Once again I have made all of my digital books on
free from
Wednesday
December 25, 2019 through
Wednesday January 1, 2020.
Tell a friend!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
M.R. Hyde
Monday, December 23, 2019
Monday, December 2, 2019
Seasons of Change: Part 3 Daniel 2:20-23
“Praise
be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
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,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.”
wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
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,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.”
~Daniel
2:20-23
This
is the final lesson on change from the book of Daniel. We’ve spent a lot of
time thinking about Daniel and his friends. And we’ve spent quite a bit of time
thinking about the Babylonians and other enemies. Now I think it’s time we
talked about God.
As
we’ve explored previously, sometimes we don’t know who God is or in the midst
of our trouble we have forgotten. So, let’s let Daniel remind us who God is,
shall we? Let’s look closely at the wonderful prayer Daniel prayed after God
delivered them from the clutches of death.
Daniel
begins his marvelous prayer by making a statement of praise.
Praise
be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom
and power are his.
Daniel had been taught from the
time he was a small child that the God his parents knew was the only God. By the time he prayed the
prayer in Daniel 2 he was well familiar with the multiple gods of the
Babylonians. Daniel knew enough in his young life to be sure of one fact—his
God was the God and no one was going
to shove any other gods into that top position.
Throughout all of their terrible,
long, one-thousand-mile journey and their training in a foreign land, the name
of God prevailed. We can imagine, when the road was too rough or the enemies
too terrifying, that all of the songs they knew of God sang through their heads
and encouraged their hearts. Perhaps in the darkest of nights Daniel woke up
with Psalm 136 trumpeting through his mind—His
love endures forever. No matter what had come against them, God was still
with them. He was worthy of praise for ever and ever.
Wisdom and power are his. If you doubt this after reading this
extraordinary story, then something is terribly wrong. All of the ancient
pagan, occultist, satanic, astrological, metaphysical, humanistic practices
could not discern the king’s dream. They even admitted (2:11) that their own
gods did not have the means to tell the king his own dream. Only God knew what
had happened in the king’s restless sleep because God alone is all-wise and
all-powerful.
There would be times of testing on
this matter in the future and this initial incident was one of the foundation-building
events from which Daniel and his friends could operate the rest of their lives.
This is why the words “for ever and
ever” are part of his initial declaration. This is the unmovable God who
is neither afraid of or negatively influenced by human events and his name can
be praised for all eternity.
He changes times and seasons. This phrase holds a lot of weight and
meaning and there are several ways we can look at it. Who initiated this great
world? God did. And when he did, he said it was good! God celebrated his
creation and deemed that times and seasons would be a steadfast and predictable
forces by which men and women could plant, navigate and harvest. God was so mindful of us when he created this
world, he knew exactly what we would need to thrive.
In addition to this, God’s plans
and purposes are so perfect and sure that no person can thwart them no matter
how hard they try. The original Aramaic and Hebrew words for times and seasons
are nearly interchangeable. They mean “set appointments” or “eras of human
history”. John Goldengay put it
wonderfully:
“Daniel denies that history is determined by the
planetary forces that the Babylonians studied. History is under the control of
God in his freedom. It is thus his secret. It cannot be predicted, divined by
means of techniques, as the sages have now acknowledged. It can only be
revealed . . . The times were fixed by a source to which they had no
access. God controls times and eras and
his name is blessed from age to age.”[1]
The latter half of the book of
Daniel is apocalyptic literature, focused on the end of times. Not only did God
reveal to Daniel what he needed to survive in the moment, but he also revealed
to Daniel what every believer needed to survive while waiting for the future
glory of God—when all things will be changed by his mighty hand and all things
will be made new. I find it very
interesting that in Daniel 7:25,
part of the revelation of end times talks about the anti-Christ’s efforts. “He will speak against the Most High and
oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws.” Do you
know what word I hang my hat on there? The word “try.” The anti-Christ will only be able to try
to change God’s times and laws. And as we read in the book of Revelations, he
will not be successful. Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever!
Did you know that Jesus was this Truth?
Time and time again he confronted weak, humanistic understandings of his power
and authority. The Apostle John affirmed his power in John 1:1-5.
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him
nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the
light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it.
I’m thinking of the time when Jesus
was asleep in the bow of a boat. The boat was being rocked wildly in a terrible
seasonal storm on the sea of Galilee. The disciples were terrified and feared
for their lives. In Mark 4:37-41 we read
the following.
A
furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was
nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples
woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
He
got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!"
Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He
said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no
faith?"
They
were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the
waves obey him!"
