Daniel 6:26-27

”For He is the living God and enduring forever,
And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
And His dominion will be forever.
He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders
In heaven and on earth,
Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”

God does amazing things in our lives, and even those who believe in different things and different gods must acknowledge that He is mighty and powerful, faithful forever, and reigning over all the earth.  Darius, a foreign king who worshiped idols of rock and stone understood that Daniel’s God was alive and eternal.  What his god was powerless to do, the True and Living God, YHWH, was pleased to do.  And as Daniel was delivered from the power of literal lions, I declare that I and my family are delivered from the power of metaphorical and spiritual lions, to the glory of God who rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth!  He is faithful, kind, and loving, and I am just scratching the surface of knowing who He is!  Amen, amen!

ps. I love this picture because Daniel’s focus is not on his peril, but on his God.  Turn away from the lions and look toward your Light!

Luke 1:11

Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar.

In church on Sunday the pastor talked about the song the angels sang to the shepherds and it got me thinking about this whole angel thing.

1.  Why did God make people if he already had angels?  I mean, angels are beautiful and perfect.  Was it because they couldn’t choose to love Him or something like that?  I mean, really, humans are messy and disobedient and fickle.  God knew full well that when He made us He’d have to come save us from ourselves.  Why bother?  Why not have a relationship with the angels instead?  Or is it more fun to have unpredictable, crazy humans?

2.  In the book of Daniel the angel tells Daniel that he was sent by God the minute Daniel started praying but that he was delayed by demonic forces.  I wonder how often God sends us an answer but it is delayed by demonic forces.  I think I’ve covered this in a previous post.

3.  Were the angels jealous when God created man?  It’s kind of like the older sibling thing.  They had been created but it wasn’t enough.    Did they ever wonder why they weren’t enough or why God felt the need to have a relationship with something as problematic as humanity?  Just sayin’…

4.  When the angel appeared to the shepherds in the fields after Jesus’ birth he calmed them down and told them about what had happened.  I wonder if the angels were extra bright that night because they were so excited and awed about what God had done.  Anyway, the shepherd finally start breathing again and suddenly a vast host of angels appears in the sky.  They have another heart attack.  I didn’t think about it until the pastor mentioned it but a vast host is something like millions of angels.  I always pictured 20-30 angels, but this is a whole different picture.  Can you imagine?!  Millions of angels singing in the sky!  Did anyone else see this?!  Seriously, a million, brilliantly shining angels appear in the sky singing the Hallelujah Chorus…  That had to light up the fields like the day!  Of course, I suppose they could have only been visible to the shepherds…  But, wow!  That had to be incredible!

5.  When Zechariah questions the angel on the validity of him and his wife having a child when they were way too old for that to happen (sounds like Abraham and Sarah!), the angel says, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news!” (Luke 1:19)  Dude!  I’m an angel!  Why would I lie about this?!  In this translation, and several others I’ve read, Gabriel sounds like he’s just smacked his forehead in shock that this guy is questioning an angel.  It shows some emotion from the angel and is an interesting reminder to me that the angels did have feelings and emotions.  I wonder how many times they shook (and still shake) their head at humanity wondering how on earth we could be so monumentally stupid and so incredibly loved by God.

So, those are, randomly arranged of course, some of my thoughts on angels.  I’m sure there are other thoughts running around in my head, but these are the ones I can remember at 5:00 in the morning. 

Daniel 9: 23

“The moment you began praying, a command was given.  I am here to tell you what it was, for God loves you very much…”

First of all, Daniel was getting to know Gabriel pretty well.  Second, the insight that he gives to Daniel is about as clear as mud.  But that’s beside the point.  What I love about this is that God started working the moment Daniel started praying.  He didn’t wait until the prayer was over or a few days after that.  It was instantaneous.  God loved Daniel.  God loves me.  God loves you.  Imagine how powerful prayer is, and how much more so when we actually begin to pray.  That’s like in Frank Peretti’s books.  Until the saints of God start to pray, the angels struggle to hold back the forces of the enemy.  But once the saints pray…  the results are pretty awesome!  Now, I don’t know how much the angels struggle when we don’t pray, but I do know that when we pray God does some incredible things (most of which we probably never even realize).  So what, you ask?  Well, start praying and watch what happens.  God starts working the moment we start to pray.  The results may not be immediately discernible, but they’re there.  And that’s pretty amazing!

Daniel 6:10

But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem.  He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

King Darius had just signed a law saying that anyone who prayed to anyone or anything other than him was to be thrown into the lions den (yet another example of jealous officials using the king’s pride to get what they want).  The officials who orchestrated the law knew that Daniel would not change or stop praying to God, even at the threat of death.  What a reputation!

And true enough, Daniel didn’t stop or hide.  He prayed in the same place.  He prayed with his windows wide open.  He prayed three times a day, just like before.  What integrity and trust!  Daniel may have been concerned about the law (he wasn’t ignorant of it or its implications for him), but he didn’t let a fear of man overshadow his fear of God.

