Jody’s Devotionals

My Choice

…my flesh cry out for the living God… Psalm:84:2 (NIV)

My week started out talking about ‘flesh’ and how it’s a battle to direct my flesh in the right path!

God blessed me by reminding me of the step of faith that I took over 10 years ago and how that faith has grown. I also reflected this week on the roots of faith that my mother sewed as she taught me as a young child to pray.

I wept several times this week as I looked at the hope that I have …that I’ve been given in Jesus Christ! YES, I am unworthy! YES, I don’t deserve it! But God, my Father, gave His Son so that He could spend eternity with me! WOW!

I went to sleep last night thinking back how Jesus has been growing my trust in Him. He has stayed with me through some rocky paths. He has waited patiently even when I turned away in despair and frustration and, when I turned back around, He was there with open arms. That hug was GREAT!!!

Flesh is about making choices. God offers me so much to fill my mind and heart and spirit. He gives me gifts that multiply and multiply fruit, lots and lots of fruit!!! The more I accept and use the gifts – the more the fruit increases!

God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. Galatians 5:22-23 (CEV)

Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8 (CEV)

Enough said! BUT – this is what I have learned this week: Whenever I allow my flesh to drag me down and focus on the world and its sorrows and ‘no answers’ or ‘poor answers’ – pick my head up and look at JESUS! Pull out God’s Word – STOP and tune in to God’s voice – the voice of TRUTH! CHOOSE GOD! My next thought, my next step then comes along side of God. Then I stay on God’s true path. That is where I want to be!

Let us thank our Lord today for this great country He has blessed and continues to bless. May we turn more to Him as a nation. May be glorify Him as we reach out to others and come together in unity! Let us lift up our men and women in uniform both in the armed forces here and over seas and those who protect us across our country as police officers and fire fighters. God bless them every one! In Jesus’ name I pray…Amen.

Trust

In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? Psalm 56:4 (NIV)

Do you trust God? With how much do you trust Him? To trust someone is to rely on them with an assurance that comes from what you know about their character, their strength, and their truth. So how much I trust God is directly affected by how much I know about God! And it’s not a ‘theory’ of knowing but an actual ‘in practice’ of knowing!

Did you ever play that game where you are blindfolded and you are to fall backwards into someone’s arms? It is a test of trust. Military personnel, law enforcement, and firefighters must form bonds of trust in their company and between partners. They must know that when they go through the door or down an alley, the one next to them or behind them will be well-trained and willing to give all they have to protect them.

Going through life with Jesus is like that. I need a bond with Him. I have learned that going through a crisis situation with the assurance that He is with me so much better than going through a crisis looking for some assurance.

I am sure you can think of many who seem to walk with such trust in God. But most of them did not start at trust. They had to work their way UP to trust!

Esther – Most known for her heroic saving of her people by being obedient to be used “for a time such as this”. (Esther 4:14) Esther was snatched into captivity and was counseled and encouraged by her uncle, Mordecai, to respond with such boldness to the king, her husband, who had the power to kill her.

Joshua – Joshua is told over and over by God to “be strong and courageous” and to move on after the death of Moses. He listened to the Lord for himself and learned to hear God’s voice and be obedient to His voice. THEN the walls of Jericho fell down!

Peter – After denying Jesus three times and running away with the rest of the disciples, Peter, the little-educated fisherman, stands up in front of thousands of Jews and gives the first New Testament altar call! He became the Rock that Jesus saw! He trusted God.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Psalms 20:7 (NIV)

Are you willing to take another step closer to God and another step deeper in trust of God today? Is there something or someone in your life (even yourself!) that you just do not know what to do about? Have you been reading self-help books and advice columns, talked to your friends and asked their advice and still are unsure what to do? How is that option working for you? Give God your trust. He WILL NOT let you down! There is no magic formula. It is just letting go “of the way you’ve always done it” and letting God do the rest!

