Going through difficult times, it is easy to fall into getting so caught up with the urgent needs that we unconsciously start neglecting the daily tasks of maintaining our spiritual and physical health and foundation that we need to keep strong to have the capability to meet any challenges in the first place.
As said in Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mind, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
In a time of trouble, it is even more imperative to make sure the foundation continues to hold firm, not allowed to become neglected while waiting for a more convenient time to attend to it. The devil has a lot of means at his disposal to make sure a “convenient time” will never come.
One of those necessary tasks to keep up with is our Bible reading. After all, how can we act according to God’s wisdom and be comforted by His words of love and concern for us if we don’t keep ourselves reminded of what He has said? In stressful times, reading can end up feeling like a chore or even disrespectful to God if we’re in state where our hearts are having trouble fully getting into it, but we have the help of the Holy Spirit who will see our efforts and ensure that they don’t go unrewarded. Maybe taking on that chapter you don’t feel really “into” will end up providing a verse that you will find extremely helpful and essential when something else comes up later in the day.
So going through a time of storms now where the last thing I need to do is start slacking off in my necessary maintenance, I am going to start posting my daily Bible readings here to keep myself prodded along in it. I’m sure I won’t always be perfect, but at least with some place of accountability I will likely be much more successful with it than trusting myself alone.
Today I read the chapter of Daniel 10. This is where Daniel fasts and prays because he wants more understanding about a vision the Lord has given to him, and here is where an angel comes to him to answer his prayers. Although this is just one chapter, there’s a lot of food for thought here.
For one, when the angel initally appears to him, for as good and strong in character as Daniel is and has been throughout his life, compared to a representative of heaven he immediately feels inadequate and corrupt. It’s not uncommon to have times in our lives where we start getting a little full of ourselves from only having our other earthly counterparts around to make comparisons to, and we can get a little arrogant and silly in our demands toward God during these times, expecting Him to answer to us as an equal, and then He actually shows up and we are kicked down a notch or ten in being reminded just how far away from equal we really are.
Another striking thing is the sobering portrayal of the seriousness of spiritual warfare in this passage. The enemy was strong enough to keep the angel from being able to get to Daniel for twenty-one days, and God had to send in one of the chief angels to go help him out. God is all-powerful and will always prevail, but the fight with evil is a pretty serious one and not something to be thought lightly of or trifled with, and why we must keep a priority of maintaining some kind of unity within the church and not have fanciful notions that we can survive and prosper in this world alone.
The most important thing I found here, however, was that for all of how big and intimidating the reality of God and heaven and the raging war is, yet He still takes the time and effort to reach down and comfort and strengthen us in His love. We may be little fish in a very big and violent pond, but we are loved and cared for and protected by the Grand Caretaker of the pond, and while we may not have the power to deal with the big fish all by ourselves, we don’t have to because He does and promises that He will.
