Saturday, March 21, 2009
Daniel 2: Confidence For Today
"When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king's officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him." - Dan 2:14 & 15
In Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and demands that the wise men of Babylon tell him what he dreamt. They, of course, can't and then the king goes crazy and orders them all killed. Daniel & friends pray for God's mercy and ability and then Daniel gets the vision from God, tells the king his dream, interprets it, the crazy king saves all the wise men and puts Daniel in charge of them.
In this story, there is practical application for us today. While most of us cannot interpret dreams, we can see here evidence of how God wants to work in our lives.
Before Daniel ever learned of the king's plans, God allowed this crazy dream to disturb the king. And when his usual diviners and wise men could not do what he asked, the king wants them all axed. Now, remember in chapter one we learned that Daniel and his buddies had won the favor of the guards? It seems here that as soon as their buddy the guard found out what was going to happen, he went directly to them first. Daniel wisely wins them time by stepping up and going to see the king directly. I assume that this is with the help of the guard.
God uses anyone he wants to get our attention and to present opportunities to you to fulfill your purpose, to use your skills and abilities. There is something happening now that will require YOU.
But you have to act in FAITH. Had Daniel whined, or cried out, or perhaps even ran away, God's mission for him would have at the least been delayed and all of his peers would have been dead. Daniel had confidence in his abilities, in his friends (including the guard) and in God that he could make a difference.
So many times we lack so much confidence that we fail to see that God has set us up to not fail. We are often in situations where we face an opportunity to use our skills or excercise our faith and we cower down or step back because we lack confidence. Right now, in my life, I am in a position where I can take a step of confidence in faith. There is support all around me to hold me up as I venture on this project. The foundations of the "bridge" are strong, the structure is in place, I just have to step up in my task and do it. But I am afraid of failing, I lack that confidence.
This lack of confidence comes from a lot of places, but the biggest place for Christians, I believe, comes from our overwhelming, often hidden, belief that we don't deserve it. We are sinful, flawed believers and we can't possibly succeed in "that" because we haven't conquered sin in our own lives. This is where I have spent many many days of my life - seeing myself as forgiven on the day of judgement, but woefully sinful in my daily life - lowly and unworthy of God's blessings.
But here is the truth in Daniel, and it's truth for us. GET UP! You ARE worthy of this task, the task before you. You are forgiven on the day of judgement because you are forgiven TODAY!
Here was Daniel, a man living a thousand years or so before Christ's incredible gift and in his unforgiven state he had faith that God would use him. He had confidence that God was his champion - not just in forgiveness, but in his ENTIRE life. He stepped up before the king, God moved, and he saved himself and his peers.
What can God do if you step out in confidence today?
"When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king's officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him." - Dan 2:14 & 15
In Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and demands that the wise men of Babylon tell him what he dreamt. They, of course, can't and then the king goes crazy and orders them all killed. Daniel & friends pray for God's mercy and ability and then Daniel gets the vision from God, tells the king his dream, interprets it, the crazy king saves all the wise men and puts Daniel in charge of them.
In this story, there is practical application for us today. While most of us cannot interpret dreams, we can see here evidence of how God wants to work in our lives.
Before Daniel ever learned of the king's plans, God allowed this crazy dream to disturb the king. And when his usual diviners and wise men could not do what he asked, the king wants them all axed. Now, remember in chapter one we learned that Daniel and his buddies had won the favor of the guards? It seems here that as soon as their buddy the guard found out what was going to happen, he went directly to them first. Daniel wisely wins them time by stepping up and going to see the king directly. I assume that this is with the help of the guard.
God uses anyone he wants to get our attention and to present opportunities to you to fulfill your purpose, to use your skills and abilities. There is something happening now that will require YOU.
But you have to act in FAITH. Had Daniel whined, or cried out, or perhaps even ran away, God's mission for him would have at the least been delayed and all of his peers would have been dead. Daniel had confidence in his abilities, in his friends (including the guard) and in God that he could make a difference.
So many times we lack so much confidence that we fail to see that God has set us up to not fail. We are often in situations where we face an opportunity to use our skills or excercise our faith and we cower down or step back because we lack confidence. Right now, in my life, I am in a position where I can take a step of confidence in faith. There is support all around me to hold me up as I venture on this project. The foundations of the "bridge" are strong, the structure is in place, I just have to step up in my task and do it. But I am afraid of failing, I lack that confidence.
This lack of confidence comes from a lot of places, but the biggest place for Christians, I believe, comes from our overwhelming, often hidden, belief that we don't deserve it. We are sinful, flawed believers and we can't possibly succeed in "that" because we haven't conquered sin in our own lives. This is where I have spent many many days of my life - seeing myself as forgiven on the day of judgement, but woefully sinful in my daily life - lowly and unworthy of God's blessings.
