Daniel’s Dilemma à Daniel’s Destiny

Daniel’s Dilemma  à  Daniel’s Destiny

Daniel and his three Hebrew buddies had a serious dilemma.

By King Nebuchadnezzar’s decree all the wise men in his kingdom were to die since, thus far, none could interpret the king’s weird dream. It just so happened that Daniel and friends were in the category of wise men in this kingdom of Babylon.

Now King Neb had asked a bit much of his staff of wise men—demanding that before they interpret his dream, they had to state what the dream was. By this he would know there was no faking it.

Since Daniel knew his God well he was confident that Yahweh, Who knows all things, certainly knew King Neb’s dream and what it meant. Daniel therefore ask if he might have a little time to consider the matter before the king lowered the boom on all the wise men. He was granted permission.

Daniel went home and told his three friends that their lives were on the line. BUT they knew and trusted their God, confident He would come through. That night God revealed the mystery’s solution to Daniel in a night vision.

With a grateful heart, Daniel praised God. In his declaration of praise we see the attributes of God which prompted such great faith.

"Daniel answered and said: ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. ²¹ And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.
²² He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And
light dwells with Him.

²³ I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand’” (Daniel 2:20-23).
 
Did you notice that I said, a couple of times, that Daniel and his friends knew their God? That is key to their great faith. They had a history with Yahweh (God). They knew the attributes of God—that wisdom and might are His; He can change the times and seasons; He can set up and take down kings; He the giver of wisdom and knowledge; He knows deep secret things and knows what’s in the darkness.
We too can have great faith, just like Daniel. When we know our God intimately and are familiar with His attributes, we will know He is trustworthy even in the scariest of circumstances.
When we pray, let’s let our prayers be based on God’s attributes. AND let’s let our expectations be based on God’s attributes.


 
Let’s each cultivate our own history with God. Our growth in faith today will be part of our history with God tomorrow.

 

You can read this entire fascinating story in your Bible, in the second chapter of Daniel. Here you’ll see Daniel state what the dream was and it’s interpretation, giving all credit to his powerful God. You can also learn about how King Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed he declared that the God of the Hebrews was the God of all gods, Lord of kings, and so on. He also gave Daniel a big promotion in his kingdom.

Thank you for reading my blog post today. I hope you’re encouraged to build your history with God. Your comments are welcome.

©Connie Wohlford 2015