Come, Lord Jesus, come! Guide and direct me where You will! I trust you for all things and will forget not to thank and praise you when it is over.

Hope

…And the mystery is that Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of sharing in God’s glory.
Colossians 1:27 (CEV)

Why do we say that our hope is in Jesus Christ?

‘Hope’ is expecting a desire to be fulfilled. If I have ‘hope’, I am optimistic about my future. Before I accepted my need for a savior and that Jesus IS my Savior, I had only what I could see with my eyes. I had only this world and what it could give me. Frankly – if THIS is all that there is – I want a refund on my life!

• Gas prices are climbing – Vacation? Not happening. I want to move closer to my work to save money!

• War in several countries with young men and women making tremendous sacrifices, including their lives.

• Health care costs are climbing and insurance coverage is declining. Even those of us who have insurance have to figure out how to afford the co-pay.

• Violence is no longer something we see in wars and in movies or TV but it is in our workplace, our schools, and on our roads.

• Marriage is considered an ‘option’ for those in love and children with parents married to each other and leading lives to be imitated are rare.

Hope is what I see when I look at Jesus. Hope is what I know when I read God’s truth. Hope is what strengthens me when my world is shook with disease, death, and situations I cannot understand. Hope comes when I go to my knees.

Jesus, God Himself, came to this earth and took on the life that we have here. He walked. He slept on the ground. He was mocked by ignorant people. He put out His hands to help and people wanted to stone Him. He healed ten lepers and only one said, “Thanks”. Jesus came to my life, in this world, and walked so that I would have hope when I had to walk the same roads.

Paul speaks of hope to the Romans reminding them that hope is expecting something you cannot see. If you can see it, then you don’t hope for it! AND Jesus knew that we need help to hope and so He sent us His Spirit to strengthen us in our weakness. (Romans 8:18-39) Take a few minutes today and read (or re-read) that passage. Soak in the words and allow hope to grow inside of you.

In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge let me never be put to shame.
Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me.
Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men.
For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.
From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you. Psalm 71:1-6 (NIV)

Faith

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. Romans 1:8-12 (NIV)

Do you have faith? Do you have an allegiance to and belief in God?

I go to many baseball games and before each game there is the singing of our national anthem. Hundreds of people stand, put their hand over their heart, and look toward the flag that waves in the breeze, a symbol of our country and the beliefs that bring us together. Children still stand in classrooms and recite our country’s “Pledge of Allegiance” that proclaims that liberty and justice is for all!

Faith is believing in something that you cannot see. You cannot give it a number or lay it out like a scientific fact. My husband does a lot of ministry with people who profess to be atheists and agnostics. No matter the specific issue that sparks the discussion of Scripture and ancient history, Henry will say, at some point that belief in God is always going to involve a step of faith. There is no way to prove God.

Paul tells us that our faith is something to be “reported all over the world”. Certainly now, in the 21^st century, the joy and hope of our faith is something to be shared! I meet people every day that have no hope! They are going through financial difficulties, children in crisis, marriages in crisis, and watch the evening news and they have no hope because they do not know Jesus and the Good News. That is where we are to share, tell, and live our faith out!

Paul says that by encouraging each other in our walk of faith, we give each other a gift of strength. Remember how John says that we will overcome by our testimony? When we come together and tell each other our stories of faith, we grow spiritually.

Yesterday I was looking at the weakness of my flesh, which brings me to thinking about:

Go into any book store today and we can find shelves upon shelves of self-help books that profess to be able to tell us how to pull ourselves out of any difficulty, turn our lives around, and become ANYTHING we want to be. WE can do it! Hogwash! I went through college on my own. I didn’t count on God for anything. I drove myself through the next 20 years of my life and gave God only a once-a-week check-off, doing what was expected because some parenting books said it was a good idea to give my children a circle of ‘good’ friends that went to church. Yes, well that didn’t work too well for me.

