Happy Monday! Hope that everyone had a lovely weekend. It was super rainy here. So, nothing interesting to report. We stayed indoors and enjoyed movie nights. I did spend some time in the kitchen with Moo experimenting on a few recipes. More about those later.
Anyways, Week 33 is down. We finished up the books of Ezekiel and Daniel and got started on Hosea. If you've never read the book of Daniel, I would suggest that you do. It's a book of reassurance that proves that when you are truly for God, no weapon or trickery from your enemies will prosper. Trust me. It seemed like every time Daniel turned around somebody was trying to betray him or frame him for something to cost him his life. However, God had his hand on Daniel and let no harm come to him.
The perfect example of this can be found in the story about Daniel in the Lion's Den in Daniel 6. You see Daniel had God's favor and it was definitely visible. This made a lot of the Chaldean governors and administrators jealous. They felt more than a bit threatened by Daniel's success and talents. So, they tricked King Darius into signing a decree saying that if anybody in the kingdom prayed or worshipped any other god or man besides King Darius that they would be thrown into the lion's den.
Well, of course they knew Daniel worshipped God. And they waited outside of his place and when they saw him praying they took him to the king to have him thrown in the lion's den. King Darius tried his hardest to make an exception to this decree for Daniel but the men had made King Darius promise to not go back on his word. So, off to the lion's den Daniel went.
King Darius had faith though and told Daniel that "Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you" (Daniel 6:16). And so, the king didn't sleep well that night worrying about his friend. He woke up early that next morning and went to see if God had indeed spared Daniel's life. To his relief and God's credit, Daniel was in fact still alive. Daniel was lifted up out of the lion's den and King Darius ordered the men who had set Daniel up to be thrown in the lion's den along with their entire families.
Afterwards, King Darius made the decree that "in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel" (Daniel 6:26). He had seen what God had done for Daniel and knew right then and there that there was only one true God! So, the next time you feel like your enemies have thrown you under the bus or into the "lion's den" just have faith that God is going to deliver you and protect you.
Week 34 Readings
8/19: Hosea 6-10
8/20: Hosea 11-14
8/21: Joel 1-2
8/22: Joel 3
8/23: Amos 1-2
8/24: Amos 3-6
8/25: Amos 7-9
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