has been right on the money. Because she is a sweet, godly lady, it is easy to listen to her, and I am thankful for that. It would be harder if she were overbearing; however, if the message were the same, the truth would be the same, and my yielded response should be the same. Being told what we are doing wrong is never pleasant, but it can be very helpful in our walk with the Lord. But we have to be humble and willing to listen - we have to be yielded.
We need to yield to the Holy Spirit in witnessing. If we are standing in line somewhere, and the person next to us strikes up a conversation, the Holy Spirit may start immediately impressing on us to say something. We never know when someone – including ourselves – will take our final breath. If we have an opportunity to share something of Christ, we need to do so.
One thing I noticed in studying verses on the word yield or yielding, Scripture refers to those terms most often when talking about harvest. This tree yielded up this fruit, and that land yielded up so much, etc. The dictionary does offer a definition of yield as a return, a profit, a harvest.
We can have a yield of diffusing strife: Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:18, “A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.” Proverbs 19:11, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.” We don’t have to take offense every time someone says or does something we don’t like or don’t agree with. “Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.” Yield - give it up - let it go.
We can have a yield of winning battles: James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” In submitting to God, you are putting yourself under the protection of the Almighty.
We can and should have routine yields of Galatians 5:22,23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” We should also be bearing fruit in seeing souls saved. Mark 4:8, “And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.” If you are not seeing any of these fruits being yielded in your life, you are sowing the wrong seeds. Perhaps you are not walking in the truth of the Bible as you may think you are.
In contrast to reaping good things, choosing to do things our own way will yield us disaster: Hosea 8:7, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”
If we do not yield our lives to God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we ruin our testimonies before the lost. You’ve heard the saying that one bad apple ruins the whole barrel. The same is true for your life. Lost people watch you, and if they see sins springing from your life, they won’t want the fountain. James 3:12, “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”
Lastly, yielding means maleable - moldable. Like clay in the potter’s hand. If you think about it, being a human being and not just a lump of clay, having a potter press down and force changes in our lives is sometimes going to be uncomfortable. How about when he uses one of the little tools and etches a pattern in us? That’s going to hurt once in a while.
But the idea is that we are willing - we have a choice. Real clay has no ability to get up off the potter’s wheel. But we can decide whether, like Isaac, we will lie down and be used of God, or whether we will walk away and say, “I can do fine on my own.” On our own, we will create out of ourselves dirty, broken, useless vessels, unsuitable for use. But in the hands of the Master Potter, we can yield our lives to be molded into the image of Christ and be used by the Potter to be a blessing to others and to further Christ’s Kingdom.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Puppets: Keeping Your Cool in the Fiery Furnace
Moe: Whew! It sure is hot out here, huh? Man…I’m sweating bananas!! Mr. Song Leader!!!
Songleader: (from the audience) Yes, Moe?
Moe: Mr. Songleader, can you please use a fan to fan me? I’m sooooooooo hot~~~~
Songleader: Sure Moe, I have one here. (Walks to puppet stage and begins fanning Moe.) How’s this?
Moe: That’s much better. Thanks! Now I can probably pay attention during the Bible story.
Mooster: (Dum-de-do-dah) (Whistling) (Singing: Oh what a beautiful day ~)
(Pops his head thru the window) HELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Boys and girls! How are you today?
Moe: Why are you so cheerful? Haven’t you noticed the temperature today? It was 100 yesterday and just about that today. It’s so hot I can hardly stand it!
Mooster: Oh? Is it hot? I hadn’t really noticed. See this bandana around my neck?
Moe: Yeah….
Mooster: Well, I dip it in ice cold water and then wrap it around my neck and it helps keep me cool.
Moe: Oh. That’s a good idea. Mr. Songleader is helping me to stay cool today.
Mooster: Oh! I see. Hi, Mr. Song leader!
Songleader: Hi, Mooster.
Mooster: Well I have a story today that’s all about heat! Fire, to be exact. A hot, fiery, burning, flaming story about 3 men who stood up for God.
Moe: Wow, Mooster… you really know how to make a guy feel cooler…..NOT!
Mooster: Well, I figured a hot story on standing up for God would help us keep our cool when we are tempted to do wrong!
Moe: Well, start talking. It’s not getting any cooler up here.
Mooster: Okay. Back in the Old Testament, there were three Hebrew teenagers who had been taken as slaves. They had to serve under King Nebuchanezzar, King of Babylon. Their names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, but the Babylonians didn’t like the Hebrew names, so they renamed those teens with names of their own. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Moe: Doesn’t sound like they got any easier to pronounce. If I had been king, I would have called them Henry, Michael, and Aaron. Can any of you kids say any of those names? Shadrach…Meshach….or Abednego? If you can, Mr. Song leader will give you a piece of candy!