God cares about you. And he can
change times, seasons, eras, and events to save you. We read in Joshua 10:12-14 about a time when God
stopped the sun on behalf of the Israelite army! And he is right there
with you if you are in the middle of the storm, overcome by oppressors, stuck
in a pagan culture or trapped in a bit of human history that seems to be
unbearable. He can calm every storm, belay every attack, and provide a way for
you to be more than a survivor because he is God. Daniel understood this, for
when he prayed his great prayer he knew that deliverance and salvation were already
on the way!
In the next portion of Daniel’s
prayer, he cites a fact: he sets up kings and deposes them. God controls all powers on the earth. He
is the one who even put Nebuchadnezzar in power over Daniel’s nation. We read
the prophecy that Isaiah made to King Hezekiah, the king of Judah not long
before the exile.
Then
Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: The time will surely
come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up
until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the
LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be
born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of
the king of Babylon."
~2 Kings 20:17-18
The great Apostle Paul reckoned
with this as well. Through all of his missionary journeys he encountered powers
and authorities and he wanted to make sure that all believers understood this. In
Romans 13:1 he writes, "Everyone must submit himself to the
governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has
established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." Sometimes
it is difficult for us to work with this concept. It is difficult unless we
know and understand that God is in absolute control of all the human eras and
appointed times. It is a good thing that Daniel understood this.
By all rules of fairness, Daniel
should have been restored to his home immediately. God had other plans. And
Daniel, who never flinched from his dedication to the one, true God, despite
repeated death threats, remained in the service of pagan kings’ for nearly forty-eight
years. As you read through the book of Daniel you see how God revealed a
powerful truth to him in the dreams of others, visions of his own and visions
of God’s end times. He served under Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Belshazzar his
son, Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Chaldean.
Daniel was first submitted to God and then to God’s appointed leaders. One
thing that all human history teaches us is that all human leaders rise and
fall, live and die.
But God is unchanging—in wisdom,
character, and purpose. He knows everything. Therefore, if he changes times and
seasons, rulers and kings, circumstances and situations, it is in our best
interest. I can think back on several situations in my life where I could
clearly see the hand of God moving me on to protect me, to bring me into
greater light or to show me his better way.
After many unnerving and revealing
incidents Nebuchadnezzar himself had to face the truth about Daniel’s God. He
made it a public declaration and, even in his secular rule, made this remarkable
statement we find in Daniel 4:1-3. “King Nebuchadnezzar, To the peoples,
nations and men of every language, who live in all the world: May you prosper
greatly! It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders
that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs, how
mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures
from generation to generation." You see, even pagan kings have to finally
understand who God is! How much more should we?!
Daniel’s next few phrases reflect
the kindness and generosity of God.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to
the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows
what lies in darkness.
Just as King Solomon had asked for
wisdom, Daniel and his friends had prayed for insight and wisdom as well. In
the face of an impossible task, God gave the exact wisdom and insight that they
needed. The revelation from God to Daniel revealed wisdom and insight higher
than hundreds of Babylonian wise men. Under their own admission it was
impossible to do what King Nebuchadnezzar was asking. But God could do far more
than they could ever ask or imagine!
From that point forward, and for forty-eight
years, Daniel remained faithful to his God, enabled by God's wisdom to navigate
pagan cultures, high positions of political power, and threats of death. Oh,
that we would live so faithfully, with our attention completely directed toward
God!
I think that many of us can scroll
back through her memory and find times where God gave us special insight,
understanding or a revelation about a person or circumstance that helped us to
make good and valuable decisions. This is the power of the Holy Spirit in our
present age. This is the same spirit of God that helped Daniel and his friends.
The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is our present guide who also
gives us wisdom, knowledge, and discernment. And the Holy Spirit enables us to
see things that lie in the darkness. While we cannot see or know everything,
the Holy Spirit's sweet presence and sure direction can give us the courage
needed. The Holy Spirit can reveal to us
critical issues in situations so that we can make choices that will not only be
to our benefit but to the benefit of everyone around us, including
nonbelievers. It is the Spirit’s lamplight of truth that can illuminate the
dark places of our souls, our cultures and our nations so that his will can be
done even through our obedience and worship.
Daniel declares
that the source of this illumination comes from within God himself “and
light dwells with him.” Without God we would be living in
darkness. But because he is the source of all things, he is the Day Star, and
the origin of all good things, everything we need to know about him can and
will be revealed.
I imagine that in
the middle of the night on that rocky and bumpy road to Babylon Daniel could
look up into the sky and see the stars that his God had put in place. And those
stars would remind him that they are just reflections of the perfect light of
God. And I imagine that in the middle of the night, when Daniel and his friends
were praying for God's revelation, they could sense in their souls that God’s light
was defusing the darkness. I imagine that as the sun rose in the east and
Daniel prepared to go see the king, he could feel the warmth of the morning sun
on his face. And I believe he knew that the sunshine on his face was only a
shadow of the brilliance of the light of God himself.
