Small Bowls and Big Bows

One of the fascinating things I have observed in life is the seeming helplessness individuals manifest in the face of compromise, especially when the stakes are high. It often feels like the pressure to give in, is always higher than the strength to withstand the temptation. But how do people become strong? How can believers innoculate themselves against the evil day? How really does God deliver us from temptation? How do we ensure that when the day of adversity comes, our strength does not fail?   Well, I discovered a mystery! I realised that ever before there is a pressure to bow, a bowl will be presented. The objective of the bowl is to suppress your sensitivities, so that when the demand to bow comes, you will lack any form of resistance against that demand. Only those who weren't fraternizing with the bowl, will be capable of defying the command to bow. You can't eat of the bowl and suddenly choose not to bow when the demand is made. I hope you see the carcass and the eagle dynamic at play here?   Nebuchadnezzar will not present the golden image to you, the first time you meet with him: he knows better than to create a possibility for your rejection. He always wants to make sure that when the golden image is set up, you wouldn't have any resistance left in you. So he initiates a system where you become less and less sensitive  to what you're already permitting into your space in incremental doses, then once he's done desensitising you, he presents the golden image and can guarantee your obeisance.   It took the Hebrew boys who refused the bowl of Nebuchadnezzar to also refuse to bow to his golden image. No one can really fake boldness in the face of a dire situation! You either have it or you don't: and you don't build convictions on the day of trial! You refuse to bow, by refusing the bowl!   So here are some differences between the bowl and the bow.   The bow often has high stakes attached and bowing typically shows an outright rejection of God;   The bowl on the other hand, is a low stake "rationalisable" compromise,  and eating of the bowl hardly seems like defying God outrightly. It's just a little deviation, a little searing of the conscience, a little silencing of your morality, just a little. I mean, will God want you dying of hunger in a strange land? And what does God want for His children if not the best? The best food, clothes, houses and education! Riight? Aftrall, kings will become my nursing fathers, innit?? How dare I reject the delicate nursing of this faithful father Nebu?? 🤷🏽‍♂️   I know you're more concerned about the big bow, but I'll say, be more worried about the small bowls.   There are two kinds of slavery:   One where Pharaoh oppresses the people with hardship, suffering and high levels of human right violation. The other is one where Nebuchadnezzar exalts the status of the slaves to elite levels. Gives them degrees, grants them access to limitless funds, appoints them into high offices and makes them sit at his table. Both models are expressions of slavery, only that one is a lot more sophisticated. Both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar had the same objective; Worship! They both wanted worship from God's people. Pharaoh deprived the children of Israel from worshipping their God, because he was receiving that worship in the meantime. Nebuchadnezzar was going to inevitably introduce the golden image for worship as well. It's easy to spot the dysfunction in Pharaoh's model of slavery, but do we even notice when Nebuchadenzzar's sophisticated model creeps in?