As of writing, our nation and the world face so much uncertainty and it is only the first quarter. Believers walk by faith and not by sight; and if they are truly to grow deeper in faith and obedience, they must embrace the truth of God’s design in all its entirety. One of Billy Graham’s most famous sermon tackles why God allows (A) good things to happen to bad people and (B) bad things to happen to good people. Answering the whys, however, would not be taken up here; rather, this column shall focus more on the “what of it".
The lockdown is no respecter of age, profession, or social status, although we ought to be sensitive that some certainly do suffer more than us. A common experience we all have, however, is feeling a spiritual heaviness within as we face the obstacles without.
About the suddenness of storms while staying in the center of His will, I turn to specific stories of Daniel and Paul respectively (Daniel 6 and Acts 28). Both ARE men of excellence who strived to control their hungers and consequently reached greater heights. Daniel reached the position of governor while Paul was a missionary (believed to have written a third of the New Testament). As active in the ministry as they were, they were not exempted from the sudden storms of life. They both faced opposition after receiving great promotions in a foreign land. For ease of reading, salient points of similarity and differences are enumerated below:
1. While Daniel was plotted against by evil officials, Paul seemed to have been attacked by nature itself in the form of a sand viper. In the case of Daniel, the plot transpired over a period of time and it tested his conviction. For Paul, the viper’s bite was instantaneous and the people hardly knew who he was.
2. Daniel was found guilty as charged of worshipping a God other than King Darius himself, while the Malta natives were quick to conclude that Paul was a murderer punished by their goddess Justice. Interestingly enough, there was no mention in the Scripture about how they felt about being wrongfully judged. We, too, may experience condemnation especially during times when it is uncalled for. Judgements are always based on a standards (or raw prejudice at times). That is why it matters that we make our new standards submit to God’s everlasting standard. Paul, by the end of the story, was not shown saying anything against his doubters. Daniel, on the contrary, said the following:
2v.21 Daniel answered, “Your Majesty, I hope you live forever! v.22 My God knew that I was innocent, and he sent an angel to keep the lions from eating me. Your Majesty, I have never done anything to hurt you.” Contemporary English Version
When the Word of God is clear in a person's heart, they may be affected but not consumed by disheartening words motivated by selfish motives and not the desire to correct. For both Daniel and Paul, it was clear that they made time for prayer and communion with God.
3. An angel was sent for Daniel to stop the lions from harming him, but the snake (which was probably a sand viper) managed to bite him. A friend’s nephew once came to the conclusion that vipers are more dangerous because they might be too fast for them to be stopped by angels. It's worth noting, however, that while Paul was actually bitten, he was able to shake off the viper hanging in his hand and throw it into the fire. When God allowed Daniel to be thrown into the den, He was more than ready to send an angel. When God allowed a viper to bite into Paul’s hand, He was more than able to give Paul a supernatural immunity against its venom.
Have you experienced an overnight with lions too?--a moment wherein a threat (failure, difficulty, pain of rejection, dwindling finances, and the like) was staring straight at you? Did you recoil or did you ask the Lord of Host to be with you and shut the lion’s mouth? Without the Peace that guards a believer's heart, threats can be just as tormenting as actual obstacles. True enough, doctors warned of the perils of psychosomatic manifestations of fear and anxiety of a disease. The mind, which is the seat of conscience must not relinquish its control to insidious ideas of the world that lead to nothing but bitterness, pain, and fear. We can only imagine how both men stayed calm throughout their respective trials.
Daniel was never presented as fearful in the Scriptures. It was Darius who was restless.
“All night long the king could not sleep. He did not eat anything, and he would not let anyone come in to entertain him.” Daniel 6:18, CEV
After Paul shook off the viper, it was the people who were waiting with awe for the venom to kick in and for Paul to fall dead.
“The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.” Acts 28:6, CEV
4. These stories show that our stories of pain, vary from person to person or one period to another. All the same, we know that we are never abandoned by God when we go through trials. Every battle is valid, and no person has the right to invalidate how you feel about your own battles. A believer's role then is to decide how they should respond to God's call in the midst of darkness.
Peace enables us to respond while fear can only make us react in unhelpful ways, and in whatever difficult situation we are in, it must be clear to us that it is not our job to be the “author” of the story. This may sound fatalistic to some, but in truth, it is only when we are at peace with God that we can respond effectively. Had Daniel been daunted by the “punishment,” he would not have experienced God's presence in its fullness. Had Paul reacted frantically, the people would not have witnessed anything extraordinary.
5. In both stories, we hardly get any perspective of what was going on inside Daniel and Paul. Both stories focused on how their experiences ultimately brought greater glory to God in the end. When his name is glorified, God impresses a message to the witnesses around and transforms the life of an instrument of his from within. Daniel and Paul were elevated from glory to glory, day by day, trial by trial and triumph by triumph.
As for King Darius, he was so moved by how God protected Daniel that he said the following:
"v.26 I command everyone
in my kingdom
to worship and honor
the God of Daniel.
He is the living God,
the one who lives forever.
His power and his kingdom
will never end.
27 He rescues people
and sets them free
by working great miracles.
Daniel’s God has rescued him
from the power of the lions.”
Our walk shall be filled with obstacles and we must strive to see through the eyes of faith always.
Through the lives they lived, Daniel and Paul saw how God protects those whom He elects and harnesses opposition for the promotion of His followers. Crises should not be romanticized but they too must never blind us of the truth about God's mercy and grace.
In conclusion, allow me to share a story of a friend should have paid me a visit in Quezon if it were not for these sudden turns of events. Learning to float and swim in deep water for the first time was both terrifying and fulfilling for him. After kicking whilst holding on to the boat, he was made to stand at an edge. His dad pushed him from behind and into the open water—no goggles or floaters, just him kicking frantically feeling as though he was drifting farther from the boat. When he managed to relax and fix his posture, he also figured the rhythm of kicking needed to swim back to the boat. “Why did you let me drown?” he asked. To which his father replied, “I did not let you drown. You're here now. You were not really drowning, and I can tell it. You were learning how to swim. I could have thrown a rope and pulled you in, but I saw you were getting there—learning to float and swim.”
May we all find comfort in knowing that He is with us through it all and find His hand working wonders in our life as we trust and obey.
Story by Pamela Yu, Phoenix Batch 2013
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