God has a good purpose

Daniel 6:25-27 (NLT)
25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly! 26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed,    his dominion will never end. 27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Daniel was favored by many, including the King. King Darius sought to promote Daniel above the other administrators, but the others laid a trap for Daniel. They knew Daniel always prayed to God three times a day. So the administrators made a resolution that anyone who prayed to anyone except the king should be thrown into the lion’s den. They got the King to make the proclamation and then they told the King that Daniel had violated the proclamation. The King word was law and Daniel was punished according to law. The above verses are the result of Daniel’s obedience to God.

 

 In Dennis Rainey's book Stepping Up, he tells the story about the short life of his granddaughter Molly. Born with a brain aneurism, Molly lived only seven days. As difficult as those seven days were, Molly's parents and grandparents held firmly to their trust in God, confident that they will see Molly again in the age to come. Rainey concludes the chapter of Molly's story with this memory: A number of years ago, [my wife] Barbara and I were vacationing in southwest England and stumbled upon the little town of Saint Buryan, a crossroad in the country with a pub, a decaying church, and a graveyard. We stopped and read a few of the gravestones. One that was barely legible commemorated a family that lived in the 1600s. Buried beneath the stone were the mother, who gave birth to a son and died just ten days later at the age of twenty-four; her son, who lived thirteen months; and the father, who died a few days later at age twenty-five. The faded words on that weathered limestone grave marker moved us so deeply that today they are etched on Molly's headstone: We cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see - But all is well that's done by Thee.

I am sure Daniel didn’t fully understand why he was being thrown into the lion’s den, but Daniel did trust God and knew God had a reason. We see the end result the next morning after the lions have not touched Daniel. The King shows fear and reverence for God and proclaims God is the living God. We might not always know what God is doing in our lives. We may lose our jobs. We may lose those precious to us. We may suffer in pain. But know all is well that is done by God for He has a good purpose in mind.