Songleader: But I’m standing here fanning you, Moe.
Moe: You have two hands. You can toss candy to the kids who say the names right. I have faith in your abilities.
Songleader: Well, okay, kids – who wants to try and say their names? (Wait for Songleader to hand out candy. Then he goes back to fanning Moe.)
Moe: Mr. Songleader, I think you are slowing down a little….
Songleader: Oh – sorry Moe!
Moe: It’s okay.
Mooster: Oh brother. Moving on. Now these three teenagers were VERY hard workers and soon the King realized he had found some really good slaves in these three Hebrew boys, so he put them in positions of importance and authority. Some of the Chaldeans didn’t like having slaves in top leadership positions and so they got jealous. In the meantime, the king had set up a BIG statue that he wanted everyone to worship.
Moe: That’s not right! The Bible says we are not to worship false gods or idols!
Mooster: That’s correct. But it gets worse! The king wanted everyone in the land to fall down and worship the statue – even the Hebrew slaves who only worshipped the one true and living God!
Moe: Oh no! That’s terrible. What would happen if they didn’t?
Mooster: The king had set up a HUMONGOUS fiery furnace that he was going to throw people in if they didn’t obey!
Moe: Oh that’s bad! And I think it’s hot outside. Boys and girls, can you imagine being thrown into a furnace and being burned to death? That’s terrible! What a mean king! Just thinking about it burns me up! Mr. Songleader, please fan faster!
Mooster: Well, now the three teenagers had a problem. They knew they couldn’t bow down to the image, but they also knew if they didn’t they would be killed.
Moe: So what happened next?
Mooster: The king had it all arranged that a whole bunch of loud music would be played and when the people heard it they would immediately have to fall down and worship the image. Mr. Song leader, can you make a trumpety noise?
Songleader: (makes loud trumpeting noise)
Moe: Ooooh – that’s loud!
Mooster: Yep, it was! Now all the people in the land fell down and worshipped the image…except for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!
Moe: Did someone notice they were still standing?
Mooster: You bet they did! The jealous Chaldeans noticed. And they ran to tattle to the king. They said, “Hey king! You know those Jews you put in charge? Well they won’t bow down and worship your image!”
Moe: Did the king get mad?
Mooster: Yep, the Bible says the king was in a fury! He sent for the three teens and brought them before him. He asked them if what he was told was true and then he reminded them of what they were supposed to do when they heard the loud music.
Songleader: (makes loud trumpeting noise)
Mooster: Yeah. Thank you. Anyway, so then he said, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands” if they didn’t obey.
Moe: Well, obviously he didn’t know the true God.
Mooster: That’s right.
Moe: Well what did the teens say to the king?
Mooster: They said, “Oh King, we don’t have to think about our answer. The God we serve IS able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and He can deliver us out of your hand, too, if He wants to. BUT, even if He doesn’t want to deliver us, we will not serve your gods or worship your false image. God has forbidden us to worship anyone except Him.”
Moe: Oh boy, I bet the king was even more mad now!
Mooster: Yep, he sure was! He immediately commanded that the furnace be turned up 7 times hotter! Then he commanded the most mighty men in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to toss them in the furnace!
Moe: They tied them up right then? With their shoes and clothes and everything?
Mooster: Yep. Didn’t have time to take off anything. Just tied them up and tossed them in. But the fire was SOoooo hot that the soldiers died right after tossing them in!
Moe: Oh no! What happened then? Mr. Songleader, please fan faster – all this talk of furnaces is making me really sweat!
Mooster: Well, the way the furnace was made, the king could look into it from a safe distance away. And what he saw amazed him! He said to his wise men, “Didn’t we throw three men into the furnace?” And they all said, yes, king, that’s true.
So he said, Well I see four men walking around in the midst of the fire, untied, unhurt, and the fourth man looks like the Son of God!!
Moe: Wow – I bet he was very surprised! What did he do?
Mooster: He called into the fire the names of the teenagers and he called them the servants of the most high God, and he told them to come out from inside the furnace. And they did! And everyone around them was amazed – nothing was burned. Not their shoes or their clothing or their skin or their hair – NOTHING was burned! They didn’t even smell of fire!
Moe: Wow!! Guess God helped them keep their cool, huh?
Mooster: He sure did. Then the king said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him.” He praised them for not worshipping any god except their true God. Then he told the people that they were not to talk against the God of Israel because there were no other gods that could deliver like the true God can deliver. And after all that, the three faithful teenagers were promoted by the king to have even more authority in the land.
