What if God Doesn't Answer? // Hala Zananiri

Let's pray before you sit down.

Um, Father God, we thank you this morning.

We thank you, Lord, for your presence here today.

We thank you, Lord, that um we're here because of you.

And I thank you for each person here today.

We thank you for your word, and we invite you to speak to us by your Holy Spirit.

We thank you that your word is life, and you came, Lord, that you will heal the brokenhearted, set the captives free, and those who are in prison.

And we desire, Lord, to be transformed by your word today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You can be seated.

That's exciting, the three services.

I was sitting there thinking, which service I want to come to.

Maybe all of them.

If you're serving, you come to more than one.

Um, but um, you know, we've been going through a series um this whole year from the Old Testament.

Uh, and the last one is David to the exile.

Uh, Pastor David last week he talked about lamentation.

So now we're at exile.

And I just want to give you a little background so we know where we're at.

So there were 12 tribes of Israel, so they were divided into two kingdoms, the north and the south.

So the north was called Israel, and the south was called Judah.

So most of the kings of the north were actually evil.

And, you know, we we went through that like throughout the year.

Uh, and the south had less evil kings.

So that's what happened.

God sent prophets throughout the whole time warning them, you know, if you keep worshiping any other gods other than me, uh, that you're gonna be sent captive to another land and you'll be taken by the enemies.

The amazing thing, I always think about that story, because I always think, have you ever been like where you had a paper for your college that was due tomorrow and you haven't touched it yet, or you have a job interview and you missed the alarm and you didn't show up, and you you missed the opportunity.

I don't know if you've had that happen to you, but where like, or the paper you you asked the professor for extension, or like forget it, and then you had to actually redo the class or uh something of that sort.

But to me, I'm always amazed of the heart of God.

I mean, even like I was trying to get like even how many years God actually warned them, and Pastor David talked about this last week.

I mean, Jeremiah for 40 years, he was just warning the people, don't worship any other God.

It was, you know, idolatry is worshiping another God other than the living God, which that word sometimes we think, oh, well, we don't worship another idol.

But idolatry can be anything that's uh worshiping that that takes our heart, and you know, could be money, could be job, could be career, could be sex, could be relationship, could be all sorts of ways where it's it takes a priority over worshiping him.

So the Jeremiah warned for 40 years, then we had Zephaniah, all these prophets, you see them in the books in the Old Testament.

Some of them, their mission, that was their whole mission.

Can you imagine having a job like that?

We're like, that's your mission for 40 years, just to warn the people, to give them a chance.

And then before that, we had Isaiah, and then many, many centuries before that, is like we go all the way back to Moses and Deuteronomy 28.

So I'm always like, wow, why do people keep saying that the Old Testament is harsh?

God is so merciful.

Like, you know, if if we were God, we probably like, you know, three times you're out.

Like we wouldn't give them any chances.

Nobody really gives them many chances.

Um, so that to me, like, always a background in in my understanding to this, because it's just ministers to me a lot.

I'm like, thank you, Lord.

Because his heart was even when they were sent to captivity, so the north, which is Israel, Assyria came and took over, took them away, and then the south, which is Judah, the Babylonian came and took them to Babylon.

And that's where the story lands today at the book of Daniel.

So Daniel was one of the ones who was taken to Babylon because of that.

So, you know, one thing I thought of, I mean, Daniel may have been innocent and like, well, he was young, like so, you know, sometimes I think sometimes we like we don't think of a community thinking.

We think, well, my decisions affect me only.

I feel like the decisions of a nation, of people, of families, many times affect many people.

So these were young men uh that were taken captive to Babylon.

So there were three um, you're like, well, I don't want to know all this history, but that helps you lay kind of the background to the story.

There were three invasions by Babylon, and Daniel was taken in the first one.

Um, so if we can go to Daniel chapter 1, um verse 5.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

So they they took these young men and they they were supposed to eat and drink the food of the king for three years, then show themselves before the king.

Um so the Daniel 1, 5, it says the king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank.

They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.

Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.

So verse 8.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank.

Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

I love that word resolved.

Actually, this morning when I woke up, I was thinking even more about it.

So the word resolved, and it could be different words in your in your different translations, but in the Hebrew it means to purpose in your mind and your heart.

So he made up his mind, he won't be defiled.