It was making a decision to take a step of faith and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of my life that changed me and also changed my children. It was faith that brought my life to one of hope and joy that has nothing to do with circumstances but everything to do with God’s unconditional love.

My ‘flesh’

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Psalm 84:2 (NIV)

My ‘flesh’ is a subject that kept me up last night. The psalmist says that my flesh can cry out to God. No doubt! I have cried many times in my conversations with God. I have shook my fist and screamed at Him. My flesh has a lot of emotion in it!

My flesh has to do with my ego. Oh, yeah. Even those of us who ask God to wrap us in humility still have an ego! The reason I was awake last night was because I was going to do something today not because it was the right thing but because I wanted a group of people to like me. (sigh)

My flesh is also about what I can see with my natural eyes. It’s what I can figure out on my own. It’s relying on me and ignoring the One who has the true picture and the wisdom to know the path He has laid out for me.

My flesh is about focusing on the here and now instead of eternity. It’s being satisfied with instant gratification instead of looking for the joy that lasts with Kingdom work. Example:

My flesh is about sin. I am a human being in a fallen world. I am a descendant of Adam. I sin. I have ‘areas’ that I battle. Spending time with the Lord each day brings sin down and obedience up. I read the Scripture and learn from those before me. I read and hear God speak about His laws and His plan and love.

[God says,] “I will sprinkle clean water on you , and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”

Ezekiel 36:25-28 (NIV)

God has come into my heart. He took my heart of stone. It became stone through pain and listening to the world tell me – that it’s all about ME! That makes me cold and looking to my own interests. God changed my heart on a night in 1995. He gave me a fleshly heart so that He could mold it and put His Spirit into me. He put a complete heart into me. It was complete because it was a heart for Him. I yearn for Him. I cry out for Him.

By the way, if you wondered what happened last night: Once I got quiet and listened (!) and heard the truth of why I was going…I felt God’s peace. I asked God to forgive me. I received His forgiveness and His love…and slept well. (smile)

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Like Daniel, Joseph was a captive. He was sold by his brothers and ended up in Egypt. He was bought by the captain of Pharoah’s guard, Potiphar.

The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered… Genesis 39:2 (NIV)

Even though Joseph had nothing he could physically see that was ‘good’, he prospered. What does that mean? Reading on, it sounds like that if Joseph went to the market to buy groceries, he got great food at bargain prices. He had the Lord with him in such a tangible way that even Potiphar could see that Joseph was special and so he put him in charge of the household. If God is with you, guess who will try to ‘tempt’ you away from that way of life?

Potiphar’s wife was attracted to the handsome Joseph and tried to seduce him. She wasn’t subtle about it either! But Joseph knew where the origin of his success came. It was not from his own might and power. It was God working through him. He did not take that for granted. He refused the wife’s advances.

But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Genesis 39:8-9 (NIV)

The enemy was stopped and so he got mad and Potiphar’s wife through a fit and staged her own version of what was happening. Potiphar bought it. He sent Joseph to the dungeon. Joseph was, yet again, in prison. And, again, Joseph saw the hope he had.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. Genesis 39:20-21 (NIV)

Even in terrible, difficult, seemingly hopeless situations, God is there to bless me with His favor and power. I can stand when I have no strength within myself. It is there in my weakness that God becomes so POWERFUL and STRONG! In asking God to help me pick up my head and stop staring at the closed door or the gaping wound in my life, I can fill my eyes on the next step or the new opportunity or God’s compassionate eyes that heal and comfort me.

Joseph was pretty arrogant in his early years as he told his brothers and father in great detail about how they were going to bow to him. He did not seek wisdom and knowledge from God or his father to prepare himself from such a glorified position. Instead he wore his fancy multi-colored coat and continued to alienate his brothers. (who needed little help!)

By the ending of Joseph’s desert experience, we see him extending MUCH GRACE to his brothers just as he came to realize how much grace had already been given to him. Joseph assured his brothers that while they may have wanted to “harm” him, God was in charge and good came out of it: the saving of many lives.

