CHAPEL NOTES In Daniel 6, Daniel is about 90 years old, recognizing what the Scriptures will attest over and over again. The greatest trials may yet lie ahead of us, calling for the devotion of today for the trials of tomorrow. The King issues a decree, “Worship me or else.” When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house, where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he prayed and gave thanks. Then men found Daniel and said before the King, “Did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes petition to any God or man within 30 days, except to you, O King, shall be cast into a den of lions?” The King is caught in his own words. Daniel is in the lion’s den, an old man under trial yet again. Trials come in some of the unlikeliest and most unexpected times in our lives. Our difficulties do not mean that God has departed. God is calling his people to remember that we are called to faithfulness beyond the world that we can see. Daniel has been faithful and still trial and still suffering. Not just for himself. Seventy years his people have been in slavery. He recognized that God had said that He was going to restore them and bring His blessing to Jerusalem. The day of trial almost surely comes, and we expect that what God is going to do is going to build us up. We’ll have resources and good times, joy and absence of trial and difficulty, but it doesn’t always work that way. If everything came easy, we would not need God. Sometimes the difficulty in our families, our careers, our studies, and our jobs are God saying, “You can’t make this without Me. You desperately need Me.” In your depr ivat ion, you are learning dependence upon someone other than yourself, a strength beyond your own. God is preparing us for the greater work. Daniel got down on his knees three times a day. He’s not standing in his own strength. “I’ve got to go to God. I need the Lord; I need his help.” God says the time of faithfulness is now. Daniel knows about the lions, and still he worships God. We are called to faithfulness beyond suffering, beyond what we can see for the purposes of God, because a world is watching how we will handle the suffering and the deprivation. And it’s their eternity that is at stake. God is saying, “I’m at work as you are faithful to Me, even if you don’t see it in your lifetime. I am rising above the mess of your family, of the mess that you have made of things, of the moment of crisis that’s here. I’m above it, working beyond it, and you can trust Me through this.” Remember who He is and what He has done for you. Your Father is working. Bryan Chapell is a pastor and the author of numerous books, including Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. LIFE AFTER LIONS The following is an excerpt from a November 2, 2021, chapel presentation by Bryan Chapell. Listen to his full message at cedarville.edu/ChapellNov21. WATCH CHAPEL VIA LIVESTREAM 10 A.M. EACH WEEKDAY God is calling his people to remember that we are called to faithfulness beyond the world that we can see. Facebook.com/Cedarville/live YouTube.com/CedarvilleUniversity cedarville.edu/chapellive Download the CU Chapel+ App at cedarville.edu/cuchapelplus Cedarville Magazine | 27
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