He can still shut the lions' mouth

Have you ever wondered what Daniel was doing in the lion’s den? I have. As a kid I used to picture the lions being sweet like those in heaven. I wondered if Daniel was able to pet them. Maybe he could cuddle up by them and hear them purring as he went to sleep. I don’t know about all that, but I think I do know one thing he was doing. Years ago, our church had purchased thousands of Final Events DVDs to hand out to the community. My family had volunteered to help. We all spent an hour or so putting DVDs in clear plastic bags, and telling the children how nice it was that we could share Jesus with the people in Alvarado, wondering how many people would be in heaven because they chose to witness for Jesus.

I had three children in my van: our twelve-year-old son, Joshua, our daughter Missy, who was 6, and another little girl, Hosanna. We were having such a happy day passing out DVDs. The children were hanging a bag with a DVD in it on each doorknob, and I was driving right beside them. When all of a sudden a very large black German shepherd came at them barking and snarling and snapping at Joshua’s legs. I was so proud of him for staying between the dog and the little girls. Three frightened but uninjured children made it into the van. A lady yelled from down the street, “I’m so glad they are ok! That dog is mean. They need to do something about him. Last week he bit someone!”  Josh’s torn jeans seemed like a small thing.

But now what? It was important for each house to get a DVD. We were praying and expecting people to be in heaven because of these DVDs! I had read tons of missionary and colporteur stories to my children, stories about God performing miracles. What kind of witness was it to my kids for us to up and leave these houses undone because of a mean dog? Would the missionaries and colporteurs  give up? Did I want to let Jesus down?

I turned off the van, took the bags from the children and got out of the van. I told the Lord that I was trusting in Him. I reminded Him that He had taken care of countless colporteurs and I knew He could take care of me. My prayer as I walked to the other side of my van was, “I am doing Your work, You said You would be my Refuge.” The dog began to come towards me barking and snarling. Any courage I might have felt melted away, leaving only fear, but I kept on walking forward. “Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief!” The dog continued to snarl staying about three feet away. I didn’t have the courage to go to their door, but their mailbox was right there, so I hung a bag on their mailbox, and began to go to the other houses. But that big, black, angry German Shepherd didn’t stay at home. It followed me to every house keeping a distance of about three feet, snarling and threatening me the whole time.

I was praying and claiming promises, yet the dog would not leave me alone. Then, I was impressed to sing. For almost a decade, we had been teaching the children the opening hymn for church. I began to sing one of those hymns of praise we had memorized. And the moment I began to sing, that dog stopped snarling and his mouth was shut. The courage I had acted on, but had not felt, I then began to feel.

Now, when I think of Daniel in the lion’s den, I’m not so sure he was cuddling up to any lions. But I am pretty sure he was singing songs of praise.

Sacrifice of praise

Have you ever wondered whether we should praise God for everything that happens to us? I believe that we have sound biblical counsel to praise God in every situation and for every situation. The Bible talks of a sacrifice of thanksgiving and a sacrifice of praise. (Ps. 116, Jer. 33:11, Heb. 13:15) It isn’t all that hard to praise and thank God for the things that make me happy. That doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice to me. But to praise Him when I am hurting and bad things have happened or are happening, I have to put aside my feelings and die to self. I have to look with eyes of faith at the goodness of God, and by faith take hold of His promises. To praise Him in my pain is a choice to trust that He does not lie and will make all things work together for good for me because I do love Him and know that He has called me. Paul tells us to give thanks for all things, and in all things. (Eph. 5:18, 1 Thess. 5:18) He says that the things that happen to us are the will of God. In Phil. 4:4-7, Paul also tells us to rejoice always, not to worry, but instead take our requests/problems to God with thanksgiving. When we choose to do this by faith, we can also claim His peace that passes understanding.

James tells us to count it all joy when we have trials. This again has to be by faith, because trials don’t feel good. James says that the trials produce patience, if we let them. (James 1:2-4)

Peter tells us to rejoice at fiery trials because we are partaking of Christ’s sufferings and when His glory is revealed we will have exceeding joy. (1 Peter 4:12, 13)

We can rejoice in our trials because we trust Him. (Ps. 33:18-22)

I really love the practical counsel in the book Ministry of Healing. It has a whole chapter that gives me reasons to praise God in my trials. It is called Help in Daily Living.

