“Thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid” Jeremiah 39:17
Suggested Scripture reading – Jeremiah 38-39
The taunting was hard to bear. The older boys were always threatening Daniel. Daniel was a slightly built boy. He was not physically as strong as his tormentors and they saw him as an easy prey. As unimpressive as he was physically, however, he made up for it in his faith in the Lord Jesus. He was faithful in Sunday school and church. At school he had often given testimony to the truth of the Bible. His kindness to the younger students set him apart from the others. He had often stood up for them against the older bullies. This made their determination to make his life miserable even stronger.
Then one day it happened. As he was arriving at school that morning he witnessed one of the bullies commit a serious infraction of the schools rules. When they discovered that he had seen the event the bullies began to threaten him. Several of the boys were going to wait for him and at a time when he would not expect, they would attack him.
Daniel trusted in the Lord for his protection but he was still frightened by what those boys could do to him. As he committed this to the Lord in prayer the Heavenly Father reminded him of a story from the book of Jeremiah in the Bible.
The prophet had offended the king by telling the people that Jerusalem would soon fall to the armies of Babylon. As a result he has been cast into a dungeon where the floor was nothing but a mud pit. Jeremiah was in a prison where he was immersed in mud up to his neck. He would have died there had there not been a man who trusted the LORD. His name was Ebed-Melech. The name meant “servant of the king.” He went to the king and asked that he be allowed to rescue Jeremiah from this horrible death. The king allowed him to go and take the prophet out and to feed him and minister to his needs. Later, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city of Jerusalem Jeremiah sent word to his friend, Ebed-Melech and told him that because of his kindness God had made him a promise. “But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.” (Vs. 17-18) “The king’s servant” was afraid of the army and assumed that he would die in the attack. God promised deliverance because of his faith and kindness.
Daniel was afraid of what the boys might do. He knew that they were angry enough to hurt him. What he did not know was that the principal of the school had been watching the boys as well. He suspected that they might try to harm Daniel so that afternoon after school he followed at a distance as Daniel started home. As he expected, when Daniel turned the corner of the building three boys jumped out at him and pinned him against the wall. Before they could harm him the principal appeared and stopped them. He then escorted them back to school where they would be disciplined. All the way home Daniel thought of the words of God’s promise to the “servant of the king.” “I will surely deliver
thee, . . . because thou hast put trust in me, saith the LORD.”
We understand that the Father does not always deliver in this manner. The words of the three Hebrew Children in the book of Daniel chapter three come to mind. “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Daniel 3: 16-18)
Child of God when you put your “trust in God” we need not fear our what men may do to us.
We can trust Him for deliverance from those we fear.