Do do we make up our mind when we go into situations, or we just wait and kind of go with whatever happens?

Because that's how he could, that's how he did not compromise.

He actually made up his mind.

He purposed, he will not be defiled.

And so you might think, well, what's the big deal with the king's food and wine?

What's what was that about?

So there's different reasons why he wouldn't eat it, but one thing in history, it tells you that the Babylonian, any food that was given to the kings uh and from the king's table actually was first uh given to idols.

So that food was was kind of placed to worship idols and was given to them.

So he would not defile himself.

And I and that decision, but the Lord gave him favor.

You know, you have to make up your mind first, not like go in a situation, then decide if you're gonna compromise or not.

He made up his mind.

He was and he didn't even know what the outcome could be.

Like many times we want to see what the outcome is before we decide, well, if I can get away with it or not get away with it.

I mean, here he's in Babylon, he could really, nobody knows him there.

I mean, do we compromise when nobody sees us, or we think, well, nobody will know.

I mean, no, like nobody will know what I do, but actually God does.

And here, I feel like every turn, wherever he took a stand, God actually blessed him.

Like here, he gives them favor.

He said, Okay, he told them, uh, eat your food and your drink, and we'll check in 10 days.

So they checked back in 10 days, and they were healthier than all the other people who were eating the king's food and wine.

Um, so it he it was it was more about, it wasn't even if you think about it, it wasn't about the food and drink, it's about his stance not to compromise.

Like he's in Babylon.

Like I was when I think of that, I'm like, he's in a foreign land, they're young, they're 15, 17, maybe, age.

That's a very young, young man to actually kind of take that stance.

But that's that's just a blessing how he did that.

And the result was um Daniel 1.20.

It says they were found 10 times better than all the magicians and the enchanters that were in all his kingdom, and God, you know, that so it's just wonderful when he took a stance.

I always wonder, um, I don't know if you go back to times in your life where you felt like um you were pushed to compromise.

And and the one thing I like, Daniel had friends that were like him, that actually stood like him.

I think it's important the company we keep, because many times we um we're just in the wrong group of people.

Those people don't want to honor God.

And they're actually, and even if you're trying to resolve, you have that pressure.

I mean, peer pressure is real now, social media, all that.

We, you know, I I um always think that sometimes we because we want to, we're in a culture where we have to please people.

But when it comes to our life and eternity and and being in right relationship with God, some things we have to cut off our out of our life.

They may be hard, but to me, I want to have friends like that.

I want to have friends actually that would tell me when I'm trying to veer off, oh, hold up, no, no, you're making the wrong decision.

Or if I don't have that strength like Daniel to resolve that word, like I woke up at five thinking about that word.

I'm like, he resolved, he just made up his mind.

He like, it wasn't like, oh, change me, convince me, influence me, you know.

And we've all been there, we've been places maybe we did not have that resolve, but this is what God is inviting us to this morning.

Um, and then you know, the story, one thing about the when you read the Bible and all in actually in the whole Bible, when you go from a chapter to another, it doesn't mean immediately it happened.

This and it helps you to know, like sometimes years happen between a chapter and another, because we think they happened in sequence, and that's not the case.

And I was actually even trying to figure out how much time passed between an event and another, and I thought, wow, like that speaks more to me because I realized this person still continued to be the same way they were, like 10 years ago, then 15.

It's like somehow that faithfulness was was continuous in their life, and I want I want to be that way.

I really want uh that so um so then then we move on.

Um so the second chapter talks about the dream of Nebuchadnezzar Nazar.

Uh so two main um, they were uh in the Bible, they were kind of two big dreams, and the thing about it, God gave them to heathen rulers.

The first one was a big one, was uh you remember the Pharaoh and Joseph?

That was a big dream, and God, in even in that opportunity, he invited uh Joseph to be instrumental in that to bring glory.

And then here we have Daniel.

So Nebuchadnezzar Nazar, he was like, somebody needs to tell me what the dream is and the interpretation, both.

Can you imagine somebody to tell you, read my mind and translate it?

So these magicians really have no power, so they were like scared, they couldn't do it.

And uh Daniel chapter 2, verse 16.

Daniel 2:16

Um, I'll I I mean he kind of Daniel here we see Daniel stepping in boldness.

So it says, and Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time that he might show the interpretation to the king.

