"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king." Daniel 2:20-23
Often times when we think of 'the story of Daniel,' our minds are always drawn to 'Daniel and the Loin's den', the old childhood story we read as preschoolers. What our small minds failed to realize is this: There is so much more to the book of Daniel than we realize. Prophecies, wisdom, riddles, and so many other stories fill the book of Daniel far beyond the small story of the loin's den. Don't get me wrong though, Daniel standing strong in his faith and being completely unharmed after a night with hungry lions is very astounding and shows us God's power. But there is so much more we need to think about in the book of Daniel.
One area which I'll write a bit about today, is Daniel's attitude. The verse above gives a good example of his willingness to give God all the glory. He could easily have marched up to Nebuchadnezzar and stated, "Oh, King, guess what I discovered all on my own! I'm amazing!" But he didn't, he gave God the glory for giving him such insight. (Not to mention I doubt God would give Daniel insight and wisdom if he took all the credit for himself.) To me, Daniel always seems to be quite confidant in God and what He can do. Often times he goes right out and says something in faith, such as: "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare out appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." (Daniel 1:12-13) Daniel trusted God to keep them healthy, even though they only ate vegetables. Speckled all through the book of Daniel are similar words Daniel says, he possessed so much faith and trust in God. To end another one of my rambles, I say, may we try to have the faith and trust Daniel did in our God. We ARE His servants after all, He saved us from hell, we need to trust Him with ALL our minds and ALL our hearts.
Another great post, Sarah. I appreciate Daniel's example to us. He withstood great opposition and persecution and yet, remained faithful and true to the truth and revelation that God gave him. I shutter to think of how often in the past I have succumbed to peer pressure that involved only words and yet he stood up to death. May we all have faith that stands strong in the truth of God's Word, regardless. xox Mom
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