3Can you imagine the chaos a young person like Daniel must have experienced? What happened to his family? Daniel was uprooted from his old familiar surroundings and traveled across the desert to the large city of Babylon. The language was different, the customs were different, the religion was different, and the food was different. All that Daniel had known was gone. Daniel was separated from the Temple, separated from Jerusalem, his family, his friends, and his old neighborhood.

How did Daniel not only survive, but thrive in the midst of this chaos? In the chaos Daniel exhibited great courage. Where did that courage come from?

Daniel's courage came from his faith in Almighty God. In the first part of the Book of Daniel, we see the faith of Daniel exhibited in extreme circumstances. Daniel was taken captive to Babylon in 605 BC. Daniel wanted others to know that the Lord God Almighty was the only true God and that He ruled in the affairs of humanity. Daniel looked forward to the time when the Lord would gather His people and establish the kingdom of the Messiah. History truly is "His story." The Lord is in charge!

I was moved to write about Daniel when I realized the amazing similarities between Daniel's time and now. The amazing connection is the chaos that has enveloped America.