Moe: WOW! That was a great story, Mooster. That’s a wonderful example of standing up and doing what’s right, no matter what.
Mooster: Yep! This week, boys and girls, remind yourselves that you can stand up and do what’s right, no matter what. God is greater than our problems and He can help us do what’s right.
Moe: I’m going to try and remember that, too! By the way, Mr. Songleader, thanks for fanning me. Would you like an ice cream after church? My treat! You can come over to my banana house and I’ll make you a split!
Songleader: Thanks, Moe – that sounds wonderful!
Mooster: Thanks for listening boys and girls! Stay cool!!!
Songleader: (from the audience) Yes, Moe?
Moe: Mr. Songleader, can you please use a fan to fan me? I’m sooooooooo hot~~~~
Songleader: Sure Moe, I have one here. (Walks to puppet stage and begins fanning Moe.) How’s this?
Moe: That’s much better. Thanks! Now I can probably pay attention during the Bible story.
Mooster: (Dum-de-do-dah) (Whistling) (Singing: Oh what a beautiful day ~)
(Pops his head thru the window) HELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Boys and girls! How are you today?
Moe: Why are you so cheerful? Haven’t you noticed the temperature today? It was 100 yesterday and just about that today. It’s so hot I can hardly stand it!
Mooster: Oh? Is it hot? I hadn’t really noticed. See this bandana around my neck?
Moe: Yeah….
Mooster: Well, I dip it in ice cold water and then wrap it around my neck and it helps keep me cool.
Moe: Oh. That’s a good idea. Mr. Songleader is helping me to stay cool today.
Mooster: Oh! I see. Hi, Mr. Song leader!
Songleader: Hi, Mooster.
Mooster: Well I have a story today that’s all about heat! Fire, to be exact. A hot, fiery, burning, flaming story about 3 men who stood up for God.
Moe: Wow, Mooster… you really know how to make a guy feel cooler…..NOT!
Mooster: Well, I figured a hot story on standing up for God would help us keep our cool when we are tempted to do wrong!
Moe: Well, start talking. It’s not getting any cooler up here.
Mooster: Okay. Back in the Old Testament, there were three Hebrew teenagers who had been taken as slaves. They had to serve under King Nebuchanezzar, King of Babylon. Their names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, but the Babylonians didn’t like the Hebrew names, so they renamed those teens with names of their own. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Moe: Doesn’t sound like they got any easier to pronounce. If I had been king, I would have called them Henry, Michael, and Aaron. Can any of you kids say any of those names? Shadrach…Meshach….or Abednego? If you can, Mr. Song leader will give you a piece of candy!
Songleader: But I’m standing here fanning you, Moe.
Moe: You have two hands. You can toss candy to the kids who say the names right. I have faith in your abilities.
Songleader: Well, okay, kids – who wants to try and say their names? (Wait for Songleader to hand out candy. Then he goes back to fanning Moe.)
Moe: Mr. Songleader, I think you are slowing down a little….
Songleader: Oh – sorry Moe!
Moe: It’s okay.
Mooster: Oh brother. Moving on. Now these three teenagers were VERY hard workers and soon the King realized he had found some really good slaves in these three Hebrew boys, so he put them in positions of importance and authority. Some of the Chaldeans didn’t like having slaves in top leadership positions and so they got jealous. In the meantime, the king had set up a BIG statue that he wanted everyone to worship.
Moe: That’s not right! The Bible says we are not to worship false gods or idols!
Mooster: That’s correct. But it gets worse! The king wanted everyone in the land to fall down and worship the statue – even the Hebrew slaves who only worshipped the one true and living God!
Moe: Oh no! That’s terrible. What would happen if they didn’t?
Mooster: The king had set up a HUMONGOUS fiery furnace that he was going to throw people in if they didn’t obey!
Moe: Oh that’s bad! And I think it’s hot outside. Boys and girls, can you imagine being thrown into a furnace and being burned to death? That’s terrible! What a mean king! Just thinking about it burns me up! Mr. Songleader, please fan faster!
Mooster: Well, now the three teenagers had a problem. They knew they couldn’t bow down to the image, but they also knew if they didn’t they would be killed.
Moe: So what happened next?
Mooster: The king had it all arranged that a whole bunch of loud music would be played and when the people heard it they would immediately have to fall down and worship the image. Mr. Song leader, can you make a trumpety noise?
Songleader: (makes loud trumpeting noise)
Moe: Ooooh – that’s loud!
Mooster: Yep, it was! Now all the people in the land fell down and worshipped the image…except for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!
Moe: Did someone notice they were still standing?
