Daniel Fast - Day Eighteen - Journal Entry

June 27, 2013

Psalm 37:39-40 "But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble. And the Lord helps them, and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, because the take refuge in Him."

Cross references:

Psalm 3:8  "Salvation belongs to the Lord; Thy blessing be upon they people. Selah."

Psalm 62:1-2  "My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken."

Does my soul wait in silence for God only? Silence? No.  Silence is so hard for me. Yet, You are my stronghold. You. You will deliver me from the enemy - from the battle - from our own sinful hearts. 

Psalm 9:9 "The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble."

Psalm 34:22  "The Lord redeems the soul of his servants; and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned."

Psalm 54:4 "Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my soul, He will recompense the evil to my foes; destroy them in faithfulness." 

You are the stronghold.  I sit in silence because there is nothing else for me to do. It is Your work.  Salvation belongs to You, Lord.

I wait. I actively wait by attending to You through Your word, prayer, praise, obedience, living joyfully before you.  I attend to You in these ways, waiting for Your plan to unfold, Your purposes to be accomplished, Your name to be lifted high.

The silence part is so hard, Lord. I ache when the waiting is long. I grieve when my efforts seem futile. Yet, this rescuing comes from you, not me.

My actions in waiting are focused on attending to You, living my life in worship before You.  My efforts are not there to deliver me. They are there to change me while exalting You in my life. More of You, less of me. More of Your truth and grace and less of my strivings.

Like Daniel and his friends, I can be bold and confident while I wait on Your deliverance.

Daniel 3:17  "If it be so, our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O King."

Daniel 6:23  "The king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God."

I am not facing a fiery furnace or a den of lions, yet, I do face a hard path when this fast ends.

*A family eager to go back to "normal". 

*A husband who is hard to resist by way of eating habits.  He is eager to make my life "easy" which lends to falling into bad habits again.

*The stresses of life, my reactions to the hard things, my sinful patterns, these are hard to face without the firm boundaries of the fast.

Yet, I am growing.

I am learning.

I am reaching free of some of those strongholds in my life. I am finding You again, placing You, rightfully, where you belongs. 

You will deliver and rescue my soul and my body, my mind, my heart will be strengthened because of this work in my life.  I will find my refuge, strength and deliverance from You.

Psalm 9:10  "And those who know Thy name will put their trust in Thee, for Thou, O Lord, hast not forsaken those who seek Thee."