How Will You Respond to Tests?

Day 190: Daniel 5-8

Just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego resisted temptation and stayed faithful to God, in this passage Daniel does the same thing. He does not follow King Darius' edict and bow down to him. Instead, three times a day he goes to his room, gets down on his knees, and gives thanks to God, just as he had been doing before the edict was passed. And even though King Darius wanted to rescue Daniel, he instead had him thrown into a den of lions. But God protected Daniel. He shut the mouths of the lions and not harm came to Daniel. And what happened next? Darius threw the men who had falsely accused Daniel and their families, including women and children, into the lion's den. They were immediately eaten up and killed. The king then issued an order saying that everyone should fear and reverence the God of Daniel. What an amazing story of faith and trust in God.

Every day we are faced with the decision to trust God or to not. We may not realize it, but this decision is a common one for us. Bad things happen to us. People can be mean and hurtful to us. Temptation can knock on our doors. We can get into fights with our spouse or our children. We sin. We experience pain and suffering, even death. Each day we must ask ourselves the question of how will we respond. Will we trust God, or will we look out for ourselves and our own self-interests? The men in Daniel chose to trust God. They put their faith in Him and were not shaken. And interestingly enough, they were rewarded for it. They did not get eaten up by lions or burned up in a fire. Instead, they lived. And they were even promoted in the earthly kingdoms in which they lived. They also were witnesses to others, both times leading a king to come to know and believe in the one true God.

Today, we experience God in different ways than they did. We are not often--at least in America--sentenced to death for believing in God. However, we are like the people in the OT in that we are daily confronted with whether we will live a selfish life--one that looks only to our self-interests--or an unselfish one that trusts God and puts our lives in his hand. As we go about our days, look for those moments when you are called to make a decision about something. How will you respond? What will you do? Will you respond like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Or will you choose to trust yourself and others instead? How will you experience God and show Him that you trust Him with all that is in you, even if it means death at the hands of others?