The story of Daniel in the Lion's den often provokes fond memories among older folks about a particularly rambunctious Sunday School class decades ago. While I don't have this particular memory, many a faithful Christian has played either Daniel or the Lion in a Sunday School reenactment of this classic story, often complete with paper-plate lion's mask and carefully rehearsed roaring!
When we recall this story, we often focus on the Lion, and to a lesser extent on Daniel's willingness to be faithful even when other people persecute him for it. But what about God as a character in this story? After all, it is God's action that keeps this story from having a rather gruesome ending! I think we tend to minimize God's role in this story, because it touches a part of God's identity that makes many of us as adults ambivalent: God as Protector.
While God's role as our protector is an important part of our friendship with God, many adults, and myself at the top of the list, can find it challenging to describe exactly HOW God protects those who are faithful. After all, we know from experience that the kind of protection God offers us almost always isn't of the divine intervention type. When we take risks for God in our life, often there are human consequences that bring suffering and pain, and God does not come to our rescue. As adults we understand God's role as our "protector" in a more spiritual way. A relationship with God protects us in the sense that when we encounter suffering and hardship, God's presence keeps our hearts from being hardened. God protects us from responding to the world's rejection for our faith by becoming bitter, vengeful or self-pitying. God response to suffering is not usually or protect our bodies from harm, but is always to protect our hearts from despair.
Given that outlook on God's role as our protector, I often find feelings of insecurity beginning to creep into my mind as I teach little children that God will protect them - especially when the stories are about preventing physical harm or suffering. But I believe that, despite feeling a little inauthentic when I teach these stories, coming to grips with how I, as an adult, DO believe that God protects us, helps, even if it is a much more nuanced understanding than I can teach to children. Young children aren't able to make the abstract leap that we can make as adults, and so teaching them that part of God's identity is as a protector of those who are faithful is a useful early lesson. As they grow into their teenage years, we will have a responsibility to nuance this distinction in the ways that we understand God's protection as adults -- but that does mean there is harm in teaching children about God's protection in a way that makes sense to them at this age. This is developmentally appropriate faith formation that has integrity, as long as we know as adults how we understand God's role as our protector to be life-giving. Someday we hope our children will know that too -- and our lesson this week is the beginning of that journey.
Good luck on Sunday, and may God's protection be with you in your times of suffering and trial, guarding your heart against despair and rage.
Blessings,
Chris +
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