May we look this weekend for ‘Kingdom Moments’ when God opens His hand and anoints us and opens opportunities for us to serve Him and receive His blessings even when we may feel like ‘captives’ in an alien land!

Abraham and Isaac

Genesis 22 begins with the sometimes troubling first verse: Some time later God tested Abraham. Genesis 22:1 (NIV) It can be disconcerting to think that our loving Father God will give us ‘tests’. However, without a ‘test’ it is difficult to determine if a student/child has really learned a lesson. So as we look at this test (better known as a story of Abraham and his son, Isaac) try not to think of Ms. Willabing your old Math teacher that gave you ‘pop quizzes’ on the day before Christmas holiday began and who you caught with a smile on her face while she did it! Test can be good things. Especially if you have a good Teacher!

God had greatly blessed Abraham with Isaac, his promised son. But too often as a parent, we can put too much of our happiness on our children. We live through our children, expecting their achievements and their life to make our life…happy! I believe that God was testing Abraham, making sure that Abraham was placing Isaac on a ‘god’ level, neglecting his worship of his LORD but instead worshipping the Lord’s gift.

Isaac was being raised by a parent who walked out his love and worship of the Lord right there in front of him. Isaac’s spiritual education was personal. It was real. I believe that is what this generation is wanting. And so when Isaac’s father told him that the sacrifice would be provided by God Himself, Isaac didn’t question that. I can’t wait to ask Isaac what went through his mind when he realized that he would be the sacrifice! (Remember that human sacrifice was very common in that time and place.)

Abraham did not understand the Lord ways in this. God fulfilled His promise of a son to Abraham and then told Abraham to sacrifice the son. But Abraham was obedient. Abraham had learned about the extravagant love of God through the priceless gift of Isaac. He trusted God.

[God said,] “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Genesis 22:12 (NIV)

In loving God, I have spent time with Him. I am learning who and what He is. I am learning about ‘holy fear’. I am not afraid of God. I acknowledge and ‘see’ in my spirit how powerful and all-consuming He is. This is hard to put into words. I do not fear my Heavenly Father as I feared my earthly father. But my Heavenly Father is able to do much more to me! (Luke 12:4-5) And so my obedience comes from love and holy fear.

Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 that I am to love God with ALL that I am. I am to love God as Abraham did – holding nothing – and no ONE – back! I am going to really step out today and ask – do you love God with ALL that you are? Including your children? Your spouse? Your parents? Do you trust God enough to give Him the one(s) you love most in this world? If you cannot say, “Yes” to that question, I hope you will wrestle with God about that now. I heard the question many years ago but did not deal with it until my own son was dying of cancer. I had prayed and prayed and prayed for God to heal him. Believed for it. Trusted God for it. Then came the day when I knew that God was asking for me to trust Him with a different answer. God is big enough to discuss and debate and wrestle with any question you have. If God asks: “Jody, will you love me – love me with ALL you have?” and my answer comes: “Yes, God, but…” then I need to spend time with Him about it now. Today. The victory is when you know you have taken a step closer to your Father and given that loved one into the hands of the One who loves that person even more!

David and Goliath

This may be the most famous Old Testament story. Israel was fighting the Philistines. They did that a lot during this part of history. Saul was king. He was a king who was afraid. He had disobeyed God (1 Samuel 15) and God had rejected him as king. David, son of Jesse, had now been anointed by God’s prophet, Samuel, to be king. David was not actively trying to overthrow Saul. He was waiting on God’s timing for that. That is a wise word for me! So Saul and his army are sitting on one hill and the Philistines are on the other with a valley between them. Every day, the Philistines’ best fighter, Goliath, would come out and shout insults at the Israelites. This nine foot soldier challenged them to send out someone brave enough to fight him. No one volunteered.

