He Rescues and he Saves

​He Rescues and He Saves.

"Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth:
“May you prosper greatly!

“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.
He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.”

So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian." (Daniel 6:25-28)

Darius here makes his decree followed by the very good reasons why he is making the decree. It makes sense to make such a reasoned conclusion, given what the king had seen God do. It shows his love toward his subjects to want to share this with his people too.

The Hebrew name "Daniel" means "God is my Judge." God is the perfect Judge, full of perfect justice and (thankfully for us) perfect mercy (Romans 3:23-26). He does not let injustice go unpunished. Daniel was unjustly treated but he knew God, and was therefore remarkably at ease. Oh to trust God in that way!

God is in control of all things and has promised to work everything, even the things we see as evil or bad or life-threatening, every single event of our lives, for the good of His people (Romans 8:28). Like with Joseph, what was meant for ill toward His people was worked for good by God. (Genesis 50:20). All we have to do is trust Him.

We can learn from these verses that God is living, eternal, victorious, all powerful, and that He works in individual lives and individual circumstances. He is intricately aware of His children's lives and He acts on their behalf, rescuing and saving. He does all this because He loves us.

As He saved Daniel, this same God of Daniel, through the great exchange which occurred on the Cross, has rescued and saved His people in the only just way possible, by taking our punishment upon Himself through Jesus Christ, therefore perfectly satisfying His justice, while demonstrating His perfect mercy. (Romans 3:21-26)

We can therefore leave justice and vengeance to our perfect Judge. His timing is also perfect, even though it often does not meet our not so perfect desires. Trust and rest in the perfect God of Daniel.

Photo and brief reflection by Craig Manners. 31st August

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