God is the Revealer of Mysteries

     I have spent an abnormally long time reading through the book of Daniel in the Bible.  I started reading this book a few days after fall quarter stated at Ohio University, and finished about two weeks ago.  I chose Daniel because I wanted to reflect on some of the classic bible stories I remembered covering multiple times in sunday school at my old church.  The story of Daniel in the Lion's den immediately came to mind, so that was the deciding factor for me to engage in the book of Daniel.  
     The first few weeks of college were a little rough for me, and I had this overwhelming feeling of loneliness.  I soon found God speaking to me through the verses of Daniel.  I know now that reading Daniel at the start of college was not my plan at all, but God's plan for me.  A wise man once told me, "Your faith is strongest when you do not feel it."  Yes, choosing to love God is an emotional path, and there are many times where you can undoubtedly feel his presence with you.  However, the strength of our faith should not be determined by spiritual feelings.  It is the times when we feel sad or distressed that truly test our faith.  It's harder to stand firm in your beliefs when you are not always feeling Gods presence.  Daniel was a man of ultimate faith, and it was his testimony that helped carry me through my times of doubt.  He had a duty to interpret the King's dreams.  King Nebuchadnezzar who ruled Babylon, needed help interpreting the strange dreams he was having.  He called in magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed, and what these dreams meant.  When not one of them could do what the king had asked, he ordered to have all the wise men put to death.  Daniel was a wise man of Babylon, and volunteered to interpret the dreams.  He starts out in chapter two, verse twenty seven by saying, "27 No wise man, enchanter, magician, or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come..."  I thought it was really interesting and cool how Daniel states God to be a revealer  of mysteries.  In verse twenty nine, Daniel goes on to say, "29...the revealer of mysteries has shown you what is going to happen."  I also want to point out that Daniel always gives God the glory for his gift of interpretation.  He does not want the king to give him credit for what God has enabled him to do.  Religion in general has a mysterious overtone that comes naturally when we have to base some things strictly on faith alone.  For me, what this is saying is that even though choosing to love God may seem like a complicated and puzzling path, He will reveal to us our mysteries.  God is not trying to complicate anything, He just wants us to have faith.  If we have faith, he will reveal the mysteries of our heart.  During my first few weeks of college, there were a lot of questions I had for God.  I felt like they were not being answered the way I wanted them to be answered.  Thats the thing with God though.  He is not always just going to answer your questions right away.  I found out that I was lacking the faith to believe that God was going to answer them at all.  The hardest part for me was trusting God to work on his own time.  Once I started to have that faith for God to move in my life, He began to answer those questions I had, and reveal to me the mysteries that I was holding onto.