God uses trials: They show me my defects so that they can be corrected. They prepare me to do His work. And they purify me. I need all this! Often my plans fail so God’s plans can succeed. This is really good; His plans are always better than mine! I am never really called to sacrifice anything- even the good that God asks me to surrender He is using to give me something better. In heaven I will see that the prayers I thought God didn’t answer, as well as my deepest disappointments, in reality were my greatest blessings. I can’t find peace until I make a complete surrender. These really are all things to praise God for, but they have to be seen through eyes of faith. It’s not always easy to do or even easy to remember that we should.

I have a friend that recently went through a rough divorce. For months we prayed together and claimed God’s promises. Many times her children joined us as well. Not long after her divorce she called me and told me that she had been talking with a friend and heard herself telling her friend the same thing I had been telling her all this time. “Praise God for the blessings He has planned to give you through this trial.” For the first time, she confessed to me that when we began praying together she was annoyed every time I said it. And I said it a lot! and in many different ways: Jehoshaphat and the choir going out before the army, Paul & Silas singing praises and the prison doors being opened, my own testimonies of how God has answered my prayers when I have chosen to stop griping and start praising Him for His will being done in my life.

We talked about Job as well. Job praised God in all his trials but he still went through more. We looked at the blessings God gave him after the trials. God doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we think is best when we praise him. I shared with her an experience I had almost 20 years ago. I had one toddler and was pregnant with our 2nd child. We had chosen for me to stay home with our children. But going from two incomes to one is hard. One Friday, my husband and I knelt down and gave God our finances. We surrendered it to His will. Monday, my husband was laid off. No income was definitely not what we had planned! And yet, God used the trying situation to answer so many of my prayers- including our prayer about finances. Looking back, I could trace the hand of God, showing my friend how God really does do for us that which we would choose for ourselves could we see the end from the beginning, if we let Him.

In our recent phone call, my friend said that she laughed when she found herself giving the same ‘annoying’ counsel. The beautiful thing was she was also able to share her testimony of choosing to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the midst of her turmoil. She was able to encourage her friend by sharing how God was already using the situation to bless her family, and answer her prayers. And the blessings were because of the fiery trial she had gone through, not in spite of them.

Surrender

Sometimes stories are like medicine or herbs- more powerful when taken together. These two events happened at the exact same time and really do need to be taken together. Our kids were young and quite a handful. My husband was working nights at the hospital and sleeping days. For quite some time, I had been telling God why my husband needed to work days, not nights. I had a list of good, solid reasons. I knew what I wanted God to do, and although I hadn’t thought about it in those terms, I really wasn’t going to be satisfied with anything but my own way.

Finally, one morning I woke up and was impressed that I just needed to stop griping to the Lord and telling Him what to do. Instead, I should thank Him for the job my husband had and the blessings that God had given me. So that morning, I apologized and began actively looking for the blessings in the job my husband had. I began to thank God for the blessings that I could now see had come from the hours my husband worked. It was so much nicer praising God than complaining to Him. As if the peace and gratitude I felt weren’t enough, that week my husband came home and told me that the administration was changing his shift to days.

At the same time, we had a litter of husky puppies that the kids loved to play with. Our son, Daniel was 7 or 8 years old. He loved Kianna, the mother of these puppies more than all our other pets. He had gone with me to choose her as a puppy. The first night we got her, he had taken her out of her crate and into his bed; he couldn’t bear to have her be sad or alone. More than any of the other pets, she really was his.

We also had a black tom cat. We kind of liked him, and he allowed us to pet him occasionally. But nobody seemed the least bit concerned when he was gone for days on end. One morning early in the week, Daniel looked out the window and was horrified to see Kianna eating a black cat. He wanted justice--nothing that cruel or mean should be allowed to live! It didn’t matter that she had puppies. It didn’t matter that it is a husky’s nature to kill small animals, or that we had tried to make the puppy pen more secure so she couldn’t get out again. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t bring the cat back to life. Nothing I could say to him mattered. All week long he was sullen. By the end of the week he finally came to me and said, “It’s okay, I forgive her.” Later that day we looked out the back door and saw our black kitty alive and well.