Mooster: You bet they did! The jealous Chaldeans noticed. And they ran to tattle to the king. They said, “Hey king! You know those Jews you put in charge? Well they won’t bow down and worship your image!”
Moe: Did the king get mad?
Mooster: Yep, the Bible says the king was in a fury! He sent for the three teens and brought them before him. He asked them if what he was told was true and then he reminded them of what they were supposed to do when they heard the loud music.
Songleader: (makes loud trumpeting noise)
Mooster: Yeah. Thank you. Anyway, so then he said, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands” if they didn’t obey.
Moe: Well, obviously he didn’t know the true God.
Mooster: That’s right.
Moe: Well what did the teens say to the king?
Mooster: They said, “Oh King, we don’t have to think about our answer. The God we serve IS able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and He can deliver us out of your hand, too, if He wants to. BUT, even if He doesn’t want to deliver us, we will not serve your gods or worship your false image. God has forbidden us to worship anyone except Him.”
Moe: Oh boy, I bet the king was even more mad now!
Mooster: Yep, he sure was! He immediately commanded that the furnace be turned up 7 times hotter! Then he commanded the most mighty men in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to toss them in the furnace!
Moe: They tied them up right then? With their shoes and clothes and everything?
Mooster: Yep. Didn’t have time to take off anything. Just tied them up and tossed them in. But the fire was SOoooo hot that the soldiers died right after tossing them in!
Moe: Oh no! What happened then? Mr. Songleader, please fan faster – all this talk of furnaces is making me really sweat!
Mooster: Well, the way the furnace was made, the king could look into it from a safe distance away. And what he saw amazed him! He said to his wise men, “Didn’t we throw three men into the furnace?” And they all said, yes, king, that’s true.
So he said, Well I see four men walking around in the midst of the fire, untied, unhurt, and the fourth man looks like the Son of God!!
Moe: Wow – I bet he was very surprised! What did he do?
Mooster: He called into the fire the names of the teenagers and he called them the servants of the most high God, and he told them to come out from inside the furnace. And they did! And everyone around them was amazed – nothing was burned. Not their shoes or their clothing or their skin or their hair – NOTHING was burned! They didn’t even smell of fire!
Moe: Wow!! Guess God helped them keep their cool, huh?
Mooster: He sure did. Then the king said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him.” He praised them for not worshipping any god except their true God. Then he told the people that they were not to talk against the God of Israel because there were no other gods that could deliver like the true God can deliver. And after all that, the three faithful teenagers were promoted by the king to have even more authority in the land.
Moe: WOW! That was a great story, Mooster. That’s a wonderful example of standing up and doing what’s right, no matter what.
Mooster: Yep! This week, boys and girls, remind yourselves that you can stand up and do what’s right, no matter what. God is greater than our problems and He can help us do what’s right.
Moe: I’m going to try and remember that, too! By the way, Mr. Songleader, thanks for fanning me. Would you like an ice cream after church? My treat! You can come over to my banana house and I’ll make you a split!
Songleader: Thanks, Moe – that sounds wonderful!
Mooster: Thanks for listening boys and girls! Stay cool!!!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Puppets: Hiding from God - the Story of Jonah
Mooster: Hello, kids! I’m Mooster! I have a Bible story to tell you today. I hope you can sit up straight and tall and listen carefully. I wonder if anyone else is home in the tree house today to hear the story?
Hello?
Hello in the house!
Anyone home?
Monkey Moe: Well I’m home…for now. But I won’t be for long.
Mooster: Where are you going?
Monkey Moe: I’m running away.
Mooster: Running away? Why on earth would you do that?!
Monkey Moe: Because I broke my mom’s cell phone. She doesn’t know it yet and boy will she be mad! I’m going to go live where no one will ever find me. I might even run away as far as Iceland!
Mooster: Hope you have a boat. Monkey Moe, you should just tell your mom what happened. If you confess it then she’ll forgive you and you can help work off the cost of a new one in chores. You don’t have to run away! Besides, you can’t go where no one will ever find you.
Monkey Moe: Yes I can. If I don’t tell anyone where I’m going, no one will know.
Mooster: That’s not true, Moe. Someone will always see you, no matter where you go.
Monkey Moe: Do you mean someone from the CIA is following me already? Mom knows about the phone and she’s hunting me down! How did find out so fast!!? Hide me! Hide me!
Mooster: I’m not talking about your mom or the CIA or the phone, Moe.
Monkey Moe: I gotta hide. You gotta hide me! Where can I hide?
Mooster: That’s what I’m talking about, Moe. You can’t hide.
Monkey Moe: I know! I’ll go down into Gram’s root cellar. NO ONE will see me there. It’s dark and damp and very quiet. No one will see me. I’ll be hidden from sight.
