There are many stories in the Bible of individuals that maybe asked this question at some point in their life "Where are you God?" For instants Daniel, he was praying and worshiping God as he should. Not causing and harm to anyone just doing what God wanted. While the king was being convinced to make a law saying no one should worship any god or man except him for thirty days. If they did the punishment was to throw them into the den of lions. The king didn't stop to think about the people that prayed to The True God. The words sound great to his ears so it was signed as a law. We should hold on before we get ready to cast stones at his decision. How you like for thirty days that people could only say great and wonderful things about you? That sound pretty good to my ears. I might not have given it a lot of thought if I was in his shoes. Until a problem came along and that is just what happened with the king. His problem was Daniel because he continued to pray to The True God. These men that tricked the king kept a close eye on him knowing he would continue to pray. When he did they made a bee line to the king to give the report. When they approached the king and told him that Daniel was still praying the king was taken by surprise. I can see the kings' mouth dropping open as he wondered what in the world had he done. He knew the law was binding and could not be broken. Now what? He took the rest of the day to think about it but in the end he had to give the order to put Daniel in the den with the hungry lions. The Bible doesn't record Daniel saying a word. But I'm sure if it was me I would have plenty to say. I would have probably pleaded with him to rethink what he was doing. I would have explained that I was only praying to God like I have done since I was a child. I would have said it in earnest as I was trying to save my life. But the king had to follow through with the law, no matter how sad he felt. Daniel was put in the den with the hungry lions for the night, and the king had a restless night. The next morning the king hurried to the den to find Daniel safe and sound. What a relief he must have felt. This is a great story of God taking care of His servant Daniel. Even when the odds were greatly against him coming out alive, God stepped in and protected him from even being a little snack for the hungry lions. Can we trust Him to take care of us? There is much more to the story than I have taken time to write but you can read the full story in Daniel chapter six.
Merv Rosell says "God could have kept Daniel out of the lion's den. But God has never promised to keep us out of hard places. What He promised is to go with us through every hard place, and bring us through victoriously."
I am left with the question how will I handle the hard situations life hands me? Will I go into it screaming and yelling or will I say where are you God? Then stop trusting Him if I am not immediately delivered from them. It is human to ask where God is during times that are hard or ones we don't understand. The sad thing is we sometimes stop trusting God because it just doesn't seem right that we should have to face such difficulties. We should never stop trusting Him. We should ask Him to help us through them, and then thank Him for doing so. Where was He for Daniel? He was right by his side protecting him. Where is He in our hard times? He is right by our side protecting and guiding us as well. Have a great day allowing God to protect and guide you through your hard times of life.
