Forced Into Faith

“Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.” (Da 2:16-18 AV)

Sometimes, we are forced into circumstances when we can do nothing else but trust the LORD.  These times are frequent, and are often the times when God works His most dramatic miracles.  Daniel didn’t have a choice here.  It was either trust the LORD with an answer, or die with the rest of the heathen wise men.  The tragedy would not be his death.  Rather, the tragedy would be that the God of Israel would have been seen no different than the false gods of the pagan magicians.  When Nebby (because I cannot spell his full name) decreed all the wise men, magicians, and astrologers be killed, this included the wise men of Israel.  Nebby assumed that if the wise men of pagan nations couldn’t reveal and interpret dreams, then no god could.  Even the God of gods.  The one true God.  The only wise God and potentate.  So, Daniel had no choice but to trust the LORD, take a chance, and seek to save his life as well as the lives of all the wise men.  In the end, his goal was to glorify his and our God!

Living by faith is not for the faint of heart.  But it is that which is required in order to please God.  Hebrews chapter eleven and verse six tells us directly that the only way to please God is by faith.  That doesn’t make faith any easier.  Faith is that which sets us apart from all of God’s creation.  Mankind, and mankind only, possess the ability and circumstances to trust by faith.  No other creature possesses this ability.  We have reason, we have the light of God’s existence, and we have a moral code written on our hearts.  We have the evidence to accept what we cannot see.  Accepting what we cannot see, we place our trust in it and order our lives by it.  This is reasoned faith.  However, faith must be tested in order for it to grow.  Testing faith, or as the Bible says, proving faith, requires circumstances where we have no other choice but to trust.  Once submitted to, this can be one the most sublime experiences a believer can experience.

I know this example pales in comparison to what others may have experienced, but it does go to show how letting go of worries and anxieties when there isn’t anything we can do about our situation, rests in faith.  A few years ago, I had surgery.  It was only the second time in my life that I had gone under general anesthesia.  I crazy thought went through my head.  If anything goes wrong during surgery, the only way I am going to know is if the next thing I see is the glory of Jesus Christ as I enter the gates of pearl.  I won’t feel a thing!  What a piece of mind that was. I couldn’t do anything about my situation.  I was totally at the mercy of the doctor and the skills of his staff.  May as well trust the LORD.  The reason we get anxious is we feel we are losing control.  The problem is, we never really had it to begin with.  It is all in the hands of God so we might as well sit back and let God show Himself strong!