Mooster: Moe! Will you listen to me?
Monkey Moe: Huh? What?
Mooster: I think you need to sit and listen to today’s Bible story. When I’m all finished, if you still want to hide, then go right ahead.
Monkey Moe: Well…..I guess I could wait a few minutes. But who do you keep saying is going to see me no matter where I go?
Mooster: That’s Who I’m going to tell you about. God sees you no matter where you are or what you are doing. You cannot hide from Him. But there was a man in the Bible who thought just like you are right now – thinking he could hide from God. But he had an exciting adventure to teach him otherwise.
Monkey Moe: What was his name? What happened?
Mooster: Well, in the book of Jonah, in the Bible, we read the story of the prophet, Jonah.
Monkey Moe: What’s a prophet?
Mooster: That’s another name for a man of God – one who followed the Lord and spoke what God wanted him to say. Well one day, the Lord spoke to Jonah and said, “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me!”
Monky Moe: Huh?
Mooster: That means God said, “The people of Ninevah are doing so many bad things that I want you to go warn them! Something bad is going to happen. I’m going to be judging them for their wicked deeds!”
Monkey Moe: So Jonah went to Ninevah?
Mooster: Nope. The Bible says Jonah rose up to run away to Tarsish, another town far away. He wanted to run away from the Lord because he didn’t want to do what God told him to do. In order to get to Tarshish, he had to get on a boat in Joppa. So he found the captain and he paid for a ticket and he climbed down into the bottom of the boat.
Monkye Moe: Hey, that was pretty smart! Kind of like my Gram’s root cellar. No one would see him there!
Mooster: Wrong. God saw him down there in the bottom of the boat. God can see anybody, anywhere. And God wasn’t happy that Jonah was running away from Him. So the Bible says God sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, that means a huge storm, and the captain and crew were afraid the boat would be broken to pieces! They were so afraid that they started throwing things overboard to lighten the load of the ship, but it wasn’t helping.
Monkey Moe: Sounds scary! Where was Jonah?
Mooster: He was asleep in the bottom of the boat.
Monkey Moe: Sleeping? You gotta be kidding me!
Mooster: That’s what the crew thought too. The shipmaster came and found him and asked him why he was sleeping instead of praying to his God. He told him to wake up and pray in case his God would hear him and spare the ship. Then the shipmaster decided to draw straws and see whose fault this storm was. The Bible says the lot fell upon Jonah. He drew the short straw. Then the crew knew the storm was Jonah’s fault. So they asked him what he had done.
Monkey Moe: What did he say? Did he tell them he was running away from God?
Mooster: Yes he did. And they wanted to know why he would do such a thing and make so powerful a God be so angry. See, they didn’t know there was just one true God, but they were figuring it out really quickly! And they asked Jonah what they should do to make God happy and turn off the storm. So Jonah said, “Toss me in the water and the storm will cease. I know this storm is because of me.”
Monkey Moe: Did they do that?
Mooster: Not right away. The captain didn’t want to toss Jonah over because he was afraid it would kill him. So they tried to steer the boat toward land, but it didn’t work. And they had thrown over all the loose stuff they could and it wasn’t helping. And all the sailors had prayed to all the gods they could think of and it wasn’t helping, either. So finally, the captain came to Jonah and said, “Okay…I guess you’re going overboard.” But before they threw him over, they prayed to the Lord God Jehovah and asked Him not to hold them accountable for Jonah’s death. And as soon as Jonah hit the water, the sea was calm!
Monkey Moe: WOW! I bet the sailors were very surprised!
Mooster: They sure were. And they prayed and offered sacrifices and recognized that the Lord Jonah was running away from was the one true God. So God got honor even through Jonah’s disobedience. The shipmaster and the sailors then knew who the real God was – the Lord God Jehovah. But Jonah still had to answer to God. The men were so glad to have the storm over, they might have even offered to take Jonah back on board…except for what happened next.
Monkey Moe: What happened?
Mooster: The Bible says God prepared, or made, a great fish. And it came swimming up to Jonah and opened its mouth and completely swallowed Jonah in one huge gulp!
Monkey Moe: OH WOW! It must have been a whale!
Mooster: Well, maybe. The book of Jonah doesn’t say what kind of fish it was. It might have been a whale, or it might just have been a very special fish God created right then just to use in Jonah’s life. Sometimes God uses interesting things to get our attention. Anyway, so there was Jonah. Stuck inside the stomach of a giant fish.
Monkey Moe: That sounds scary. And disgusting. And smelly. Wouldn’t there be dead fish in there too? And it would be so dark….no light at all. Jonah couldn’t see a thing!
