God and How to Follow Him

Most people are not forced to evaluate the accuracy of their picture of God until times of crisis. Crises have a clarifying effect on it. They cause us to reevaluate. Perhaps, we have believed a lie, and we need to find an answer that satisfies. Perhaps, we encounter a situation we did not expect or were not prepared for. So we search for answers, solutions, and guides that we did not know we needed. Trials and tribulations are how God gets our attention. James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Problem of Pain, he wrote, “God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It’s his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” God uses all circumstances to get our attention and to shape us into who he wants us to be.
That sounds all well and good when times are good; however, when you are in the midst of a trial, it can be a heart-wrenching and deeply troubling experience. That is where the story of Daniel turns next. It is a time when King Nebuchadnezzar was alarmed by a dream he had. Through the course of the story, important questions are raised to which the king and his wise men do not have adequate answers about who God is and how man can relate to him.

THE KING AND HIS ADVISORS V. 1-13
The story starts with a series of dreams that the king has that severely trouble him, give him insomnia, and produce great anxiety. He calls his wise men together and asks them to tell him not just what the dream means, but to tell him the dream itself. The term Chaldeans, though the name of an ethnic group, had become synonymous with soothsayers and dream interpreters.
Evidently, the king had forgotten his dream, or was testing his soothsayers, or both. He is deeply troubled and needs to know with certainty that they have access to the divine. The king sets for them a test that could only be satisfied if they are the real deal (v. 8-9). The extreme challenge of the king creates for the Chaldeans a new crisis which reveals their incomplete picture of who God is; God (or the gods) is far away from humans and does not concern himself with humans or tell them anything (v.10-11). The king is so upset with this answer that he decides to kill every last wise man in Babylon. That is where Daniel comes in. He belonged to the category of wise men and so a soldier went to go kill him.

DANIEL AND THE DREAM V. 14-23
Daniel inquires about the source of the king’s decree and is told the story. He then asks the king to give him time to seek the answer to his problem (v. 14-16). Daniel then goes back to his friends and asks them to join in praying for God to be merciful and give them answers that will satisfy the king’s unreasonable request (v. 17-18). Verse 19 says very succinctly that God reveals to him the mystery in a night vision but does not reveal until later what that dream is. The most important part of this section is v. 20-23 where Daniel praises God for what He has done. He focuses specifically on three attributes: wisdom, power, and revelation. God knows what is best and what will happen. God is strong to do all that he wishes. He gives his wisdom and power to those whom he wishes by revealing to them things that are not understood, because they are difficult (profound things v. 22). And they cannot be understood, because they are secret (hidden things v. 22).

THE DREAM AND ITS INTERPRETATION VV. 24-45
Daniel goes to the king and reveals to him both the dream and what it means.
1. The Dream (vv. 31-35): The king saw a giant statue (v. 31) whose head was gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and hips were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were clay (v32-33). He then saw a stone come out and crush the entire statue and turned it into dust (v. 35a). Then the stone turned into a giant mountain that filled the whole earth (v. 35b).
2. The Interpretation (vv. 36-45): Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold. But Babylon will be followed by other kingdoms which are represented by the different metals. Scholars have associated the metals with the nations that followed Babylon in ruling this area: Silver (Persia), Bronze (Greece), and Iron (Rome). All of these will be crushed by stone. This stone was interpreted by Christians to be a prophesy of Jesus who appeared during the time of Rome, and his death and resurrection inaugurated a kingdom which will find complete fulfillment when he returns. The most famous passage that refers to the Messiah as a stone is mentioned by Jesus (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17), and Early Christians (Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7).
It is a quotation from Psalm 118:22: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.”

LESSON FROM THIS STORY: ATTRIBUTES OF A SERVANT OF GOD
A key element of this story is the fact that God prophesied through Daniel the coming of Jesus, and his kingdom has come, is coming, and will come most fully when Jesus returns and reigns over all that he has made and redeemed. But to take only this is to miss the lesson from the rest of the story. These prophesies are wrapped in a larger narrative about the king and Daniel that revealed the nature of who God is, and offer Daniel as an example for what it means to serve God. Throughout this story, Daniel is shown as possessing attributes that make him distinctive and set apart from the other wise men in Babylon.
1. Discernment v. 14 – It says that when the guards came to kill Daniel, he exercises discretion and discernment. He had situational awareness and was able to think clearly and quickly about what to do.
He did not respond rashly or recklessly. Think about how you would respond if your boss was going to kill everyone in your department. Now, think about how calmly Daniel responded. He was showing that he trusted that God was in control, and that God would show him how to navigate this difficult situation.
2. Devotion vv. 17-18 – After Daniel was granted a reprieve to produce an answer, he immediately joined in prayer with his friends seeking God and asking him to show compassion. Daniel knew that he did not have the answer; he knew that God did. So Daniel earnestly sought God.
3. Gratitude v. 19 – Once God revealed the mystery of the king’s dream to him, the first thing Daniel did was not to run off to the king but to praise God. Gratitude is a hard thing to remember. After the anxiety has passed, most people move on. Luke tells the story in Luke 17:11-19 about ten lepers who were healed but only one returned to thank Jesus. We are often like the nine, forgetting to be grateful to God – but not Daniel. He immediately turned to praising God. Daniel praised God, because through this experience, he received a clearer picture of the God he served.
4. Humility v. 30 – Daniel at this point was powerful and successful, and he has the answer that the king needs. Daniel does not claim it as his own. He claims no special reason why God showed him the answer.
Daniel is humble. When many would be tempted to claim credit for themselves to save their own skin or increase their standing, Daniel stays humble and gives all the credit to God.