In the book of Daniel, we all are familiar with his three friends who were thrown into the fiery furnace, and Daniel’s bout with the lions… but have you ever thought about how many times in Daniel’s life that he could have gotten offended at God? Right from chapter 1 he is taken from his family at an early age (possibly 15 years old) to an evil kingdom. We do not know the trauma of being ripped away from our family, culture, and religion and then forced to go somewhere you don’t want to go and get your name changed in order to honor a Babylonian idol! He had to fight against the anger and the injustice of what happened to him, and learn a completely different language and way of life in Babylon, while not knowing the fate of the family that he left. Yet he excelled and became great among them. WOW- this shows us a lot of different things, but one of them is HOW to posture your heart in a way that doesn’t easily get offended at the plans of God.
I do not want to base my relationship with God on circumstances.
How about when he was around 85 years old he continued praying even when his peers set in order a law that said if he did that he would be put in the den of the lions? Daniel just opened his window, and prayed to God anyways. Daniel had many choices in his life to take offense against his peers or the evil kings or even at God, but he remained steadfast and persevering in the midst of persecution. We usually let our circumstances cloud our perspective, but if you keep praying and believing and not letting the small offenses get you, like Daniel did, you will be old one day and you will be able to cry and smile when you pray. Let’s go for that!
-some thoughts from Bethany