"For He is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end." -- Daniel 6:26b
I was reading the story of Daniel in the lion's den with my children before their bedtime tonight and was struck by a simple question to which the answer has left me humbled.
Who do I really expect God to be? In my journey with Him, do I look to Him soley for my protection, or do I look to Him to be my God?
God my Protector is who I most often present to my children -- who I most often relate to the rest of the world ... who I most often cry out to in my life.
He is, after all, the God that delivered the Israelites out of captivity time and again. The God that could divide the deep water, blaze from the core of the pillar of cloud and open the up the very earth to swallow the evil of rebellion.
He is the God that walked with His faithful in the midst of the fiery furnace. The God that insulated his apostle from a roiling cauldron of oil, and led his captive disciples out of the chains of a death sentence.
He is the God that shut the mouths of ravenous lions to spare one who would not bow a knee to mere man.
Certainly, He is God the Protector.
But He is also the God that allowed his servants to bear the cross, the blade, the saw, the whip and the stone in His name.
But they were rescured all the more -- taken out of this sinful world, parted with this flesh that we all struggle with and ushered into everlasting rest.
What struck me, as I read with my children of Daniel, is that when I present God simply as earthly protector, I fail to present the entirety of Jesus our Savior and what His work has provided for us.
God acts within His perfect will. That is the one true consistency we can present in our witness. His will is not only supreme, but it is His will.
Regardless of the earthly fate of His servants, His will has always been aimed toward presenting His love, His Glory to an unbelieving world -- literally throwing wide open the gates of Heaven and building a bridge between mankind and the very throne of God.
In the case of Daniel, it is King Darius who comes away decreeing of God that "He rescues and He saves; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." (ch. 6:27)
Indeed, God is mighty to save.
But don't miss the flip side, as the Roman Centurion gazes upon the lifeless body of our Savior and Redeemer hanging on the cross and exclaims, "Surely, this man was the Son of God."
Indeed, God is mighty to save.
Whether in life, or in death, it is Darius first words listed above that hold most true. "For He is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end."
Our time on this planet is terminally temporary. We are carried, comforted and strengthened throughout by the hand of a mighty God. He is our protector.
But, more than that, He is our Father. His ultimate desire is to bring us home, where our spirit does not perish and where moth and rust cannot destroy.
May we be ever ready to let Him act in His timing, in such a way that would point as many as He sees fit toward Him.
"When he (Darius) came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?'" -- Daniel 6:20
You see, even if Darius had been met with Daniel's lifeless body, the answer to his question would still have been yes.
The answer is the same today.
He is the living God. And He endures forever.
