I confess, it's been a while since I've been to church, and I could say that I feel trully blessed. I always feel happy and sad at the same time whenever I reminice about d' ole days when I was still active at church. *sniff*
The pastor's message was about Daniel and the lions' den. Daniel, an elderly prophet of God, has just been appointed by King Darius as the "prime minister" of his great kingdom. The other ministers were jealous of him and tried to find him fault, but he had none. His performance and wisdom is undisputable, and his morality is unquestionable. The guy was spotless, but unfortunately very predictable. He prayed 3 times a day facing his homeland, the holy land of Jerusalem. So the only way they could get him in trouble was to create a law that is against Daniel's lifestyle and faith.
They tricked the King into signing a decree that for 30 days everyone must pray to no god other than the King. Anyone who disobeys will be thrown to the lion's den. He realized he made a huge mistake in signing the decree when he found out that Daniel, his trusted prime minister, was going to be sent to the lions for praying to his GOD. "Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee." King Darius couldn't sleep on the night Daniel was sent the lions. He fasted and declined any form of entertainment.
In the morning King Darius went to see the lion's den. To his astonishment, Daniel was still there, unscath. The king rejoiced and made new decrees. He commanded that the men who plotted against Daniel be sent to the lions instead together with their children and their families. (Ugh..The King's wrath!)
"I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. 27He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." -King Darius.
It never ceases to amaze me how even the most common Bible stories could be interpreted by people in so many different ways. The pastor that saturday was really good. He explained how Daniel upheld his faith and earned the respect of his superiors at the same time. He then asked If the policy of our jobs got in the ways of our faith, would we be able to do the same thing Daniel did?
Being an SDA, having the fridays and saturdays off might be the best thing that happened to me this year. I pray I stay on that time slot forever.. So as long as I'm in this sched, I promised myself to go to church as often as possible.
How 'bout you? What would you do if were in Daniel's sandals? Hehehe....
