Aches and Praise Five Hundred & Five

May 14, 2021
 
 

Dear friends,

                                                                                                                                                           
A couple of nights ago, Karen and I started watching a movie called “Shades of Black” which portrays the life of Conrad Black. There was one sentence that brought to my mind a song from a bygone era. Black said to his lover that their child should have parents that are married. The song, written in 1955, included the following lines: “Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage” and “You can’t have one without the other.” A little more than a decade after Frank Sinatra recorded that song, many young adults decided that they preferred common-law relationships. If you completed the Canada census recently, you saw questions about gender and other matters that reflect our changing times.
 

In a Bible study last night on Zoom, friends and I looked at the life of Daniel, a prophet who is best remembered for being in a den with lions. Reading the sixth chapter of the book of Daniel, we discover several important facts about what happened, including the following:

Daniel was faithful. Verse 4:“So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.”

Daniel was fervent. Verse 10: “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in the upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.”

King Darius was displeased. Verse 14: “And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him.”

King Darius was decisive. Verse 16: “… But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, ‘Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.’”

Daniel was free. Verse 22: “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

King Darius was delighted. Verse 23: Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.”

Reading Daniel 6:17 reminded me of the resurrection of Jesus. A stone was laid on the mouth of the den, like the stone that was placed in front of the tomb where Jesus was laid (Matthew 27:60; Mark 16:4; Luke 24:2). One other thing that is often overlooked in this account is the fact that Daniel was elderly. He had outlived King Nebuchadnezzar and King Belshazzar. According to the notes in the Jeremiah Study Bible, Daniel was taken from Jerusalem to Babylon in 605 B.C. and the second world kingdom under King Darius and King Cyrus was established in 538 B.C. Adding at least 13 years (to allow for the fact that Daniel was a young man when taken captive – Daniel 1:4) to this interval of 67 years would give a total of at least 80 years.

Are you a senior? If you have placed your faith in the Lord, as Daniel did, you can take comfort in knowing that the Lord will always take care of you. If you are a believer in another age group, you also can rest in the assurance that God will never leave you or forsake you.

Scripture for the weekend: “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.” Psalm 34:15-17 (NKJV)

Thought for the weekend: “God’s love is as boundless as God himself. This is why the apostle Paul speaks of divine love as a reality that stretches to an immeasurable ‘breadth and length and height and depth (Eph. 3:18) – the only thing in the universe as immeasurable as that is God himself. God’s love is as expansive as God himself.” – Dane Ortlund (from his book “Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers” published by Crossway, Wheaton, IL)

 

By His grace,
 

Steve


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