One of these days, I came across a Bible verse that I like very much. It is Psalm 37:25: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread”. What a beautiful verse! It was written by king David, in his old age. Now, imagine this: throughout his life, David must have seen and experienced a lot of things! Good and bad! However, through this verse, he is saying that he NEVER saw someone being forsaken by God. Not even once! That is so powerful!
God is good, and He is also faithful. He never ignores those to seek out to Him. This week, I was reading to my daughter the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. And, every time I read this story, it always amazes me. Daniel trusted God and loved Him with all of his heart. He was part of the group of people of Israel living in a foreign land. He found favor before the ruler of that foreign land and rose through the political ranks of the kingdom. In fact, he was so hard-working and honest that other government officials were jealous of him. They did everything they could to find something against him that would cause him to be removed from office.
And they tried to use Daniel’s faith against him. They made king Darius sign a decree that stated that anyone who prayed to another god other than the king himself would be thrown into a lion’s den. Daniel learned about the decree, but he did not wave in his attitude towards God. He kept praying and worshiping God as usual. The other government officers, seeing his behavior, denounced him to the king, who could do nothing but fulfill what was established. Daniel was thrown into a den full of hungry lions to spend the night.
In the morning, the king, distressed and anxious to know if Daniel had survived, opened the den and called out to him. As soon as he called out, Daniel replied. Overjoyed, the king asked how Daniel survived. And he replied: “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty” (Daniel 6:22). The Bible goes on to say that “no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (Daniel 6:23). That shows the faithfulness of God!
This could be a fictional story, but it is real! It truly happened. A long time ago, there was a Daniel who was thrown into a lions’ den, but survived without a single scratch because he obeyed God, and God was faithful to him. How amazing! We live in a world that is becoming more and more perverted. Values are becoming distorted, and the division between right and wrong is getting blurrier day by day. However, we, as Christians, cannot lose our identity. We cannot forget that we belong to a heavenly kingdom. And we should not hide our identity either.
The same way Daniel did not hide his devotion to God even if that meant getting killed, we should be bold enough to reflect God through what we do or say. Throughout the Bible, there are many stories of people bold enough to follow God’s directions. Reading about them, we should keep in mind that, one day, we are going to be face to face with our Creator and Father. We should be driven by eternity, because that is our reality!
We should not be so attached to this life to the point of forgetting that we belong to God! We were created by Him to reflect His glory! Some people have a tendency of hiding their Christianity because of fear of other people’s opinions, but that is just intimidation from the devil to stop us from evangelizing, from perceiving the goodness of God and from sharing the Good News to people. The devil wants to shut us! However, I will tell you something: the world is not afraid of sharing twisted values all the time through social media, movies and television programs. So, why should us, Christians, be afraid of sharing something so good as salvation through Jesus Christ? We should be rejoicing!
Daniel returned from the lions’ den without a single scratch because, as he was putting his trust on Him, God was faithful to save Daniel from danger. God is the same today as He was in Daniel’s age! He is the same God that David testified about! He did not change, and He will never change! He will be the same throughout all eternity. We can trust that the same God that saved Daniel will save us in any adverse situation we may face because of our faith in Him. He NEVER fails!
Matthew 5:14-16 says: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”. LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE OTHERS! Do not hide your faith! Do not hide your identity in Christ! We should be like a light that reflects the character of God through who we are. Embrace that reality and let Him reach out to others through your life.
I pray for a strong sense of eternity in you, awakening you and bringing you boldness; I pray for actions in you driven by this sense of urgency of doing something! Have a life driven by eternity; and He will be faithful to conduct you towards the best outcome! Some people may reject you, but a lot of people are searching for salvation without knowing where to look for it! Let’s show them the Good News!