One day David came to check on his two older brothers who were part of the Israelite army. He heard Goliath’s taunts. He saw how everyone ran away in fear despite Saul’s promise to give great wealth and his daughter to the one who would fight the giant. He saw no one stepping forward. No one answered ‘the call’. It should be noted here that although David’s older brothers did not step up to fight – they were quick to criticize David and seemed to be jealous of him or afraid that David would embarrass them by failing! No help but willing to throw stones at their own brother! And what was David’s response?

“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

1 Samuel 17:26 (NIV, my emphasis)

David identified his enemy as a ‘zero’ in his estimation. This giant was NOTHING in David’s eyes. He had NO FEAR of this loud mouth Philistine! David also knew who would stand with him when he stepped into that valley with Goliath.

“The LORD who deliver me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:37 (NIV)

King Saul surprisingly to me said “OK. Let the kid go.” Guess he was desperate! The king even tried to give David his own armor. David found out quickly that Saul’s armor would not work for him. Now that will preach! I cannot go into battle every day and try to wear the faith of another. I must spend time with the Lord myself and allow the Holy Spirit to water the faith God has given me.

David walked into the valley with the assurance of who would win. His relationship, his intimacy with God was so strong that he knew the outcome before it began.

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” verse 47 (NIV, emphasis mine)

David knew that not only would Goliath be defeated but the entire Philistine army would bite the dust!!! I want that! I want to grab on to the strength and power of God and KNOW that there is no army or weapon that can defeat me! (Isaiah 54:17)

David defeated Goliath – with a sling and stone. That’s the story we usually tell. It is a story of faith and God’s love. It is a story of a boy who would be king and would defeat many armies – because he walked with his LORD.

Moses in a Basket on the Nile River

Exodus 2 begins with the birth of Moses. Moses begins as the son of a Levite, the priestly tribe of Israel. Moses’ life continues on for 3 more books or 137 more chapters! In Numbers 20 Moses disobeys God and the consequences are that he will not enter the Promised Land. Moses’ death is recorded in Deuteronomy 34.

Moses is hidden for the first three months of his life by his mother because Pharoah has decreed that all Israelite males are to be thrown in the Nile at birth and drowned. This was Pharoah’s idea of how to take care of the Israelite population explosion that he feared would result in a rebellion among the Hebrew slaves and the overthrow of his government. I don’t know how a woman can hide a newborn-3 month-old baby. I haven’t known any infants who were quiet enough to be invisible!

So Moses’ mother makes a waterproof wicker basket, puts her infant into it, and floats the basket into the Nile River. Rather ironic that Pharoah had used that same site for his method of infanticide!

Pharoah’s daughter finds Moses one day as she is doing her bathing ritual and decides to keep him as her own. Exodus 2:6 says that she knew he was Hebrew. Maybe he looked like a Hebrew. Maybe he had a cloth wrapped around him that identified his heritage. The daughter knew he was a slave child and yet she took him in as a son.

Exodus 2:11 says that Moses himself knew he was Hebrew and saw the slaves as “his own people”. As he saw how his “people” were treated, Moses felt the need to intervene. He killed a Hebrew overseer and fled to Midian, across the desert, and the rest—is history.

As I was reading, it was at this point that I thought, “How did all these things come to past?” “How did a baby survive in the Nile?” “How did it ‘happen’ that Pharoah’s daughter was able to keep a Hebrew infant and raise it as her own?” Maybe Jesus said it best:

“…With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 (NIV, my emphasis)

God looked at His children, oppressed by Pharoah, and answered their cries for freedom. He did it through a man, Moses, who grew up because God gave a miracle to protect the one He had chosen. Before I begin to think that Moses had no choice in this, I look at the story of Moses and the burning bush. Moses could have run away. Moses could have decided he was going to ignore this strange phenomenon. How could he do that when he knew the story of his deliverance in the Nile River in a basket?!!!

