Day two of entering conference of Babylon beginning soon. Praying the Lord will keep my thoughts focused on Him and my mind stayed on His truth and not those which are being given and shared and reinforced as excluding Him.
Past a certain point, yesterday--hours in to varied bits which were fatiguing, I started buying in to some of the false hopes being offered. Started forgetting that unless God intervene, our best efforts work death and destruction on everything they touch (as being opposed to the Creator, for having refused subjection to His will).
It does make me think on Daniel and his friends. They went through all the schooling Babylon had to offer as to qualify them to be leaders of the nation. Day in, day out. Living in the midst of a compromised people taken captive by a nation whose very core denied exclusive sovereignty of God.
Again and again, I think of them. And of how they silently endured, while still remaining wholly given to God, alone.
And of how, when it came down to particular matters which would have constituted compromise of the heart, in effect--then, they ceased bowing under the weight of what was given them and instead took a solemn, if likely quaking, stand.
I've never faced anything on the level they did (kind of obvious, yeah), but the few times those moments have come...there's been a terror over the thought of reaching such a point. But, simultaneous seeking of the Lord--in praying and supplication for wisdom and guidance--has arisen out of the deeper peace of His abiding presence in such a way as to override even stark terror in those moments. And when He has directed to refrain from bowing, He's given the boldness to do with no room for compromise...though while still somewhat trembling.
Praying, all the while, for continued confirmation that it's His will to maintain such stance. And somewhat longing to compromise for the sake of a false peace--wanting to apologize, even, for the sake of soothing the rage which often arises in opposition to such a stance. But being held back, except to bow the head and continue to pray while awaiting whatever comes.
He gives the strength to walk without compromise in those moments. He gives the boldness to speak plainly without pandering to falsehoods nor mincing words, though yet speaking in love and with grace...though with a quiet decisiveness that brooks no room for compromise.
So, being in the midst of this conference...there's a sense of knowing that at any moment, such a moment could come. If it's the Lord's will, then so be it. He'd have to walk me through it, anyway, and He always does.
But to just really wonder at what Daniel and the others endured? So much more engulfing, so much more openly defiant of God rather than using terms which attempt to mask defiance behind a soft denial of spiritual reality, per having wholly redefined it in terms of man's sphere of visible influence.
The Lord will get me through. He goes with me. And He'll keep me. And He's been so kind as to give a traveling companion from work who has been seeking Him. A very sweet lady who's had much patience toward me, already.
A Dieu, mon ami.
Time to go and praise the One whom I best love.
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