Words to Grow On

March 6, 2006

God is Alive

By

Marcella Carlson

Scripture: Daniel 6:13-23

It was the custom to do two open airs (outdoor evangelistic meeting) each evening on the boardwalk while vacationers strolled the boardwalk.  We had just completed the first evangelistic service when a heckler began yelling “God is dead!”

She wanted to argue.  The Corps Officer (minister) was on vacation and I was in charge of the ministry as a young student Cadet spending the summer in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  I attempted to speak quietly and gently with this angry woman.  The more softly I spoke, the louder she became.

The boardwalk was crowded with people leisurely ending a day at the beach.  Hearing the commotion, they crowded into a circle around us to watch what was going on.  I heard someone say, “That’s Madelaine Murray O’Hare.”   While I had heard the name, I didn’t know until later how prominent a national figure she was as an atheist activist challenging any expression of belief in God in our nation.

As the woman went on and on with her complaints I remember praying silently and desperately, “O God, you shut the lion’s mouth for Daniel.  Please shut this woman’s mouth for me.”  Almost immediately and in the midst of a sentence this woman’s false teeth fell out and onto the boardwalk.  The crowd broke out immediately into laughter.  In a huff the woman picked up her teeth and walked away.  The crowd dispersed.

I am not sure what the crowd got out of their experience that day but I know what it did for my faith.  I knew that God answered my prayer and rescued me. 

Daniel’s rescue was from great danger.  He had been set up.  Following bad advice King Darius passed ungodly anti-prayer legislation (Daniel 6:1-14) which Daniel could not obey.  He became the center of controversy and even the King looked for a legal loophole so that Daniel would not have to be punished.  Finding no way out, when sunset came Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den, the punishment for praying to God.   In desperation the King called out, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” (Daniel 6:16)

The prayer was answered.  God rescued Daniel.  “When Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” (Daniel 6:23)

On that day in Atlantic City it was my desire to show my faith and trust in God.  I hoped that in some strange way the onlookers, critics and seekers were aware of God’s presence as he answered my prayer.

Daniel’s devotion to God did not go unnoticed by God or man!  In our society today there are many that would plot to silence God’s people.  God is always able to rescue His children from in or out of the den.  That is why we can be the brave Daniels of the new millennium.