fast day nine: Daniel 6

This is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. Every kid in Sunday School knows the Lions' Den. So assuming you all read it before you read this, let's start with something I wonder about. It gives no description of Daniel's arrest and when he is thrown in. So, do you think he pleaded and screamed, or just walked along and cooperated. Because of his character so far, I think he stayed cool as a cucumber. (Look at me dropping a veggie into the story.) But how? Would I do that? Do I?

To give some personal history, I used to be afraid of spiders and snakes. If the kids saw a spider in the house and dad wasn't home, they knew they had little chance of doing anything but watching it get away. And snakes? No matter how tiny or harmless I knew they were, they just totally made me lose it. Now sometime about a year ago, I noticed a difference. I just quit being afraid of them. If a spider violated my home, I just got a shoe, smashed it, and flushed it. Even if I could have managed to do that in the past, I would have been afraid later that it would crawl out and bite me on the butt. I've had less opportunity to test the snake thing, but the few I have had, not even a shiver. I wondered what else it applied to. All the other things I could think of that I have been afraid of, like dying and leaving my kids without a mom, or something bad happening to one of them, just don't make my heart race anymore either. Weird. I told my husband I thought I wasn't afraid of anything anymore, and we just observed for a few months to see if it was in fact true. Although I still startle when I'm surprised, I only feel surprise, not fear. Even so, a forced march to a notorious den of hungry lions?

I'm not sure why I quit being afraid of things. I have a hunch it has to do with faith though. You see, in some ways, fear and faith are opposing forces. Fear believes something bad will happen in the future, and faith believes that something good will happen. I think of the dad in Mark 9:24 who cries out, "I believe, help my unbelief!" His faith in Christ and his fear for his son's life were struggling against each other. In my case, I think a slowly surging faith that God is in control and that His plan is best just slowly overcame my fears.

Now don't think this is about, "Oh, great for Kendra, she's got a lot of faith." Think about Daniel and the challenges he faced. In a way, each one kind of built on the one before. And it was the trials and threats that he faced that built him up to the point that in his old age, he could take "the walk" without breaking a sweat. He was probably in his eighties by then and had survived a list of Godless kings. And although, I imagine he had great confidence that God would rescue him, I think he would also have to have a perfect peace that even if he died, that would be OK too. Kind of like what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said when they were faced with death.

His solid faith in God came from one more thing though besides his trials, Daniel knew God. Daniel prayed three times a day even when it was against the law. I hope you are spending your fast getting to know God better. I think the more we get to know Him, our only reasonable response is a growing faith. And I'd love to see a Church whose faith has outgrown its fears. I'd like His great love and mercy to be motivation enough. Because I sure don't want to wait to get to know him until I can smell lion breath.