He closed his
prayer with the brilliant song of thanksgiving.
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
2:19b-23
Amen
M.R.
Hyde
Copyright
2019
[1]
Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 30 Daniel, John E. Goldengay, Word Publishers,
Dallas, TX 1989, p. 56.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Seasons of Change: Part 2 Daniel 2:20-23
Read Daniel
2:1-28a
We
ended last lesson by asking what gave Daniel courage, confidence and
decisiveness in the face of trouble. Was Daniel a superhuman? Was he just so
extraordinary in character that none of the rest of us could ever be like
him? What was it that enabled Daniel to
overcome and push through despite the stark truth that just about everything
changed in his young life?
Remember
that it was the intent of the Babylonians to use the best and the brightest to
increase their nation’s abilities and power. Therefore, in Chapter 1 we can see
the systematic structure designed to start the assimilation and reprogramming
of these young Israelite men. They were to be given a particular diet, they
were to be taught the native language, they were given new and pagan names, and
they were schooled in all aspects of literature and languages. The Babylonians were quite sure that their
program would work.
But
they knew very little about the faithful Israelites and their God. Daniel and
his friends understood who their God was despite everything that had changed. They
understood that God’s ways were perfect and his character was sure and
steadfast even in the face of everything changing. Despite the fact that their
home and families were far away, despite the fact that their city had been
razed and ruined, despite the fact that their place of worship had been utterly
destroyed, they had another fact—their God was still on the throne.
Having
an unwavering faith in the nature and character of God can give anyone the
ability to rise above any kind of trouble and change. This must have been what
was at the rock bed of Daniel’s choice to not be completely assimilated into
the Babylonian culture and religion. I hope you didn’t missed what 1:8 says, “But Daniel resolved . . .”
What
is resolve? Is it the good, old-fashioned “I will pull myself up by my own
bootstraps” attitude? That kind of attitude is based on self-reliance. Frankly,
when you have lost everything self-reliance is shifting sand.
Resolve
can be defined as reaching a decision or making a determination or having a
fixed purpose. Now, I can be resolved to get myself out of a mess. But can I
really? Let’s think about those taken into exile. They had no means of
escape—the Babylonian army and might were extraordinary. They had no means of
rebuilding their wall or their temple—they no longer had any financial or
building resources, plus they were 1,000 miles away from home. They had little
or no choice in how they lived—they were told what to do every hour of the day.
But they did have something that could never be taken away from them. They had
a deep and abiding faith in God and the will to trust Him no matter what. These
two things cannot be taken from any human being. If you do not have them, it is
because you have simply surrendered them to your conqueror who has laid siege
to you for so long.
Through
the example of a young man who did not surrender his right to believe in God,
we can learn how to overcome. John E. Goldengay, a fine commentator on the book
of Daniel, made some note-worthy statements about Daniel. Read carefully:
“. . . the fruit of [Daniel’s] work is not
merely rewards and promotions (v. 48) but obeisance and recognition of his God
(vv. 46-47) . . . Daniel is portrayed as a model for spirituality in his
attitude of trust, expectancy and gratitude, expressed in his practice of
prayer and praise in the fellowship of his friends. The contents of his praise
expresses key affirmations about God’s sovereignty over human affairs and his
revelation of the secrets of history which he alone knows . . .”[1]
O.K.
Can we be truthful here? Not many of us know how great and good God is. In
fact, our images of God are often distorted by broken human relationships,
disappointment, sin, and disillusionment. How many times have we prayed and not
yet heard the answer we wanted? How many times have we made deals with God and
he didn’t hold up the end of the bargain, even though we failed? How often have
we tried to conjure up a god that will always give us what we want when we want
it? How many times have we given in to the siege works of addiction,
selfishness, deal-making and manipulation?
In
the middle of changes that wrenched everything away, Daniel and his friends
knew how to be stable and secure. They found resolve based on the true
character of God. This resolve came from a deep understanding that God was
indeed sovereign, trustworthy, powerful and gracious. And because of this resolve, God honored them
with great things. In 1:15-20 we see the specific things God gave to these men
of resolve: greater health, knowledge
and understanding and, to Daniel, the understanding of dreams and visions. These
three young Israelite men became ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters of the entire Babylonian kingdom! God
gave them what He valued and knew was best for them. He gave to them precisely
what they would need for the trials ahead and the decisions they would have to
make. We see this specifically in Daniel 2.
