“The Lord heard her prayer.” Daniel 13:44
Daniel Chapter 13 tells the story of Susanna’s righteousness against the two perverted judges of Israel. The two judges used their power to abuse Susanna and threatened that if she disclosed their actions, they would charge her with being caught in adultery. Susanna is brought to trial and condemned to death unjustly, but the Spirit of God stirs up the prophet Daniel to speak out on the behalf of Susanna. Daniel examines the two elders and finds them guilty of their falsehood.
Why would God allow this evil to happen to Susanna? God allows evil to respect our free will and often so a greater good can come from it, even if we do not fully understand it. One of the greatest evils that befell me was the passing of my dad in 2021. Despite his terminal diagnosis, I prayed to God for him to see my high school graduation live-streamed from the hospital before he passed. Unfortunately, he did not make it. Why was Susanna’s prayer for deliverance answered and mine not? Ultimately, I will not know the full answer. However, I know for certain that from this desolation, God brought me deeper into communion with Himself and His Mercy. Similarly, God used Daniel to bring a greater good from an evil act.
How difficult it must have been for Daniel to speak up against the cries of the crowd! Yet, we are the Salt and Light of the World. In our inner thoughts and silence, as represented by the picture, we come to know our own hearts and how God speaks to us. It is by only by our faithful witness and testimony of actions that we can show others that the Kingdom of God is foreshadowed on Earth. Let us pray to be like Daniel so that we may not harden our hearts to the voice of God and have the courage to do His will even if it means that we face ridicule, for as Fr. Mike Schmitz said, “Freedom lies in not what we want to do, but freedom is what we ought to do.” All of this for the Glory of God and the Salvation of souls. Amen.
— Rollen Ellsworth