Mooster: You’re right on all points. Scary, disgusting, smelly, and dark. Jonah couldn’t see a thing. But God could. God saw Jonah as clearly as if it were bright daylight. And after a while, Jonah was sorry for disobeying God. So he prayed and told God that he knew God knew what He was doing. He offered thanksgiving to God and said he was ready to obey.
Monkey Moe: So then what happened next?? Did Jonah die down there in the stomach of the great fish??
Mooster: Nope. God made the fish get sick. The Bible says the fish swam toward land and that he puked Jonah right up and out of his stomach and onto the dry land!
Monkey Moe: Oh that’s too gross! But kinda cool, too…God spared his life.
Mooster: Yep He did. And then He spoke to Jonah and said, “Get up and go preach to Ninevah!”
Monkey Moe: Did Jonah obey this time?
Mooster: He sure did! He RAN all the way to Ninevah. And as soon as got there he started preaching and warning the people. He told them God said that they needed to repent of all their sins and that because of their wickedness, God was going to destroy Ninevah.
Monkey Moe: Did Jonah have to explain what sins are?
Mooster: I’m sure he probably did. He probably explained that sins are when we do something wrong. Like when your mom tells you to go clean your room and you disobey and watch tv instead. Or when you take a cookie without asking. Or when you lie about where you’ve been or what you’re doing. Those are all sins.
Monkey Moe: Yeah…we all do bad things sometimes. I know I do…. What did the people say to Jonah?
Mooster: Well, the king of Ninevah commanded all his subjects to fast and pray and beg God for forgiveness of their sins. He said maybe God would hear them and not destroy the city after all.
Monkey Moe: Did the people do what the king said?
Mooster: They sure did! The Bible says God saw their works, that they turned away from their evil doings, and God changed His mind and decided not to destroy the city!
Monkey Moe: Really? Wow! That sure was nice of God! I’m glad Jonah decided to do the right thing and obey God and do what God wanted him to do. All those people would have died if he hadn’t, huh?
Mooster: That’s right, Moe. It’s always best to do what God wants. Speaking of doing what God wants, Moe, do you think God wants you to run away because you broke your mom’s phone?
Monkey Moe: No………I guess He doesn’t. And it wouldn’t matter anyway. Even if Mom didn’t find me, God would know where I am.
Mooster: That’s right. So what do you think would be the right thing for you to do?
Monkey Moe: I think I need to go find my mom and tell her what happened. I know she’s going to be mad. But I’ll tell her that I’m willing to do chores and work off the money she’s going to have to spend to buy a new phone.
Mooster: That’s the best idea, Moe. Your mom will not be mad for long. In fact, because you are telling her right away, she might not get mad at all! But I’m sure she will be glad to let you work it off. Fessing up and doing right is what will please God and make you happiest in the long run. We are always happiest when we are right with God.
Monkey Moe: Okay, Mooster. That’s where I’m going right now! Bye! And thanks for the story!
Mooster: Bye Moe! Well kids, that’s the Bible story I had for today. I hope you learned something from it too. Remember – whenever you do wrong, you need to admit it. But more importantly, God sees you ALWAYS. Everything you do, everything you say, everything you read or watch – God sees it all! And He loves you and cares for you and wants what is best for you. Come back next week and we’ll have another story! Bye~~
Hello?
Hello in the house!
Anyone home?
Monkey Moe: Well I’m home…for now. But I won’t be for long.
Mooster: Where are you going?
Monkey Moe: I’m running away.
Mooster: Running away? Why on earth would you do that?!
Monkey Moe: Because I broke my mom’s cell phone. She doesn’t know it yet and boy will she be mad! I’m going to go live where no one will ever find me. I might even run away as far as Iceland!
Mooster: Hope you have a boat. Monkey Moe, you should just tell your mom what happened. If you confess it then she’ll forgive you and you can help work off the cost of a new one in chores. You don’t have to run away! Besides, you can’t go where no one will ever find you.
Monkey Moe: Yes I can. If I don’t tell anyone where I’m going, no one will know.
Mooster: That’s not true, Moe. Someone will always see you, no matter where you go.
Monkey Moe: Do you mean someone from the CIA is following me already? Mom knows about the phone and she’s hunting me down! How did find out so fast!!? Hide me! Hide me!
Mooster: I’m not talking about your mom or the CIA or the phone, Moe.
Monkey Moe: I gotta hide. You gotta hide me! Where can I hide?
Mooster: That’s what I’m talking about, Moe. You can’t hide.
Monkey Moe: I know! I’ll go down into Gram’s root cellar. NO ONE will see me there. It’s dark and damp and very quiet. No one will see me. I’ll be hidden from sight.