There are two significant lessons here:

1.  What’s your reputation?  Do people know you believe in God?  The jealous officials knew about Daniel’s faith because he lived it: he prayed consistently and openly, and he did his job in a way that glorified God (faithfully and well).  Do I do that?  Or am I a closet Christ-follower?

2.  Don’t fear men more than you fear God.  Daniel knew that continuing to pray would get him thrown to the lions.  However, this didn’t deter him.  He trusted God to be greater than the law and more powerful than the lions.  Ultimately, God came through by shutting the mouths of the lions and rescuing Daniel.  But Daniel didn’t succumb to the fear of man or what man could try to do to him.  He trusted in a God who is greater than any man or any punishment.  Do I let fear of man keep me from living the way I should?  Do I fear men more than I love or fear God?  Do I cower in my closet because I’m afraid to make the world mad?  (This doesn’t mean that I should go out and burn down a building or hurt people I disagree with – remember God says to LOVE others, even if we disagree with their lifestyle or actions.)  Or do I stand tall and firm in the believe that my God is bigger than anything they can throw at me?

Thought-provoking questions.  Great example.

Daniel 5:30

That very night Balshazzar, the Babylonian king,was killed.  And Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

I had a couple of observations about this chapter…

First, Daniel has now outlived two Babylonian kings.  This is either a testament to Daniel’s good health (and perhaps his faith in God) or to the danger of being the king of Babylon.  Either way, when Darius takes over, he’s king number three for Daniel, and in each case, God acts to bring Daniel to prominence and make His name known.

Second, God does act fast sometimes.  Here we have Balshazzar partying and using the gold cups from the Temple.  This angers God and He sends a hand to write on the wall that Balshazzar hasn’t learned from the lessons of his predecessor and therefore will lose the kingdom.  That very night Balshazzar is killed when the Persians invade.  One (well, probably more than one) stupid, prideful act took Balshazzar from being the life of the party to being dead.  It’s also interesting that nobody realized they were about to be invaded by the Persians! You’d think a lookout or someone would have noticed a vast army approaching and alerted the king.  Or maybe they did and the king was partying as an act of defiance.  Who knows.  Either way, God acted fast, and Balshazzar died.

Just a couple of thoughts…

Daniel 2: 29-30

“While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. He who reveals secrets has shown you what is going to happen. And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart…”

Nebuchadnezzar had demanded that his wise men, which included Daniel, tell him what his dream was and what it meant.  When the other wise men couldn’t do it (being mere mortals and not believing in God) Nebuchadnezzar ordered them all killed.  Daniel though, goes to the man in charge of killing everyone and, after asking for a day to pray and ask God about it, asks to be taken to the king to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream.  Once there he does tell the king his dream, but he acknowledges that it’s not because he’s any better or wiser that he knows what it is.  He gives the credit to God.  He also says that God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to understand what he was thinking about, what was in his heart.

In the same way, God wants us to understand Him, too.  God answered Daniel’s prayers for wisdom and understanding and protected Him from being executed with the wise men.  But Daniel makes the important point that his knowledge is from God and that God wants him to understand.  God isn’t keeping information about Himself and His will a secret.  He reveals it when the time is right because He wants us to be in the center of His will.  And that’s a good thing!

Daniel 1: 17

God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams.

Daniel wasn’t born with the ability to interpret dreams. He was given this gift when he needed it, when he was older.  Even though he was in captivity and in the service of a Godless king, God still blessed Daniel and equipped him for the job at hand.  He even gave him a special gift.

God loves us and prepares us when we need it.  He doesn’t do it in advance.  He waits until the time is right and the need is there.  Maybe that’s why it’s hard to trust sometimes.  We’d like to have it in advance, but God says, “wait.”  He provides it at just the right time, at the moment when we need it.  And it doesn’t matter the circumstances as long as we are walking in His will.

Daniel 1:4b

Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.

As an English teacher, this is fascinating to me…  My students always want to know why they have to read this stuff (and sometimes I wonder, too).  But here, the King of Babylon, arguably the most powerful man in the known world at the time, tells his most trusted man to train these elite Hebrew young men in language and literature.  Why not language and finances or strategy or food tasting or something like that?  Obviously the writings of a civilization are important.  They reflect the social customs and beliefs of the people of that day.  Perhaps these writings were also commentary on the political climate and history of Babylon.  I doubt that fiction had really become a genre at this point, so most writing was probably historical in nature or laws.  Therefore, perhaps the goal of them learning literature was to learn about their new homeland.  And my students think it’s such a waste of time!

Another interesting note:  When Daniel starts out he says that God allowed the King of Babylon to overthrow the king in Judah (vs 2 The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God.).  There’s no malice or anger at the situation.  He simply acknowledges that God allowed it, not caused it.  Was he one of the few who believed the prophets, like Ezekiel?  Or did he simply trust God so much that he believed that whatever God did was best?  I think it’s pretty amazing that after he’s been carted away as a captive of war he has such a calm perspective.  Or maybe he’s looking back and age and wisdom see the blessing in it.  I don’t know, but I think it’s pretty cool.