He stepped in boldness, said, Well, just give me time so I can tell you what the dream is.

Well, that's bold.

What if he doesn't get it?

You know, you know, in our Christian walk, I think we need to come out of that uh place of um being not scared, maybe that's not the right word, being timid.

We're timid to step out, we're timid to serve God, we're afraid to talk to people on the job.

We somehow we we're we're living under these rules of the word, not God's rules.

Because the rules of the word, like don't offend somebody, don't tell somebody the truth.

If you're telling the truth, you know, just fix it, make it like sound like applicable to everybody, change the wording.

This is not God.

Here, I mean, we see in the word of God, I mean, obviously everything has to be done with love, but here we see a man who steps out in boldness, say, just give me time, I'm gonna tell you what it is.

Can you imagine if he comes with the wrong thing?

I'm thinking his head will be chopped off for real.

He was gonna kill them all.

So he goes, what does he do?

He asks his buddies, the buddies we talk about that you need to have in your life, to pray about it.

That's why I love life groups, that we can, you know, have a community to pray together.

You know, we we have to the church is the community.

That's why I mean I talk to people sometimes, even at work, and when I find out like they they don't have that, and I'm like, well, that's what we need the church.

There's people who don't go to church, but that's where you are not lonely because you have that community.

You have people who can pray with you, pray for you.

Uh, we have text groups that we pray for each other throughout the week.

I mean, it's beautiful.

And here he goes to the house and made the matter known to his friends and told them to seek mercy from the Lord so that nobody will be destroyed because the the king was gonna destroy everybody.

So, God, what does God do?

He gives him the dream, he tells him what the dream and what it meant.

So he goes back to Nebuchadnezzar Nazar, and um I'm probably saying that word wrong.

Um, but uh you know these names are not English, so you can say them, you know, kind of anyway.

Sometimes I listen to the Bible on on tape because I want to make sure I'm saying the words wrong right, but then I could read in another language and they're different, so you know, so so Daniel chapter 2, verse 27.

Daniel 2:27

Daniel answered the king and said, he said, No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers, astrologers can show to the king the mystery uh that the king has asked.

But there's a God in heaven who reveals mysteries and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Honestly, to even say, like he comes in boldness and he gives the glory to God to even acknowledge that it's another God, not you.

That's a big step.

But he's like, you know what?

And in I to me, like when you live, one thing that the Bible says that eunuchs were in charge of them.

And it doesn't say that in the Bible, but in history, anybody who served in the Babylonian kingdoms, they had to be eunuchs.

And there was a prophecy uh by Ezekiel that eunuchs would be taken from Judah, but we don't know that for sure.

But then I thought about it, if Daniel was made eunuch to serve in Babylon, that means he wouldn't have prospect of marriage or children, but we don't know that for sure.

But if he did, like he he still was faithful to God, no matter that he couldn't have this and this and that, a normal even life like any other person.

So, but he he's like like he kind of set his face like the Bible says when you set your face like a flint, like you just determine this is the life I want to live, this is the faithfulness, I want to be faithful to you.

So he interprets a dream and uh he gives him, he tells him the dream and interprets the dream, and it was accurate.

And at the end, what's a good result from his obedience?

The king said, Your God is definitely the God of.

I love how the king says, Truly, your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings.

I mean, he's he's a heathen, but he's professing that truly your God is the God.

And then he gave him high honors and many gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon.

And then Daniel's like, what about my friends?

And the friends were also given positions.

I like that he didn't forget about his friends.

Can you imagine what a wonderful thing to have him and his friend ruling in a heathen nation where they can make an influence and be godly example?

So sometimes we we shy away from um from being in places of influence when that is the very good place to be in, you know.

We don't because we're not meant to be hiding in the corners.

Jesus said, You are the light of the world.

So I'm not sure the light only lights when it's you know not under cover.

You know, so sometimes I don't know why we think we have to hide.

I remember a few years ago, I forget what was going on, and people were building banks to go hide somewhere, uh, you know, because of end times or fear.

And and I when I thought of that, I'm like, we're supposed to be the light.

We're supposed, the word needs to be to be in contact with us, not us hiding.

If it's at the work job, if it's at the school, like you know, our light needs to shine.

And here Daniel was was truly shining his light and uh everywhere he went.