That week the Lord brought a lesson home to me. After Daniel had surrendered his feelings of hurt, anger, and betrayal; after he had chosen to forgive & decided to leave justice in God’s hands, then God allowed our kitty to come home. It was not until I had surrendered my will to God and actively chosen to praise Him for the hours my husband had, that God chose to answer my prayers. How many blessings do we miss by thinking that we know best, or by choosing to nurse our feelings? The Psalmist said that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. Our Heavenly Father loves to bless us more than a father loves to give good gifts to his children. Words cannot describe how good He is to us! Oh, that we may learn not only to trust Him with everything, but also to give Him thanks in all things!

Remember Keyna

Almost two decades ago, God spoke to me. Not in a voice I could hear out loud, but by a distinct impression in my head. It was January in Texas, but it seemed more like Michigan. With two boys under the age of three, I was ready for bed long before I could get there. When I finally made it to bed that night, I just wanted to hibernate. I was already sound asleep when I heard the words in my head, “Go get Keyna and bring her inside. She is going to freeze to death.” Keyna was our aging, three-legged Doberman. She was a good dog, and God knew how much we loved her. She had grown old and grey with us. I remember years before, God had sent a stranger to my door to warn me about someone throwing poisoned meat to the dogs in our neighborhood. That night, I had brought Keyna inside, and in the morning, I saw the meat in our yard. My heart had been filled with gratitude and praise for my sweet Savior’s intervention!

But on that winter night in my sleep, I had no idea God was talking to me. “She has a doghouse,” I thought to myself, “and anyway, she’s old and that’s not a bad way to die.” I didn’t move. I never opened my eyes. I don’t even know that I woke up. Not until the next morning did I realize God had spoken to me, and I realized it because Keyna had fallen outside her doghouse and was dead. I cannot adequately describe my feelings that morning--guilt, shame, discouragement, grief. I would have given anything to go back and obey. But I couldn’t.

The story doesn’t end there though. Several years later our third child was born. Again I was extremely tired. The children were all in bed and asleep. I had finally gotten into bed and felt warm and comfortable. Once I was completely relaxed and starting to fall into the sleep I had longed for all day, there came the thought, “Go check the boy’s covers. Make sure they are warm.” I had put them in warm sleeper pajamas. “They’ll be fine.” Distinctly, the thought came, “Remember Keyna.” This time, I immediately got out of bed. I went downstairs to their room and saw our four-year-old sound asleep with his comforter in a heap at the bottom of the bed; he definitely would have been cold. With a smile I pulled his comforter up and tucked him in. “It was so sweet that God wanted to keep him warm…” I started to leave the room. But there was a firm, “Both boys.” I climbed up into our six-year-old’s bunk bed, and found, beside our curious boy, a tape player I didn’t even know he had taken apart. The wires were loose and exposed. I immediately checked, and found it plugged in also.

Obviously, I needed to teach the children some things about safety. But there were lessons for me too- about learning to listen to the voice of God. He promises to lead and guide us, but we have to learn to recognize His voice. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me… It’s not easy to recognize His voice; so often it seems like any other thought- one of our own ideas.

So many times in life, the lessons God has for us are like layers of an onion. My sweet, kind, merciful, Heavenly Father’s love was like the papery, protective covering. He loved me enough to speak to me- His weak, tired, definitely imperfect child. He wanted me to know that I could trust Him with my safety and of the safety of those I love. He wanted to fill my heart with a desire to always, immediately, recognize His voice, to know His voice, and follow Him; and to fill my heart with gratitude and praise. He does make all things work together for good when we love Him. And I cannot thank Him enough for using my own failures to bless me!

