Daniel: Forward by Faith (Daniel 6)

I have just a short blog today and I'm getting to it late so there won't be much chit chat before or after. Tomorrow's blog is up in the air. Unless I wake up earlier than usual (which is a distinct possibility) I may not get the chance to blog. Michael's neck has been just killing him so he was able to snag an appointment tomorrow at 1:30. I don't know what they can do for him but keep your fingers crossed that he can get some kind of relief from his pain. We believe it's just arthritis in his neck but he's really been suffering with it for quite some time. He's occasionally been in a neck support or brace but that doesn't help when it gets really bad. He thinks if he just had some good muscle relaxers (like Soma) he wouldn't be hurting as much. He complains about his various aches and pains constantly but he doesn't very often say he's going to go see his doctor and get some relief, so when he says he's going to call and make an appointment then I know he's in megapain. That takes care of our visit over on Saturday that we had sorta planned. But, like I told him, his neck is more important than visiting sisters and brother-in-law. We will go by WalMart either before or after his appointment so we can get our shopping done. Hopefully!!! We can't ever go to do our WalMart shopping and find everything we need. There's always a few things that they're out of. So anyway that's our plans for tomorrow and really that works out best because we were only playing around with a couple hours on Saturday to do the shopping and visit. We'll do it again though. Maybe we can do the November shopping trip on the 3rd and do some visiting at that time too. Our 24-hour prayer vigil is causing a lot of problems for me all of a sudden. I'm supposed to be down at the church from about 2:00 to 7:00 or 8:00 tomorrow so guess I'll have to walk down to the church (no biggie!) and then he will just have to come and get me when I get a break at 4:00. After that, I'll have the car. He'll have to do the shopping by himself but there were only a few things anyway. I just hate to see him wrestling that bag of cat food and boxes of Cat Litter. And rats! I wanted to get some long knitting needles so I can work on slippers but I doubt Michael will want to do that. Well, I'll ask. Maybe he wouldn't mind. It's not really so much that he wouldn't want to do it for me, it's just that he'll probably be afraid of getting the wrong ones and I'm leery about that too but I can always take them back when we go to do our November shopping. I can't believe it's almost November!!!

On to my blog for the day...

When we look at the book of Daniel, it's best to look at the "big picture." The various events and reactions should be interpreted as parts of a single story about his great trust in the Lord. By the time we was thrown into the lions' den, the prophet had come so far in his faith journey that the prospects didn't even phase him.

Daniel's roots of unshakable faith began years earlier with his parents, who undoubtedly related and interpreted many biblical stories to him. He personally witnessed the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecies concerning the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon. From these experiences, Daniel no doubt learned that God can be counted on to keep His word, and will respond faithfully to all who obey Him and He will discipline those who don't.

When it came time for Daniel, then a young Hebrew, to exercise his faith, he already knew what he would do: he would obey God regardless of the consequences, Shortly after his relocation to Babylon, Daniel made up his mind not to eat the king's food, which had previously been offered to idols and therefore violated Scripture (Ex 34:15).

God, ever the great Shepherd, herded Daniel safely through that difficult experience and many others where his life or his position were at risk. Each time the prophet made up his mind to obey God and released any doubt. He withstood the challenge while giving God the glory.

Daniel consistently moved forward by faith until his commitment to God's way was unshakable. Our faith develops in the same way ... it grows slowly and consistently as we take one obedient step after another. Then we step back and watch God's reliability to answer our prayers and we grow increasingly dependent upon Him until we have a strong personal history of His trustworthiness. God never fails and slowly we begin to trust Him even when we can't see or understand what He's doing or where He's leading us. I will say it again: God never fails. And write this down: God never makes mistakes!

God is faithful. He can be counted on to keep His side of the bargain. He is trustworthy. If He says something will come to pass, it will come to pass. He never speaks untruths or deceitful lies. He is totally reliable. This is Daniel's message for us today. When we say we are going to do something, there are all kinds of problems that can come up when it comes time for us to do it. We meant it with all our hearts when we said it but something comes up and changes things. When God says something, He means it when He says it and He means it when it comes to pass. He is totally reliable and can be trusted to do what He says He will do. And over time, as we see how trustworthy He is, our faith in Him grows slowly and consistently. It is good to read God's history because it causes our faith in Him to grow. It's good to read God's history because it firms up our beliefs that all things are not in vain. There is a purpose and a direction for all things. We can see these principles working themselves out and firming up our knowledge of Him in the story of Daniel's life. There are countless stories in the Old Testament that we can use as proof of God's deliverance and dependability. While we may be under a New Testament during our history, all the old stories of God's relationship with Man never become old. We can always use them to build our trust in God.

Well, I told you it was only going to be a short blog today and remember that tomorrow's blog is pretty iffy. We'll just have to play it by ear and see how things work out but this is it for today. I'll write again when I can. Keep Skatemama in your prayers and Betty too. And it wouldn't hurt to keep Michael in your prayers either. Pray that he might find a little relief from his neck pain. Also remember my mood in your prayers too. I hate being in a bad mood. It just ruins the entire day! And that gets old really quickly. Also, we had a pretty good turnout for our PraiseMoves class last night and I would appreciate it if you could pray for our class that it might grow and make it well worth Jenn's time for holding the class. It's a marvelous way to keep in shape while praising God and letting His energy flow through you.