Um, and then he like you know, we kind of move on uh in the in the story.

So chapter three, um actually, believe it or not, it's like 15 years later, or me even more.

So, see the time is going on, and then we have Nebuchadnezzar, he builds a huge golden image made out of gold.

Can you imagine with today's gold how much that cost?

It's a lot.

So, and then they but they said everybody has to bow down and worship that idol.

So then now we have the three friends, which they have Babylonian names.

They gave them Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, and they refused to bow down to that image because they said they know that they will not bow down to any other god.

Um so if we go to Daniel chapter 3, verse 13, then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo be brought, and they brought these men before the king, and he's still giving them another chance.

Daniel 3:13

He said, When you hear the music, you know, bow down to me.

You know, have you have you felt like, oh no, I won't do that?

But then the pressure kept getting on, and you're like, okay, I'm gonna, I'll bow down.

Because he give he's giving them another chance to basically, you know, deny their faith.

And verse 16 is like so amazing.

Uh, it says, Chadrach, Meshach Abindigo answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Wow! And the word that here stands out to me, if not.

So they believe God can deliver them, but what if he doesn't?

I mean, would you would you stay faithful if you don't get the answer from the Lord that you expect?

And does that affect you know why you're faithful, or are we faithful because we think this is gonna be the outcome?

See, I mean I love that if not, and one thing that uh trials and um hardship and um crisis actually it doesn't actually make our character, it kind of reveals it.

So when we're under the fire and under crisis and under the heat, first of all, it's because it's like a mirror.

A mirror doesn't change how we look.

You we wish sometimes it does.

You know, we're like, oh, can you make me thinner?

Uh now it's scary, AI can do that.

I actually loaded a picture of mine and I told AI to make me 25 pounds less, and it was kind of scary.

It was like, goodness, it does that.

It's you know, it's like what people do with this stuff.

So, but I mean, in mirror, a mirror you look and you are who you are, and it's Ryal many times kind of reveal things that we don't realize they're there.

Maybe it's an old um trauma you never dealt with, and it's like, where'd that come from?

I thought I am healed from this, I thought I'm uh free from this, but it kind of you know reels its ugly head, and that's an opportunity when you see something like this.

What you the decisions you make during crisis or hardship is what makes your character, not by itself.

Everybody goes through hardship, but you see the difference how people turn out is what decisions they made during that time.

And what do you choose?

Do you choose faithfulness to the Lord?

You're like, Lord, you didn't answer my prayers, you didn't do what I thought.

You would do, and I've honestly I've been there where I had expectations from the Lord that didn't come out the way I thought, and I had disappointment, like unmet expectation.

You're like, Lord, I thought you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that, and that for a while kind of like you know throws me in a place, but then you have to decide again.

No, I'm gonna continue to be faithful, and God is God.

I mean, if if a heathen king can say he's the Lord of Lords, he is a true God.

So I believe, even no matter what, even if not, even if you don't deliver me from the fiery furnace, then I'm still gonna serve you, I'm still gonna be faithful.

And uh one thing about that fire, I can't imagine honestly, like you know, you hear a lot about house fires.

They tell you a house fire, uh, like the temperature of a house fire is like 1,100 degrees, and they tell you kind of can last with that temperature for 27 minutes.

But here it was heated seven times, and they say it's possible this fiery furnace where he threw they threw them is where they made that huge golden idol.

So that means it's even much, much hotter to actually the temperature you put to actually melt gold is much higher than an average temperature.

And on top of that, this is Babylon, which is present-day Iraq, which they have a lot of uh the black pitch.

That means this fire was outrageous.

So the people the people who actually threw them in, they they they they died from the flame of the fire.

Just the people who were coming close, they were killed.

Um, so while they were in this fire, um, I love that.

So King Nabu Gad Nasser, he gets up and he looks and I'm like, wait a minute, we put three people there and they put them bound, and I see four people in the fire walking, unbound.

They were not um that's uh Daniel 3 um25.

Uh he answered and said, But I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt.

And the appearance of the fourth is like the son of the gods.

You know, that's the difference in life.

We all will go through trouble.

If you believe in Jesus, if you don't believe in Jesus, life is not rosy, and if you've been alive long enough, you know that you will go through trouble, you'll go through hardship, you'll go through hard situations.

If the difference is, first of all, who's on your side, who's on your team?

