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Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
One week from today will be an historic day for our world as it will be inauguration day for the Presidency change in America. Of course, the entire world has been watching closely since the election was decided in early November… watching how the outgoing administration is finishing their four years and how the incoming administration is preparing for their next four years. I wonder what leadership observations you have made.
In the past few days, we’ve been looking at another historic time in human history, about 2600 years ago when King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian emperor, began taking over the known world. In 605bc Nebuchadnezzar defeated both the last soldiers of the Assyrians and also the armies of Egypt at Carchemish. Upon his return his armies made sure every town and city along the way understood King Nebuchadnezzar now ruled the world, and that included Jerusalem!
Daniel and his three young friends were taken captive from Jerusalem, dragged as prisoners to Babylon and placed in a forced, 3-year Babylonian, leadership training program. (Daniel 1) Yesterday we looked at their God given success in that program and their assignment by Nebuchadnezzar to very significant, even strategic roles of leadership in the Babylonian kingdom.
In ancient times as today, predicting the future was a significant part of the role of global leadership. Most leaders surrounded themselves with advisors to help in that process. For some leaders that advisory group included magicians, sorcerers and others believed to have contact with the spirit world and therefore able to gain insight from the spirits of gods or even deceased previous leaders.
One of Daniel’s first great challenges with King Nebuchadnezzar occurred when the king had dreams which he felt were predictive and thus he called his trusted advisors to help him understand the meaning of the dreams.
Daniel describes this event in Daniel 2:1,2 “In the second year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled, and he could not sleep. So, the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed.” Daniel was evidently not yet part of this inner circle of advisors, perhaps because he was still in his 3-year training program.
Nebuchadnezzar demanded the impossible of his advisors, for he required that they first tell him the details of what he had dreamed and then explain the meaning of the dream. Of course, they responded that they would try to interpret the dream if Nebuchadnezzar would first tell them what he had dreamt. But his reply was staggering: “If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble!” (Daniel 2:5)
The King’s advisors responded in shock: “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is impossible. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods and they do not live among humans...” (Dan. 2:10,11) They were telling the truth, weren’t they, my friends? But as evidence of the arrogance of King Nebuchadnezzar he “ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So, the decree was issued to put the wise men to death and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.” (Dan. 2:12,13)
Once again it appears God had allowed Daniel to fall into a desperate, no-win, situation. When word of this arrived to Daniel, he requested an audience with king Nebuchadnezzar and evidently the King repeated his demand and his threat even to Daniel. Daniel gathered his three Jewish friends together and “he urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.” (Dan. 2:16-18)
I’m stirred to ask myself and you, what our pattern of response is when we face something very difficult or impossible? With modern technology our access to global knowledge is almost unlimited and with cell phones we have the ability to contact almost any person or resource anywhere in the world! But though Daniel and his friends also had access to the best knowledge of that era, they turned only and exclusively to God in desperation and confidence. So, what about you and me? At what point do you finally decide it’s time to pray when you are facing a challenging situation?
Daniel records God’s response: “During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven…Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever…I thank and praise You God of my ancestors. You have given me wisdom and power; You have made known to me what we asked of You…” (Dan. 2:19-23)
Once again, I’m stirred to ponder and ask myself and you, what do we expect when we pray to God with important and even urgent matters? Do you remember Jesus urged His disciples to “Ask anything in My name so the Son may bring glory to the Father.” (John 14:13)
Daniel requested another audience with King Nebuchadnezzar and had perhaps the first opportunity of his lifetime to confront the most powerful human being in the world with the reality of the most powerful Divine being, the God of the Jewish people.
Daniel said “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these…” (Daniel 2:24-28) What a bold statement! We can assume King Nebuchadnezzar was not a particularly spiritual man and certainly he had no respect for the gods of nations he had conquered.
Yet young Daniel claimed he had a relationship with the Creator of the Universe and that God had made known to Daniel what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed! I can only imagine how stunned Nebuchadnezzar was. Also, I can only imagine the anxiety Daniel was feeling, standing before the most powerful man in the world, claiming to have received from God insight into what had transpired in the King’s head while he slept!
Let’s pause here and tomorrow we’ll look at what happened as Daniel explained Nebuchadnezzar’s dream! For today, I have three questions for us:
1. What is the spiritual maturity of your prayer life? What types of things do you talk with God about?
2. What is your expectation of God when you pray to Him?
3. How has God responded to your prayers in the past and what does that tell you about God and the relationship He has with you?
Here’s a worship song to help us consider the power of talking with God in prayer and I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow …
Today’s Scripture: Daniel 2:1-28.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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