Friday October 02, 2018

 

Those of us that say that we believe in God must constantly answer the following question: Can God be trusted? While the immediate answer for most of us is often times yes, the way we manage our lives, money, time, situations, and relationships seems to reflect the opposite.

 

Can God be trusted? Men and women have struggled since the beginning of time with this question. Daniel, a young man abducted from his country and brought to Babylon (which would later be taken over by the Persian Empire) faced the tough question; could he trust God with his very life? Daniel prospered greatly under the rule of King Darius of Persia. In fact, Daniel did so well that the King planned to have him oversee the entire empire. However, there were those who were bothered by the fact that the King planned to put a Hebrew in charge of the entire empire so they began to search for ways to eliminate him. They tricked the King into passing a law that demanded that for 30 days, anyone praying to a God other than to the King would be sentenced to death. No sooner did the law pass that Daniel was caught praying to God and not the King. Although the King worked to find a way to save Daniel, he eventually had to enforce the sentence and had him thrown into the lion’s den. The King, after being tricked into sentencing Daniel became greatly troubled to the point he could not sleep that night. Once the sun came up the King ran to the lion’s den to see what happened to Daniel.

 

“Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel answered, “Long live the king! My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”  – Daniel 6:20-22 NLT

 

Daniel demonstrated his trust in God when he decidedly chose to pray to God despite the law forbidding him to do so. Perhaps it was easy to trust God at this time since he was the high official in the Persian Kingdom and was awaiting promotion to the number one man position after the King. His reward however for trusting God was that he was thrown into the lion’s den. The question as to whether or not God can be trusted took on a completely new meaning. It is easy to trust God when you are being blessed, but it is an entirely different thing when circumstances are not going the way you expected them to go. It is easy to trust God when you have a good paying job and harder when God allows you to be fired. It is easy to trust God when all is well in the family and it is a whole other story when the family begins to fall apart. Daniel decided that he would trust God no matter what happened to him.

 

The story continues with the King ordering the arrest of Daniel’s accusers and having them cast into the lion’s den along with their wives and children. Before they reached the floor of the den, the lions had already consumed them.

 

To walk in Daniel’s shoes is to know that when your life is out of control it does not mean that God has lost control.