“When the king heard the charge, he was very much distressed. He was determined to save Daniel, and until the sun went down he made every effort to rescue him. Then the conspirators came to the king and said to him, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.” Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!” A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.” Daniel 6:14-18

{Living in a household with eight indoor cats requires buying large amounts of kitty litter, which I usually get in 25-pound bags—100 pounds at a time. When I was going to be out of town for a week, I decided to go to the supermarket to stock up. As my husband and I both pushed shopping carts, each loaded with five large bags of litter, a man looked at our purchases and queried, “Bengal or Siberian?”}

A man brought in his 12-year-old cat, complaining that the cat was peeing all over the apartment and had been for years. The veterinarian started the consultation with the basics:

Dr.: “What kind of litter are you using in the box?”

Client: “Box?”

Dr.: “Yes, what kind of litter is in the litter box?”

Client: “He doesn’t have a litter box. I let him out twice a day to do his business.”

Pause.

Dr.: “Get a litter box.”

Two weeks later, the client called with great news about the cat’s potty issues: “He’s cured!”

That is a true story, and I don’t know what to say. Except this, sometimes the most obvious remains elusive. This is true with the story of Daniel in the lions den. One could surmise that we should learn from Daniel that trust in G-d will solve all of our problems. But that is not the lesson we should learn. The chief lesson we should learn comes form the confession of King Darius: “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end” (Daniel 6:26). In other words, our faith in G-d is a faith in a sovereign, omnipotent presence whose will takes precedence over our own. G-d’s ways are not our ways, and G-d’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Our task is to trust and obey, as the old hymn suggests. Or as Job teaches us: “You talk…foolish. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (Job 2:10)

Sometimes we may feel like we are living in a box of kitty litter surrounded by, well, you know. But our faith does not guarantee us a rose garden – it only confirms that G-d is the source of all blessings, and challenges, and that G-d’s Kingdom will not be destroyed.

Pastor Dave

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days? “With God are wisdom and strength;” Job 12:7-13

{“What is that sound?” a woman visiting our nature center asked. “It’s the frogs trilling for a mate,” Patti, the naturalist, explained. “We have a pair in the science room. But they’ve been together for so long, they no longer sing to each other.” The woman nodded sympathetically. “The trill is gone.”} (KathyJo Townson)

Job says “With G-d are wisdom and strength…” I believe the older I get the more I realize how true this statement is. For most of his life, my father was never short on wisdom and advice. For most of my life I was unwise not to heed it. It is true, the older we get, the wiser our parents and other elders seem to become. The old adage is also true, if I had known then, what I know now, things could have been so much easier in my life. But, of course, just think of the things we learn through the struggles we encounter. This is part of what makes life so thrilling, if not enthralling and invigorating.

Think of the lessons we can determine from Job’s encounter with loss, and his struggle to understand why it all happened. While his friends seem to try to convince him that there must have been many things that he did wrong, and so he needs to confess his sins to G-d, Job stands firm that he believes he has been dealt a bad hand from G-d. In the end, though, Job will admit “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2, 6) When we repent of our sins, and when we come to our senses to realize how “wise” our elders really are, there is always room for admitting that we do not know everything. Understanding of the ways of the world can be very hard. The same is true with understanding the ways of G-d. But when we repent of our sins before G-d, and realize how wise is the wisdom of G-d, we increase in knowledge, and see better the ways of Kingdom living. 

Pastor Dave