Mooster: Moe! Will you listen to me?
Monkey Moe: Huh? What?
Mooster: I think you need to sit and listen to today’s Bible story. When I’m all finished, if you still want to hide, then go right ahead.
Monkey Moe: Well…..I guess I could wait a few minutes. But who do you keep saying is going to see me no matter where I go?
Mooster: That’s Who I’m going to tell you about. God sees you no matter where you are or what you are doing. You cannot hide from Him. But there was a man in the Bible who thought just like you are right now – thinking he could hide from God. But he had an exciting adventure to teach him otherwise.
Monkey Moe: What was his name? What happened?
Mooster: Well, in the book of Jonah, in the Bible, we read the story of the prophet, Jonah.
Monkey Moe: What’s a prophet?
Mooster: That’s another name for a man of God – one who followed the Lord and spoke what God wanted him to say. Well one day, the Lord spoke to Jonah and said, “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me!”
Monky Moe: Huh?
Mooster: That means God said, “The people of Ninevah are doing so many bad things that I want you to go warn them! Something bad is going to happen. I’m going to be judging them for their wicked deeds!”
Monkey Moe: So Jonah went to Ninevah?
Mooster: Nope. The Bible says Jonah rose up to run away to Tarsish, another town far away. He wanted to run away from the Lord because he didn’t want to do what God told him to do. In order to get to Tarshish, he had to get on a boat in Joppa. So he found the captain and he paid for a ticket and he climbed down into the bottom of the boat.
Monkye Moe: Hey, that was pretty smart! Kind of like my Gram’s root cellar. No one would see him there!
Mooster: Wrong. God saw him down there in the bottom of the boat. God can see anybody, anywhere. And God wasn’t happy that Jonah was running away from Him. So the Bible says God sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, that means a huge storm, and the captain and crew were afraid the boat would be broken to pieces! They were so afraid that they started throwing things overboard to lighten the load of the ship, but it wasn’t helping.
Monkey Moe: Sounds scary! Where was Jonah?
Mooster: He was asleep in the bottom of the boat.
Monkey Moe: Sleeping? You gotta be kidding me!
Mooster: That’s what the crew thought too. The shipmaster came and found him and asked him why he was sleeping instead of praying to his God. He told him to wake up and pray in case his God would hear him and spare the ship. Then the shipmaster decided to draw straws and see whose fault this storm was. The Bible says the lot fell upon Jonah. He drew the short straw. Then the crew knew the storm was Jonah’s fault. So they asked him what he had done.
Monkey Moe: What did he say? Did he tell them he was running away from God?
Mooster: Yes he did. And they wanted to know why he would do such a thing and make so powerful a God be so angry. See, they didn’t know there was just one true God, but they were figuring it out really quickly! And they asked Jonah what they should do to make God happy and turn off the storm. So Jonah said, “Toss me in the water and the storm will cease. I know this storm is because of me.”
Monkey Moe: Did they do that?
Mooster: Not right away. The captain didn’t want to toss Jonah over because he was afraid it would kill him. So they tried to steer the boat toward land, but it didn’t work. And they had thrown over all the loose stuff they could and it wasn’t helping. And all the sailors had prayed to all the gods they could think of and it wasn’t helping, either. So finally, the captain came to Jonah and said, “Okay…I guess you’re going overboard.” But before they threw him over, they prayed to the Lord God Jehovah and asked Him not to hold them accountable for Jonah’s death. And as soon as Jonah hit the water, the sea was calm!
Monkey Moe: WOW! I bet the sailors were very surprised!
Mooster: They sure were. And they prayed and offered sacrifices and recognized that the Lord Jonah was running away from was the one true God. So God got honor even through Jonah’s disobedience. The shipmaster and the sailors then knew who the real God was – the Lord God Jehovah. But Jonah still had to answer to God. The men were so glad to have the storm over, they might have even offered to take Jonah back on board…except for what happened next.
Monkey Moe: What happened?
Mooster: The Bible says God prepared, or made, a great fish. And it came swimming up to Jonah and opened its mouth and completely swallowed Jonah in one huge gulp!
Monkey Moe: OH WOW! It must have been a whale!
Mooster: Well, maybe. The book of Jonah doesn’t say what kind of fish it was. It might have been a whale, or it might just have been a very special fish God created right then just to use in Jonah’s life. Sometimes God uses interesting things to get our attention. Anyway, so there was Jonah. Stuck inside the stomach of a giant fish.
Monkey Moe: That sounds scary. And disgusting. And smelly. Wouldn’t there be dead fish in there too? And it would be so dark….no light at all. Jonah couldn’t see a thing!
