When is your faith the most real to you?  Usually, it is in times of testing that we find out where our faith resides.  If it is in Jesus Christ, then your faith will be able to weather any storm. However, if your trust is confined to human ability and awareness, then when storm clouds gather, you will either seek cover or try to flee from the situation.  God calls us to stand firm in our faith and trust Him to deliver us from danger and harm.  Our knowledge and trust of God need to be so intimate that when trouble comes we never doubt His protective care of us.

Sentenced to death and thrown in the loin’s den, Daniel watched as his enemies closed the door to what was supposed to be his death chamber.  However, the Lord was with him, and the next morning when the door was opened Daniel emerged unharmed.    God witnessed Daniel’s faith and rose to his defense.  While God did not keep him from the lion’s den, He certainly protected him in the lion’s den.  This is what He does for us.  When trials come our way, we wonder why God allows them to touch our lives with such painful force.  However, He knows exactly what is needed to shape and mold our lives so that we become offerings of praise to Him.  Oswald Chambers wrote:  “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading…”