Hello sweet friends,
Today’s Reading … Joel 1-3 and Daniel 1-9
Is there a dark chapter in your life, a story that you do not like to share, a topic whose mention makes you uncomfortable? I think that we all have that chapter, if we’re honest. The prophet Joel speaks to the people of Judah following such a time in their history. They have recently experienced an appalling famine, caused by an awful plague of locusts, followed by a prolonged drought, all of which devastated the land. Each of these calamities was caused by their sinfulness, their refusal to keep God first. The consequences were unspeakable and they were at a point of utter desperation.
And then…this is the moment when your dark chapter is broken into by the gracious and glorious light of Christ.
“Yet even now, declares the Lord, ‘Return to Me with all your heart…Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil” (Joel 212-13). The “and then” moment, the “but God” moment, the power and the grace, it is all in this moment. Israel was promised this moment and so are we. At any point in our darkest chapter, we can choose to return to God and He will forgive us and receive us into His ever loving arms. Not only that, there is more! “Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25a). God, in His grace will not only forgive the dark chapters of our history, he will redeem them! This does not mean an absence of consequence, the locust still happened. What is means is that God, in His supernatural power and wisdom will restore our hearts to Himself and in that restoration lies perfect healing and redemption of our souls. The ultimate gift.
Daniel was a true example of Keeping God first in all the moments and challenges of his life. From the moment of his exile to Babylon he remained true to the One true God. We are so familiar with the stories of Daniel in the Fiery Furnace and Daniel in the Lion’s Den. Let us pause for just a second today and realize the fear that Daniel might have felt. We know how these stories end, Daniel did not have this luxury!
What Daniel did know is that his life was in the hands of a trustworthy God. If God chose to leave him on the earth, so be it. If God chose to take him from this life, so be it. Daniel trusted God. We long for that kind of faith. I do wonder how Daniel felt in those life threatening moments. I have to believe that his heart sped up, perhaps he shed a tear. I think that is ok. Trusting God does not mean an absence of human emotion. The sin is not the emotion it is what we do with what we feel.
This is perhaps Daniel’s greatest example to us. He kept God first, before his own emotions. Whatever he was feeling was no match for his ultimate confidence in the goodness of His God. Let us pray for the strength to have this kind of faith. Not a faith that doesn’t feel, rather a faith that believes God in spite of our feelings. Emotions are not reality. God is. Emotions change. God does not. I pray that we feel all the emotions of this abundant life, all the while keeping God before them all in our hearts and minds. This is true victory in Christ!
Love you all,
Kinsee
“so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return empty, but accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”(Isaiah 55:11).