But here is the truth in Daniel, and it's truth for us. GET UP! You ARE worthy of this task, the task before you. You are forgiven on the day of judgement because you are forgiven TODAY!
Here was Daniel, a man living a thousand years or so before Christ's incredible gift and in his unforgiven state he had faith that God would use him. He had confidence that God was his champion - not just in forgiveness, but in his ENTIRE life. He stepped up before the king, God moved, and he saved himself and his peers.
What can God do if you step out in confidence today?
Labels: Christian living, Confidence, Daniel
Sunday, March 15, 2009
God Will Bless Your Work
Daniel 1
Since my daily devotional ran out and I am not doing any kind of formal study right now, I've decided to go back to my old method of personal Bible study, picking a book and going through it chapter by chapter. I figured I'd share some of my thoughts along the way... This time from the book of Daniel.
In Daniel 1 we see the guys: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; taken from Israel and shipped to Babylon. They are written down as some of the most handsome, fit, and intelligent men among their peers. The Guard watching them grows attached to them and allows them to not "defile" themselves with the king's food. By doing so, God blesses them, both the guys and the guard. God gave them a friend, and I’m sure many friends in this foreign land, and then he honored their devotion to him. In the middle of a rather bad situation, God was working for their good.
“To these for men, God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.” Daniel 1:17
Now to start here, it’s easy to blindly assume that God somehow magically gave this stuff to the guys. Poof - he made them smart. It is true, God gave them a remarkable ability to learn and he probably placed them in families where they were trained by their good parents and leaders to be teachable. These are evidence of God’s providence. He also took them to a place with great teachers and the center of great knowledge. For their time, it was like taking them from a good community college and dropping them into the middle of Oxford. These guys were educated by people God placed into their lives, regardless of difficult circumstances. Daniel’s unique ability to interpret dreams, while I’m sure helped by the education process is also evidence of a truly God-given gift that his environment was able to help flourish.
So all of this comes to pass and the guys go to be assigned to their posts in the Babylonian kingdom. They appear before the king…
“In every matter… he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.” Daniel 1:20
The guys went to work for the king and God blessed them and helped them to become better at their job than anyone else. He blessed them again in their obedience and in his providence. So often we get to our job or our work and we feel let down or like our work is separate from out lives. It’s like God does not care about it, or that we aren’t the best at it. But God wants you to be the best you can be. We forget that he is the champion of our lives.
If you truly believe in his providence, in his very real and present work IN your life, that we have an actively involved God who cares about you tremendously, then open your eyes to see that he WANTS you to succeed. A failure, a missed opportunity, a job loss, etc are not evidence of your poor value or lack of ability…
They are opportunities for God to make you successful again - to refine your abilities, to go to Babylon and be strengthened for the next task.
Daniel 1
Since my daily devotional ran out and I am not doing any kind of formal study right now, I've decided to go back to my old method of personal Bible study, picking a book and going through it chapter by chapter. I figured I'd share some of my thoughts along the way... This time from the book of Daniel.
In Daniel 1 we see the guys: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; taken from Israel and shipped to Babylon. They are written down as some of the most handsome, fit, and intelligent men among their peers. The Guard watching them grows attached to them and allows them to not "defile" themselves with the king's food. By doing so, God blesses them, both the guys and the guard. God gave them a friend, and I’m sure many friends in this foreign land, and then he honored their devotion to him. In the middle of a rather bad situation, God was working for their good.
“To these for men, God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.” Daniel 1:17
Now to start here, it’s easy to blindly assume that God somehow magically gave this stuff to the guys. Poof - he made them smart. It is true, God gave them a remarkable ability to learn and he probably placed them in families where they were trained by their good parents and leaders to be teachable. These are evidence of God’s providence. He also took them to a place with great teachers and the center of great knowledge. For their time, it was like taking them from a good community college and dropping them into the middle of Oxford. These guys were educated by people God placed into their lives, regardless of difficult circumstances. Daniel’s unique ability to interpret dreams, while I’m sure helped by the education process is also evidence of a truly God-given gift that his environment was able to help flourish.
So all of this comes to pass and the guys go to be assigned to their posts in the Babylonian kingdom. They appear before the king…
“In every matter… he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.” Daniel 1:20
The guys went to work for the king and God blessed them and helped them to become better at their job than anyone else. He blessed them again in their obedience and in his providence. So often we get to our job or our work and we feel let down or like our work is separate from out lives. It’s like God does not care about it, or that we aren’t the best at it. But God wants you to be the best you can be. We forget that he is the champion of our lives.
If you truly believe in his providence, in his very real and present work IN your life, that we have an actively involved God who cares about you tremendously, then open your eyes to see that he WANTS you to succeed. A failure, a missed opportunity, a job loss, etc are not evidence of your poor value or lack of ability…
They are opportunities for God to make you successful again - to refine your abilities, to go to Babylon and be strengthened for the next task.
Labels: Bible Study, Daniel, Work
