Deeper Reflection
Trusting in God alone – when all human means of support have been knocked out, when no mere human wisdom can deliver us from our predicament, when there is complete absence of earthly signs of God’s favour – is never a comfortable situation to be in. Daniel and his friends were in such a situation, where their only recourse is prayer – dependence on God. Perhaps, the most difficult part in this kind of situation is, “What if God does not answer our prayer?” Daniel and his friends sought God “concerning the mystery”, which only God and God alone, is able to reveal (v.18). And if God does not reveal the mystery to them, they would be “destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon” (v.18). How then are we to trust in God? Trusting in God is trusting in God who Himself is our trust (Jer 17:7).Daniel’s friends are mentioned by their Hebrew names (v.17) rather than the more familiar Babylonian names in Daniel 3. In their present distress, they were to remember and trust in God’s grace (Hananiah – “Yahweh is gracious”), God’s uniqueness (Mishael – “Who is what God is?”) and God’s willingness to help them (“Azariah – “Whom Yahweh helps”).¹¹ They requested God’s “compassion” (v.18). Why particularly God’s “compassion”? God in the Babylonian exile is a God whose “compassions never fail…they are new every morning” and such is the exiles’ “hope” (Lam 3:21-23). In Job’s severe trials, “the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (Jas 5:11). God answers our “pleas for mercy” “in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness” (Psa 143:1).

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¹¹ Iain M. Duguid, 23