Reading from Monday, November 29

Yes.

Reading for November 29
Daniel 6:1-28
Daniel in the Lion's Den.

This is one of the better known Old Testament stories, but all I knew about it was that Daniel was put in a hole with lions and they didn't hurt him because he was faithful to God. There's a lot more to it than that. Check it.

So this new king, Darius, issues a decree that anyone who prays to any god or any thing other than Darius himself in the next 30 days will be thrown in with the lions. Daniel, being a faithful servant of God, ignored the decree and continued praying to God. Little interesting detail in here though:

¹⁰ Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Isn't this consistent with the method of prayer amongst Muslims?  Facing their holy land and kneeling down to pray? Maybe that was a custom of all religions of the region...

Anyway, Daniel is caught praying to God and must be thrown in the Lion's Den. The king's guards throw him in a seal the opening with a stone. That night, King Darius couldn't sleep, clearly feeling guilty about what he had done to Daniel, who was very popular in the kingdom. The next morning, he rushed over to the den and called out to Daniel, who to his surprise, responded and came out without a scratch on his body. Yay!

But then the guards who reported Daniel's insurrection were thrown in the den along with their wives and kids, and they were all immediately mauled. That's not fair, they were just doing their jobs. And why the heck would they throw in the wife and kids? That's awful. I'm sure God won't punish this obvious injustice.

2 Peter 3:1-18
A call for holiness as the second coming looms overhead.

As he closes this book, the author reminds us that Christ's return to earth could occur at any time. And because we are waiting for this, why not try to live the best life we can?

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

Yeah. Why not?

Psalm 119:129-152
I love the imagery here.

¹³⁰ The unfolding of your words gives light;
   it gives understanding to the simple.

Many times I have found myself feeling this way exactly. And they way he says "unfolding of your words" is perfect, that's just how it feels when you read something for the thousandth time only for it to speak to you in a way that it never has before. 

Proverbs 28:21-22

 ²¹ To show partiality is not good—
   yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread.
 ²² The stingy are eager to get rich
   and are unaware that poverty awaits them.