Moses had a choice when God called him and he argued long and hard. He argued with God long enough that God’s anger burned against him!!! (Exodus 3-4) God didn’t strike him dead. God gave him a partner…Aaron. God gives. God gives us what we need. All we have to do is say, “Yes”. God will do the rest. It is obedience that turns God’s head and touches His heart.

All things are possible with God. There is no prayer ‘good enough’ or number of people who gather that are ‘enough’. It is God’s love. It is God’s goodness that reaches out to His children and pours out blessings of opportunities to do for Him.

“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.

In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. Exodus 15:13 (NIV)

Take a step of faith today that you have been reluctant to take. Take a step toward God and let Him love you! ALL THINGS WITH GOD…ARE POSSIBLE!!!

Daniel in the Lion’s Den

This week God is speaking to me through some well-known Bible stories. Each day I will share one with you.

The story of Daniel in the lion’s den is often shared with young children to (I guess) build faith with the concept that God is able to save you from anything! It’s a good concept but today’s children may not be able to relate to being thrown in a lion’s den. Let’s consider what we can all learn from Daniel chapter 6.

Daniel was a captive. He was taken from his home in Jerusalem to Babylon. Did you know that Babylon is now Iraq? Think of being taken from your home as a captive, bound or in chains, and ending up in Iraq! Daniel didn’t sit in a prison there. He became an administrator for the king. Such a good administrator that other ‘politicians’ tried to slander him. They failed. How did that happen? Look at verse 4:

…the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Daniel 6:4 (NIV, my emphasis)

Daniel lived his faith in obedience to God. He did not present one side in public or when someone was looking, and show another side ‘under the table’ when he thought no one was looking. He knew God was always looking!

Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” Daniel 4:5 (NIV)

They thought they had found Daniel’s weakness. He was a man of faith in an unseen god. Has anyone ever suggested to you that “having faith in God is for weak-minded people”? I remember the night I made my commitment to Jesus and that I came to that place because relying on myself and my abilities and my wisdom for over 40 years really wasn’t working for me!!! Yes, I was weak. I decided to join up with Someone who was stronger and my CREATOR!!!

So the schemers manipulate the king by pandering to his ego and get him to issue a law that cannot be broken or changed that will force Daniel to choose: worship the king or worship God. What the schemers didn’t know was that it was a choice Daniel had made a long time ago and would never change! Daniel hears about the edict and immediately turns to his Lord in prayer. He knows his choice but he also knows that the choice will require strength to follow through the consequences of that choice.

There is a point where we can all relate. We know the right and wrong answer to choices about drugs, purity in relationships, finances, politics, being good stewards, even the stewardship of our time and service. Too often it’s choosing the ‘easy way’ or the less ‘different’ way. As I write this, I can think of daily choices that required such a simple choice that would please my Lord – and I didn’t. (sigh)

Now we see Daniel in the lion’s den. It’s a scary, disgusting way to be killed. Why did God allow it to happen? Why give Daniel such great favor in this enemy land and then allow him to be tossed into this pit? Because God’s ways aren’t our ways. Yes, that is a phrase that doesn’t always give such comfort and joy – but it is true. Look at some of the things that we do know that happened because of what God allowed:

1) The king changed. After sending Daniel to the den, Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. Daniel 6:18 (NIV) The king cared. His heart was changed. That’s something God can do and wants to do – change our hearts.

2) Justice occurred. Those who had conspired against Daniel ended up in the den after Daniel was released from the den. They didn’t come out alive! We don’t always see justice so clearly. We are promised this justice from Genesis to Revelation as God shows us that He is just and He does see.

3) The land changed. The king issues another law that the people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. (verse 26) and he goes on to testify to who God is. How does the king know who God is? He has seen God in Daniel. And there is where I catch a glimpse of what God sees with His eyes – the bigger picture. God does not have a ‘Plan B’. God’s plan is for us (for me) to testify with my life about who God is. That is what Daniel did…and still does.