You know, I had to go to games to watch uh my kids playing up, and you know, it was so nice when you had a good group of team.

I remember one game, the whole game was defense because the team was not great, you know, and you're just defending your goals.

But I mean, we need we need a team that can be offensive too, you know.

So who's on your team?

If we have him on our team, imagine here they were in the fire, and even if they didn't come out, wow, he was with them in the fire.

They were they were walking freely, unbound.

Wow.

Like it doesn't matter.

That that's the difference, honestly, in life.

I I I got saved when I was 10, and I think at the age of 14, when I completely dedicated my life to the Lord, and um I actually did ministry back in my country.

And um I mean, I remember life since then has, you know, there were so much different situations and hardship.

But the one thing, because I invited him in my life and he was walking with me.

There were times, you know, I was discouraged.

There were times like, you know, I didn't know what my resolve was, but then I would always say, okay, I I definitely did not want him not to be on my side.

I definitely didn't want to walk alone, and that that helped a lot because then in those times when I didn't understand, he was with me.

And even to me, I feel like understanding that the outcome, many times we don't know what the outcome of our life, what the answers of prayers will be, what's tomorrow gonna look like.

And maybe we should spend less time thinking about that.

I think we spend so much time, okay, God, you didn't do this.

What about this?

What about this?

If we what if we just stay faithful?

What if we say, Lord, I trust you, I want to be faithful today?

And as we do, I mean, I see every, even every chapter of this book, they made that decision and God showed up greatly, and somehow the outcome was much better than they thought.

Because they said, Well, if not, hey, we're still gonna serve you.

You know, the um the first century Christians, they went through so much.

I mean, they literally, many of them, if they denied, if they would, if they don't deny their faith, they were throwing them to the arenas.

Um, when I read, you know, in the past some of that history, it's like amazing.

They would throw the Christians in the arenas.

These these people did not deny Christ.

Some did, but some did not deny him and were willing to go to the end.

Now, God may not ask that of you, but I feel like a life, a life without him is not worth living, really.

Because you're on your own fighting all this stuff, and we don't know, we don't know what to do.

We don't have answers to all our problems.

Um, I um one thing that when I first moved uh into our house, we had an issue.

Every once in a while, the laundry room would flood.

And I'm like, what is going on?

We didn't, we couldn't figure it out, and then we did some stuff, and we thought, oh, this is good, it's fixed.

Then a few years later, we talk a few years later, it flooded again, and I'm like, oh no, why is that?

Like, you know, flooding is not fun when you have water everywhere.

Uh, but then we realized something that every time the temperatures were very low, that's when it flooded because something would freeze behind the wall.

So then somebody gave us a good idea of cutting a hole and all that.

But that I remember at the time it taught me something that many times when we're in stressful conditions or hardship, it actually reveals things, it brings things up to the surface.

And that's when that's when the opportunity is sometimes we get the temptation to bury it back up.

We're like, well, I don't want to deal with it.

I liked even that we had to cut a hole in the wall and expose that area to the heat of the house because then it doesn't freeze up like that.

It actually hasn't since then.

Um, but you know, when when that's opportunity, when you see things rise up out of your life, that's when the opportunities say, okay, something is off here.

What can I do?

And again, I would say that's why when we are in a church community and we're in life groups, uh, we cannot fix ourselves by ourselves.

We need, we need, we need the Lord, we need the word, we need the body, we need the community.

Like, you know, I sometimes when people come where I work and tell me how they live alone and don't see anybody, I really get so stressed hearing that.

I'm like, why?

Why?

You know, we're not supposed to live like that.

And here um they um, you know, verse, if you go back to chapter Daniel, verse uh, where are we?

Verse 27, he saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men, the hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.

Nothing.

If I cook just a little meal with, you know, if you barbecue or something, we stink from top to, you know, you kind of smell like the fire here, nothing, nothing.

And honestly, to me, they were willing to be killed, to die for this.

Like they said, if not, doesn't matter.

But God honors, it kind of reminds me of the story of Abraham and Isaac.

You know, I Abraham was willing to offer Isaac, and that's you know, his obedience, faithfulness, and then God spared him.

And then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, Abindigo in the province of Babylon.

Again, promotion.

Somehow, somehow, when people we somehow, when we um, I think we actually get worse income outcome for our life when we compromise.

