Be Courageous-Jehovah Is With You - MANY RISKED THEIR LIVES!

Our faith and courage  become stronger when we see that God is with those who risk their lives to do his will and to protect their brothers. For example, think of High Priest Jehoiada and his wife, Jehosheba.  After King Ahaziah died, Athaliah, his mother, killed all the king's children except Jehoash and made herself queen. But Jehoiada and Jehosheba saved  Ahaziah's son Jehoash and kept him hidden for six years, even though this was a dangerous thing to do. In the seventh year, Jehoiada made Jehoash king and ordered that Athaliah be killed.  (2 Kings 11:1-16) Jehoiada later helped king Jehoash to repair the temple. Jehoiada died when he was 130 years old and was  buried with the kings  "because he had done good in Israel with the true God and His house." (2 Chronicles 24:15. 16) Because Jehoiada and wife acted courageously, the family from which the Messiah would later come was kept safe.

Ebed-melech, a servant in the house of King Zedekiah, risked his life for Jeremiah. The princes of Judah told the king that Jeremiah was discouraging the soldiers and all the people.  The king allowed them to do whatever they wanted with Jeremiah. So they threw him into a deep pit full of mud and left him there to die.  (Jeremiah 38:4-6)  Ebed-melech asked King Zedekiah to help Jeremiah.  What Ebed-melech did was dangerous, since so many people hate Jeremiah. Zedekiah agreed to help and told Ebed-melech to take 30 men with him and get Jeremiah out of the pit. Through Jeremiah, God promised Ebed-melech that he would not die when the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem.  (Jeremiah 39:15-18) God rewards those who show courage to do his will.

About  600 years before Christ, three Hebrew servants of God were rewarded for showing faith about courage. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered that all important me of Babylon gather and worship a giant image of gold. Anyone who disobeyed would die in a fiery furnace. The three Hebrews respectfully told Nebuchadnezzar:  "Our God whom we are serving is able to rescue us. Out of the burning furnace and out of your hand, O king, he will rescue us. But if  not, let it become known to you, O king, that your gods are not the ones we are serving, and the image of gold that you have set up will not worship." (Daniel 3:16-18)  At Daniel 3:19-30, we can read the exiting account of how Jehovah saved the three Hebrews.  We are probably not going to be threatened with death in a fiery furnace, but at times we do have to obey God in very difficult situations. We can be sure that God will bless us if we show faith and courage.

Enemies of Daniel convinced Darius to make a law that would harm Daniel. They told the king:  "Whoever makes a petition to any god or man for thirty days except to you, O king, should be thrown into the lion's pit."  Daniel showed faith and courage in this situation. As soon as he learned about that law, he "entered into his house, and, the windows his roof chamber being open for him toward Jerusalem, even three times in a day he was kneeling on his knees and praying and offering praise before his God, as he had been regularly dong prior to this." (Daniel 6:6-10) Daniel was thrown into a lion's pit. But Jehovah saved him! - DANIEL 6:16-23.

Next time:Be Courageous-Jehovah Is With You- Conclusion of MANY RISKED THEIR LIVES

From the  j.w.org publications