My generic prayer

I was so busy that Friday preparing to go to the church campout. Organization and management were not skills that came naturally to me. I had procrastinated and put off so many things and felt a lot of pressure. The kids really wanted to go. I hadn’t made the list of what to pack. I hadn’t purchased the food. The kids were too young at the time to leave them at home to do the packing, so we all got into the car and drove the back way into Cleburne to get groceries. In my head I was going over the stuff I needed, when we passed a lot of cars and an official looking van in a field. The kids wanted to know what was going on. The only thing I could think of was maybe a child was lost. I thought about stopping to pray with the people, but that seemed kind of arrogant. How do you ask if you can pray with complete strangers? I was so busy and we really didn’t have time to help. What help could a mom with three kids be? And anyway I could pray in the car.

So I prayed my generic ambulance prayer with the kids, “Lord, please be with those that need help and those that are helping, in Jesus name, Amen,” and went on my way. On the way home it was easier to drive by all the vehicles. It was late. We still had to pack and there was no way we could stop and still be ready to leave for the campout when my husband got home from work. And the thought of praying with complete strangers was still overwhelming. It was easier to drive by the second time and pray, “Lord, be with those who need help.”

We weren’t ready on time. My husband got home from work and told me that a two year old boy was lost in Alvarado. We told him we had driven right by the place where he went missing. I don’t remember, but I’m sure I must have prayed a quick, “Father, please help them find the child.” It was much easier to finish getting ready for the campout with my husband in charge. We didn’t make it there as soon as we wanted, but I think we got there before sunset. The kids had a lot of fun on the campout. I started to relax. It felt good to no longer feel the pressure of needing to get ready. We really did have fun with our church family. Once during the campout someone mentioned the child being lost and I said, “We need to pray.” But they didn’t take me up on it and I didn’t press.

We headed home from the campout that Sunday afternoon, tired but still happy and refreshed. We stopped to get gas and bought a paper. On the front page there was a story about a toddler that was still lost in Alvarado. I don’t know what the rest of the family listened to on the radio or talked about. The rest of way home I talked with God. I thought about how nice my weekend had been with my children, and the torment the parents of this little one must have endured. I thought about the different things that could have happened to the child. I realized that it was God who had asked me to stop and pray, and that I had been arguing with Him. I had been too busy and stressed to respond to His call. I hadn’t even recognized His voice! I asked Him why He needed my prayers, weren’t there lots of other people praying? He didn’t answer me. The thought came that the baby might not be found because I refused to take the time to really pray- not just a generic prayer, but to pray like it was my baby that was lost. I thought of the anguish I would be going through if my toddler had been lost that entire weekend.

And my heart was broken. In sorrow and repentance I turned towards the window and prayed for God to forgive me as tears ran down my cheeks. It no longer mattered why God wanted me to pray. I no longer thought that someone else more righteous than I should be the one praying. It didn’t matter to me anymore that I wasn’t that righteous man whose prayer availeth much. I begged the Lord to bring the baby back to his parents alive. I pleaded with Him not to hold my sin of indifference against this child. I came home broken and weighed down in sorrow for the child and for my own sin and selfishness. I did not have the assurance I would have had if I had listened to His voice and responded right away.

I went to bed early that night. I didn’t want to think anymore. My husband woke me up several hours later when he saw on the news that the child had been found late that afternoon. My heart was overwhelmed with gratefulness and praise for the mercy and loving-kindness of our Savior.

I still do not really understand the whys and wherefores of prayer. I do not understand why it was so important that I pray as I did that day. I only know it was. I have heard different people explain prayer but it always seems like there is more to it- like all our answers are just the surface of something too deep for us to fathom. What I do understand is that we pray far too little. Jesus longs for us to be less selfish and begin to truly care about the concerns of those around us. He longs for us to bring their petitions to Him and our own as well. Our only righteousness is found in Jesus and as long as we are abiding in Him we are that ‘righteous man’ and our prayers will avail much. I no longer see it as arrogance to believe that our prayers make a difference. I have learned that it is okay to pray with complete strangers, too. Our Father loves us and longs for us to take everything to Him in prayer and will do things in answer to our prayers that He wouldn’t otherwise do. It is so good to have a friend in Jesus!

--Cynthia Reyna has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Southwestern Adventist College, as well as a specialization in special education from Tarleton State University, Texas. She was a teacher before changing careers to motherhood. She has especially enjoyed visiting national parks and historic sites, traveling, camping, and kayaking with her family and being able to consider it “school.”