Thinking about trust today... and one of my favorite characters in Scripture, Daniel.
Daniel didn’t suddenly find himself in a “sticky” situation and about to get thrown into a den full of starving lions. (Daniel 6)
It was years and years of small, tiny, right decisions that got him there!
That seems odd to say it like that, but he was there for a reason.
He was there - meaning his location - but also in his position, in his faith, and in his walk with his God.
Scripture tells us He purposed to do right after leaving his home and family. And by leaving, I mean rather being taken against his will when he could have been bitter, angry, stubborn, etc.
He prayed with his friends when the king was going to kill them for being Jews. He chose the right friends - ones who would lift him up in prayer and hold him accountable. Ones to whom he could come to with a problem and know they were there to help and walk with him. And ones who had trials of their own and stood strong without compromise.
He positioned himself before God in an open window as he always had in spite of the order to not worship his God. He wasn’t phased by the “peer pressure” of the leaders and rulers, who I’m sure he knew were out to get him if he slipped up. He didn’t give up nor hide his daily walk with God just because of the king’s (executive) order, knowing full well the consequence that was so clearly stated in that order.
After all the “testing” he experienced, he became stronger and stronger in his faith.
By the time he was being thrown into that den of lions, he had such strength and trust in God’s power, he was willing to accept whatever God’s outcome would be.
Complete trust!
I can only imagine there were perhaps some moments of fear in his mind as they brought him to that den. After all, he was human like me. But no king’s order, no amount of persuading, nothing could pull him away at that point from his total trust in His God.
I’ve made plenty of wrong little decisions in my life. But I’ve made right ones too.
I want that same trust that Daniel had (and many others in the Gospel, and even some that I respect and look up to today).
I want those small, right decisions, to affect the trajectory of my life the same way it did for Daniel. I don’t anticipate any lion dens in the future to be concerned about per se, but there will certainly be my own version of trials and persecution in our present day.
Will I stand strong in adversity? Will I have chosen the right friends to be around?
Trust matters. It is born and strengthened through faith.
This daily choice - even hourly at times - is fully my responsibility to choose.