Remember when you were a child, reading the story of David & Goliath, wide eyed. Remember when you first heard about Moses parting the red sea, or the fiery furnace? Remember when it seems so amazing that no matter how far Jonah tried to run God brought him back, even though it took a giant fish? Or how Jesus fed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes? Or how we read about how the angels stopped the mouth of the lions, and Daniel was safe in the pit?

  When we were children, it all seemed so amazing. We read those stories, and they seemed so real and so exciting. But somewhere along the line, we lost some of that. Sure, we still remembered them, but they became children's stories. Maybe we began to think those stories weren't important, or maybe our Bible were left to grow dusty on the shelf.

    So we began to forget.
    When a giant set itself in our path, we decided that wasn't the one we were meant to follow, even though God was whispering "go".
    When there was a sea dead in the middle of the way God was leading us, don't wait and we decided to try and find our own way.
    When we were faced the choice of either a fiery furnace, or compromising some of our morals, it seemed too risky to stand strong.
    When we were running away from our problems and everything just got worse, we didn't listen to the voice of God and face up to our mistakes, instead we kept running and tricking ourselves into thinking we're stronger than Him.
     When what we had was so little compared to what we needed, we forgot that God can make it work.
    When there were roaring lions with giant teeth, suddenly, standing for the truth didn't seem so important.

   But the God of David, Moses, Jonah, Daniel & his three friends is the same today.

  "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Hebrews 13:8

   He has not suddenly become a weak and powerless God. He is not diminished to words on a page. If He could close the mouth of the lions then, He still can.  

   When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago were before Nebuchadnezzar, they didn't know what was going to happen. What they did know was that there was an idol, and that they could not bow down before it.
   I suppose they could have reasoned to bow down but "in their hearts" not really be worshipping it. How many hebrews did that? Surely there were more than just them in the crowd, yet seemingly none of the others caused problems. They could have softened their words so the king wouldn't be mad, or flattered him. They could have taken the easy route.
    Instead, they refused to bow down. They went up to the king, and said this:

    "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou    hast set up." Daniel 3:17-18

   They knew that God could save them. They also knew that they could be thrown into the fire and burnt to ashes if that's what God decided. Either way, they knew that to serve God means to follow Him no matter what it costs.
 
   I don't have to tell you how the story ends. They were obedient, and Jesus was there with them in the fire. They came out without a hair of their head burnt, and without the scent of smoke upon them.

    "Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

   David went out to meet the giant, sling in his hand, but most importantly with God. He had to take a risk that the entire army of Israel would not take. Jonah had to stay in the belly of a fish until he finally decided to stop looking at himself, and look at God. Daniel had to defy the death decree of a king.
 
   But in all these cases God did something so completely amazing. He always does.

   When I was a child, one day there was such an angry storm outside. Pouring rain, booming thunder, flashing lightening. My grandmother was hiding in the house because she was afraid. Not me. My dad and I were sitting on the porch watching it. We started talking about when Jesus and His disciples were on a boat in the middle of the storm, and Jesus stood up and rebuked the storm. "Peace, peace, be still."
    Naturally, we decided to try it. It couldn't hurt, right? Nowadays it would seems silly to do that. What if God didn't decide to work a miracle, and then I was disappointed? God has better things to do than stop a storm. Besides, miracles are a thing of the past, He works in different ways now.

    But as a child, there's a sense of faith and belief that is rarely found in adults.

    "Except ye be converted, and become as a little child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3-4

   So, we did it. "Peace, peace be still." The pelting rain which had not slowed for over an hour, suddenly stopped. It didn't slow down, or gradually stop, it immediately stopped. Not another drop  of rain fell, and not another bolt of lightening crossed the sky. I was so excited about it.
   God doesn't change. But we do. We look at ourselves instead of God, and our faith fades. Some of our plans are ruined, and we wonder if God is actually leading us.

  "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty..." Exodus 34:6-7

   The God of the old testament, who did so many miracles, is the same God of the new testament who did miracles, and is the same God today.

    Sometimes things don't go the way we plan. Although God chose to save Daniel from the mouth of the lions, He didn't choose to save Stephen from being stoned. If He had, Paul may never have been converted, and might not have had the epistles. Even when He doesn't work in the way we expect, He is still the same.
 
    My closing point is this - go read the Bible stories that you loved as a kid. You might see something new in them that you never realized before, you will be encouraged to grow in righteousness and in the Lord, and you will be refreshed and reminded of God's power and love. Don't underestimate God!