Mooster: You’re right on all points. Scary, disgusting, smelly, and dark. Jonah couldn’t see a thing. But God could. God saw Jonah as clearly as if it were bright daylight. And after a while, Jonah was sorry for disobeying God. So he prayed and told God that he knew God knew what He was doing. He offered thanksgiving to God and said he was ready to obey.
Monkey Moe: So then what happened next?? Did Jonah die down there in the stomach of the great fish??
Mooster: Nope. God made the fish get sick. The Bible says the fish swam toward land and that he puked Jonah right up and out of his stomach and onto the dry land!
Monkey Moe: Oh that’s too gross! But kinda cool, too…God spared his life.
Mooster: Yep He did. And then He spoke to Jonah and said, “Get up and go preach to Ninevah!”
Monkey Moe: Did Jonah obey this time?
Mooster: He sure did! He RAN all the way to Ninevah. And as soon as got there he started preaching and warning the people. He told them God said that they needed to repent of all their sins and that because of their wickedness, God was going to destroy Ninevah.
Monkey Moe: Did Jonah have to explain what sins are?
Mooster: I’m sure he probably did. He probably explained that sins are when we do something wrong. Like when your mom tells you to go clean your room and you disobey and watch tv instead. Or when you take a cookie without asking. Or when you lie about where you’ve been or what you’re doing. Those are all sins.
Monkey Moe: Yeah…we all do bad things sometimes. I know I do…. What did the people say to Jonah?
Mooster: Well, the king of Ninevah commanded all his subjects to fast and pray and beg God for forgiveness of their sins. He said maybe God would hear them and not destroy the city after all.
Monkey Moe: Did the people do what the king said?
Mooster: They sure did! The Bible says God saw their works, that they turned away from their evil doings, and God changed His mind and decided not to destroy the city!
Monkey Moe: Really? Wow! That sure was nice of God! I’m glad Jonah decided to do the right thing and obey God and do what God wanted him to do. All those people would have died if he hadn’t, huh?
Mooster: That’s right, Moe. It’s always best to do what God wants. Speaking of doing what God wants, Moe, do you think God wants you to run away because you broke your mom’s phone?
Monkey Moe: No………I guess He doesn’t. And it wouldn’t matter anyway. Even if Mom didn’t find me, God would know where I am.
Mooster: That’s right. So what do you think would be the right thing for you to do?
Monkey Moe: I think I need to go find my mom and tell her what happened. I know she’s going to be mad. But I’ll tell her that I’m willing to do chores and work off the money she’s going to have to spend to buy a new phone.
Mooster: That’s the best idea, Moe. Your mom will not be mad for long. In fact, because you are telling her right away, she might not get mad at all! But I’m sure she will be glad to let you work it off. Fessing up and doing right is what will please God and make you happiest in the long run. We are always happiest when we are right with God.
Monkey Moe: Okay, Mooster. That’s where I’m going right now! Bye! And thanks for the story!
Mooster: Bye Moe! Well kids, that’s the Bible story I had for today. I hope you learned something from it too. Remember – whenever you do wrong, you need to admit it. But more importantly, God sees you ALWAYS. Everything you do, everything you say, everything you read or watch – God sees it all! And He loves you and cares for you and wants what is best for you. Come back next week and we’ll have another story! Bye~~
New Blog
Welcome to my new blog. The previous blog is currently residing in the netherworld of lost website domains. Whether or not it will ever be retrieved is an unknown at this time.
One of the main reasons for starting this particular blog is to post free puppet plays for children's ministries.
I have written all the plays on this website. As far as copyright goes, I am granting permission for any church or anyone working with children to download these plays and use them. Feel free to rewrite them however you need to suit your puppets or your ministry. We use these plays in our own church and I thought they might be a benefit to other churches.
One copyright caveat: I am NOT granting permission for anyone to copy these and then print them for personal financial gain. Aside from that - feel free to use as many as you like.
If you like a particular play, feel free to leave a comment about it!
Thanks for stopping by -
Gail Kappenman
One of the main reasons for starting this particular blog is to post free puppet plays for children's ministries.
I have written all the plays on this website. As far as copyright goes, I am granting permission for any church or anyone working with children to download these plays and use them. Feel free to rewrite them however you need to suit your puppets or your ministry. We use these plays in our own church and I thought they might be a benefit to other churches.
One copyright caveat: I am NOT granting permission for anyone to copy these and then print them for personal financial gain. Aside from that - feel free to use as many as you like.
If you like a particular play, feel free to leave a comment about it!
Thanks for stopping by -
Gail Kappenman
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)