Because here, every time they're faithful, God actually blesses them.

Because when we compromise, first of all, sometimes those friends you compromise for in two years they might not be your friends anymore.

Have you ever noticed that even friends from high school, sometimes we think we're gonna be friends and buddies for life?

A few years down the road, people don't see each other.

I mean, I don't know if you have that experience.

I know some of my boys don't see their high school friends ever.

So it's like, you know, those kind of relationships, I feel like that's why the right relationship, the friendships that the Lord brings through us, through his body, people who have, you know, the same values, people who want to grow in him.

And you know, growth of character is honestly something we need to really work on.

If what are you what situation are you going through right now, and what decisions are you making in those situations?

Are you choosing to be faithful to the Lord?

Um, are we choosing to say, to know that God is a good God, no matter how the situation looks like?

I mean, these people, I really believe these people were sent to Babylon to be a testimony for him.

Because I mean, um, even when we move on, and actually years now go by, many, many years, probably another 50 years goes by for another story that we're gonna go to, and we see that these same people, but then God does a different thing.

So uh Daniel chapter 4, actually chapter 6.

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

Um, so then what happens?

Uh God God still has a the plan for Israel because so now they went to captivity, but I think next week we'll be talking about uh when they actually be restored back to Jerusalem.

But one thing, so the Babylonians were taken over by the Medes and Persians, and so Daniel chapter 6, we have Darius, who was the king of the Medes and Persian, and somehow in in a time period less than a year, he he actually respects Daniel so much.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

And I was just even when I was reading that chapter, I'm like, and I was looking at the timeline, I'm like, how did he make an influence on this guy in less than a year?

You know, sometimes we think we need a lot of time.

I guess not.

He made he made um that they actually call him with an excellent spirit, like Daniel had an excellent spirit, and it's mentioned both in chapter 5 and chapter 6.

What's an excellent spirit?

It's a spirit who, you know, where God is in him, where when people see his life, he's a testimony.

Um so then um people were jealous.

You know, people can be jealous, and they they're not always gonna want us to walk with God.

So just a heads up when you tell your friends, and if you have friends like that or people that don't want to walk with God, definitely cut them out.

You can still love people, but you don't need those in your close circle.

Um, you know, Dave Ramsey always talks about cutting credit cards with a scissor.

Kind of you can do the same.

Like, you know, cut them.

The reason is because if we and we we it's hard for us to minister to other people if we don't separate our lives and our stance from them.

Because that's what you can minister back to them.

You know, if you're doing the same stuff they're doing, they're not gonna listen to anything you have to say.

Is that true?

But I feel like we we love people and we need to separate our lifestyle.

You know, we're in the word, but we're not of the word.

That's what the Bible says.

Uh, and we can still be a testimony to everyone.

Um, so here, those jealous people, they went to the king because they told him you need to write a degree that anybody who doesn't worship you will be thrown in the lion's den.

I mean, they have all these people every time, like, okay, they're trying to um actually, you know how when people try to do things against God, God brings it for his glory.

These people, they meant one thing, but it turned out something good.

So then he said, Oh, okay, sure, sure.

And then he they write a degree that anybody who doesn't worship him will be thrown in the lion's den.

So then he um Daniel, when he heard the degree, immediately went to his house and opened the windows and started praying.

Like, who does that?

Like, you know, maybe when you hear something like that, you're like, Oh, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go to my house and just close the doors.

So, but he goes on purpose to his house, opened the windows, and starts praying.

It's like he's trying to tell them, I'm not gonna bow down to this degree.

And uh he opens a window, prays, and of course they go tell on him, and then they they take him to throw him in the lion's den.

But one verse really caught my eye, uh, Daniel 6, 16.

Here Darius says, May your God whom you serve continually deliver you.

Wow.

Basically, he kind of believed that your God can deliver you.

And then he went and started fasting for Daniel.

Wow, that's a good that's an interesting, like um kind of backward thing.

He's going to, because he didn't want him to die, but he already signed that decree and it cannot be uh revoked.

So then um, of course, the Lord seals the lion's mouth.

Isn't that amazing?

Of course, you know, I I read something in the book of Josephus, it's like a Jewish historian.

He says that at the time, these people who were against Daniel, they went back and said that, well, the lions were not hungry, that's why they didn't eat Daniel.