Once
again, we can observe the violent and unstable nature of the Babylonian way,
and in particular, this is demonstrated in the character of King
Nebuchadnezzar. Let’s look at a couple
of key verses that show this:
Daniel
2:5-6
The king replied
to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: 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. But if you tell me the dream and
explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So,
tell me the dream and interpret it for me."
Daniel
2:10-13
The astrologers
answered the king, "There is not a man 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 too difficult. No
one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among
men."
This made the king so angry and furious
that 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.
In
the face of impending destruction and death, what would your reactions be? Would
you capitulate and surrender yourself to the siege? Would you fold and let go
of your God? What would you do? What could be done? John Goldengay reflected on
this point of temptation: “Jewish exiles
might be tempted to find Israelite wisdom and Israelite faith in their God as
Lord of history looking extremely unimpressive compared with the resources and
power of Nebuchadnezzar.”[2]
Can
we get a grasp on how crazy this situation was? There was no logic, no
recourse. The king could not be reasoned with and lives were at stake. King
Nebuchadnezzar was a wicked man whose mind and heart were torn with confusion
and selfishness. He really had no idea that his own soul had been under siege
and taken captive by evil and sin.
But
Daniel was not tempted to give in to fear and hopelessness. He knew what could
and should be done. Never surrender and never retreat because God is still on
his throne. With a boldness and surety of who his God was and what He had given
to Daniel, Daniel thrust himself into the throne room of King Nebuchadnezzar
and begs for time! What boldness, what courage! Where did that come from? It
came from Daniel’s firm faith in the one, true living God who was far more
powerful than any Babylonian King.
Daniel 2:17-18
Then Daniel
returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael
and Azariah. 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.
The
“natural” response from an individual who understands God’s will and character
is to go to God. Daniel did not engage all the occult and magical
practices he had been exposed to in his Babylonian training. He did not try to
bribe or manipulate anyone. He did not curl up in a corner and escape the
world. He did what he instinctively knew to do as a person after God’s own
heart—he prayed to God whom he trusted. And more than that, he urged his fellow
believers to pray with him, to plead the mercies of God. They prayed not only
for themselves, but also for all the other wise men who were under death
sentence.
When
a situation is hopeless, the God of hope steps in. Only God could rescue Daniel, his friends and
all the wise men of Babylon. And so he
did.
Daniel 2:19
During the night
the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
Oh,
the great power of God! Not only did he give Daniel the gift of understanding
dreams and visions, but he revealed to him the dream the king insisted on
keeping secret. This was a path of deliverance personally delivered by the
Highest Power in the universe. No earthly king could match that kind of
knowledge, wisdom or power. Daniel had full confidence in his God and trusted
deeply in the mercies of God Most High. Out of his resolve and out of his trust
he sang a wonderful song. It is a song
of truth and mercy, a song of praise and thanksgiving. It is a song of worship.
“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 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 2:19b-23
Oh,
do you know who God is? He is the One who wants to deliver you from your
enemies. He is the One who wants to give you a way where there seems to be no
way. He is the One who wants to help you in the midst of your trouble. He is
the One who has already been working things out.
In
Daniel 10:12 we can read of the experience of God appearing to Daniel. It is a remarkable
scene that holds a key to understanding how God works. This is what was told to
Daniel, “Since the first day that you set
your mind to understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words
were heard.” God is the One who loves you enough to work His miracles on
your behalf even before you know He is working. And he is the One who is
greater than any force that can come against you.
How
do we become like Daniel, who as Dr. Goldengay so aptly put it, was a model for
spirituality in his attitude of trust, expectancy and gratitude, expressed in
his practice of prayer and praise in the fellowship of his friends?
The
first thing we need to do is to let God re-form his image in us. As we have
observed before, our image of God can become warped or tarnished from human
tragedy and disappointments. Only as we
let the Spirit of God transform our understanding of him can we begin to grasp
who he is. Only as we let go of all the things that seem to be our security can
we find the true Security of our lives.
Then
we will be able to pray effectively, fervently and with great confidence
expecting God to deliver us in His perfect way. We can release our humanistic
and selfish expectations of God doing it our way and let him do it His way. We
can erupt in praise and thanksgiving for Him.
Just
as Daniel understood, sometimes this takes praying together. He was quick to
gather his friends and urge them to pray specifically. Perhaps that’s what
needs to happen right now. Do you need prayer about a specific, seemingly
undeliverable situation? Do you need the intercession of other believers so
that the erroneous images of God and your off-target expectations of him could
be removed? Do you need to spend time in prayer with your God who is willing
and able to work his perfect will and future on your behalf, if you will only
fully submit to Him?
Amen
M.R.
Hyde
Copyright
2019
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