then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that daniel be taken up out of the den. so daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. [daniel 6:23]
do you trust the word of God?
here in daniel 6:23 it says – no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. one could read this and believe that God’s word is saying – “if we trust God – we will be rescued from persecution.” however, God doesn’t promise a life exempt of harm if you trust him. matter of truth, 2 timothy 3:12 says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
so is God’s word contradicting itself here?
it is moments like these we can struggle with God’s word, his very living voice. is it trustworthy – or better said, is he trustworthy?
let’s examine these passages briefly.
in daniel we see a descriptive passage (it describes something about God or how he works.). in this case, it describes what rescue looks like. not how it works every time.
(and as pastor marc shared this past week – this story is a foreshadowing of how Jesus rescues us from the pit of sin and hell. it is a beautiful picture of the gospel work of Jesus revealing how great a Rescuer our God is. the hero of the story here is not daniel – but our God who rescues from impossible situations. and the hero of our salvation story is never us. we were impossibly, hopelessly separated from God in a pit of sin and death. unlike daniel, we were in a pit we deserved for our sin. but Jesus, a better daniel went into the pit for us and rescued us by taking our place. he did the impossible with you and i as well.)
2 timothy 3:12- is a prescriptive passage (it prescribes how something works every time). here a constant truth concerning persecution and the follower of Christ is revealed – you will be persecuted.
the word of God is not contradicting itself.
the word of God can be trusted!
the voice of God is trustworthy!
he is trustworthy!
God speaks through his word to us and he can always be trusted.
today,
stop and thank the Lord that his word is trustworthy,
stop and rejoice that his word is always true,
and stop and ask him for greater trust to believe and follow his word.
~ john ryan