They literally, that's written in history, but then here uh after they Daniel came out of the den, they he threw those those people who came against Daniel in the lion's den, and the lions ate them up right away.

So I guess they were hungry.

So that prediction, it's the same when people try to say that Jesus wasn't resurrected.

Oh, his disciples stole his body.

It's like it's it's like, but I mean it's it's just backfires, those kind of thoughts and ideas.

So then what happened that after this, King Darius declares in all the kingdom that everybody will be worshiping the living God.

So, you know, this to me like is such an encouraging when I think of the faithfulness of Daniel and his friends and how the Lord blessed him in his life.

And and I was thinking today, maybe you're sitting there and you say, Well, I have not been faithful, I haven't resolved, I I messed up, I I kind of made the wrong decisions, but that's today like it's an invitation to first of all to invite him on this journey of your life.

Is is he with you where you're in this difficult place?

Have you invited him in this difficult place?

I know um one of the verses in uh Revelation 3.21, uh, when Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock.

Years ago when I was younger, I used to think that was actually for people who didn't know God.

And then one day I'm like, wait a minute, this is actually when I start studying, I'm like, this is the same to the churches.

So why is he outside the door?

And why isn't he's he not coming in?

And that always speaks to me that you know he could be, you know, maybe you come here, maybe you you feel like you know him or you're saying, but he still hasn't been invited to sit at your table.

He hasn't been invited to, you know, when you eat with people, that's a form of communication and fellowship.

And actually, in Old Testament time, eating with people also can be a covenant.

So when you when you haven't invited him to come into your circle, to sit at your table, um, to be there with you.

Like here, they invited him because they declared them, and he was with them in the fire, he was with Daniel in the lion's den.

And that that's who I want to be in my whole life.

And I just want to encourage you today.

Um, if we can stand and uh and just um I feel like some of you maybe you're kind of feeling beating yourself, maybe, and feeling like, well, I haven't been faithful, like I I hear Daniel is.

Um, maybe you know, you're there was the areas of compromise when you knew better.

Um maybe there's um just relationships that's in your life that needs to be, that you need to make the hard decision.

You know, making hard decisions is one of the the kind of greater things to develop character when we make those hard decisions that actually will free us.

And um, I just want us to pray.

I don't know if you if that resonates with anybody, but if you can start today, but resolving, determining in your heart, you know what, even though I haven't been faithful in areas in my life, I kind of gave the towel because I was disappointed.

I've been disappointed many times in life.

I've I can tell you stories after, but I've learned to come back from them, and I know God is still good, God, and He has great plans for my life.

And maybe I thought it was gonna be this way, but I'm still gonna trust him that he says he worked all things for our good.

Even here, when you read the story, every situation worked for the good, and somehow promotion and elevation came out of it.

So I just want to invite you to that.

Um, maybe there's some situation that's like uh it's been like a mirror, and you don't like what you see.

You're like, hmm, I don't like what I see about myself, I don't like how I've been acting, I don't like how I've been talking to people, I don't like that anger I see in me.

And I just want to invite you, you know, we start with one simple word, repentance.

Just say, Lord, I forgive me.

I just want to, you know, we can recommit our lives to the Lord, even though if you already know Him, you can recommit your life and say, Lord, I want to be faithful.

Um, I want my character to grow, I want what's going in my life to to bring me closer to you.

You know, I want to use, I want to say this sentence, maybe it's inaccurate in English, but don't waste your sufferings.

If you're going through stuff, don't let them be wasted because you're not really just using that to allow the Lord to grow you.

You know, when we surrender those sufferings and hard things and hard questions in our life, he's gonna turn them around.

And thank you, Lord.

Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you today.

We thank you, Lord, because you're a good God.

We thank you, Lord.

We see your hand of mercy, we see your hand, we see when we invite you, Lord, we thank you, Lord.

We want you to be the one on our side when we walk through the fire, when we're in the lines, then, or when we're just walking on campus, period, Lord.

And I thank you, Lord.

I thank you, Lord, I thank you, Lord, that you will touch our hearts today.

Um, and if those of you that need to just uh repent from being unfaithful, repent for compromising, feeling the pressure, and and help us, Lord, to resolve, to make it make up our minds that we will not defile ourselves.

We thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.