MIDWEEK MEDITATION

“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”
“As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”

              Daniel 12:1-4; 13

Daniel didn’t simply survive, he thrived.

The visions he received and the challenges he faced, all of it led him to his knees and to his God. At the end of it all, he was told to go on his way and live his life with the confidence that God is in control. 

Daniel’s vision of the end is as relevant for God’s people today as it was to the exiled prophet in his own time. When we see the end as God has written it, we are changed by it. It challenges our priorities and perceptions. And perhaps most stunning of all, the book of Daniel ends, not with a call to act, but a call to rest. 

There is a rest awaiting God’s people. You can experience it today. Will you enter into that rest? There is more for you than simply surviving. Today, you can thrive. 

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

Daniel 9:3-10

Sometimes to go forward, you must look back.
 
Daniel was reflecting on God’s promise to return His people to their land. After so many years living in exile, visions of home, of the temple, and of what life used to be like must have been dim. But he clung to that promise of his people returning one day. Fearful that God’s people might continue in their cycles of sin and unfaithfulness, Daniel goes to his knees in prayer. 

He prays not only for himself, but for God to forgive their long history of sin and brokenness. He was a spiritual leader who interceded on behalf of others and was willing to break the cycles of sin in his own generation. This man, so far from home, helped return an entire people back to their land and back to their God. 

We desperately need spiritual leaders today. Who can you intercede on behalf of? What cycles of sin need to be challenged and broken in your context?

May you lead one person back to God this week.

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first.  And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in Susa the citadel, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the Ulai canal. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

Daniel 8:1-4

Visions of the future give us courage for today. 

Daniel saw an appalling vision. He saw nations rising and falling. He saw violence and corruption. A little horn would come and, with it, bring incredible persecution for God’s people. It was almost too much for Daniel to take. 

We might be tempted to think at this point that Daniel was ready to give up or step back from the hardship to come. But something happened in Daniel when he saw these visions. Instead of slinking back, he actually presses forward. Instead of being gripped by fear, he finds courage. These visions, as difficult as they were, came before and fueled some of the most fruitful years of ministry in Daniel’s life. 

Why? Because visions of the future give us courage for today. 

This vision came just a short while before Daniel’s risky confrontation of the sacrilegious king Belshazzar. Daniel had seen the end. He knew what would happen to Babylon and, more importantly, that the King of Kings had everything in control. 

How does this vision of the future give you much-needed courage for today?

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
 And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.

Daniel 7:13-14

There is a kingdom coming. 

Those who see it with the eyes of faith find peace in the storm and courage in the battle. Those who see it have a hope that goes beyond the circumstances around them. Nations rise and fall, but the one like the Son of Man will receive the honor due His name.

Jesus, Our Redeemer, went to the cross with His eyes fixed on that kingdom to come. Scripture says that for the joy that was set before Him, He endured. He wasn’t looking behind, around, or even at the pain and suffering of the cross. He looked ahead. 

Where are you looking today? There is a kingdom coming and those who see it with the eyes of faith are strengthened and they endure.  

Do you see it?

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
                                                Daniel 6:10-13

It was surprising he survived.

Daniel 6 is a story about living with dual citizenship. What does it look like for those who are called to live and work for the good of a city, a nation, or an empire when in so many ways it seems to be moving away from God and His purposes? How does one live as both a citizen here on earth and as a citizen of heaven? 

For Daniel, it required a conviction deeper than convenience. It wasn’t always going to be easy and yet what he believed went beyond easy. He had a life that made statements. It was clear to all around that he had faith in God. He had a healthy disregard for false gods. He wasn’t antagonistic about it; he simply would not acknowledge people or policies that demanded his allegiance above his God. Daniel lived with his dual citizenship, having a true loyalty to the King of Kings which allowed him to do what was best for his earthly king. 

It was surprising that he survived in all of the messy court politics, but it was a miracle that he thrived in it. May God give you grace to thrive where He has placed you for His kingdom.

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
                                                Daniel 5:5-7

The writing was on the wall. 

Pale, stunned, and weak, Belshazzar sank into his chair. He had challenged the God of slaves and exiles, a god he thought powerless. He was wrong and now he knew it. The real tragedy is that it took this long for him to see it. Belshazzar lacked the humility, insight, and wisdom to see God’s hand in his life until it was too late. 

May you see God at work in your life today. May He speak through the voice of those around you. May He guide you through stories in His Word. May you have the insight to see His hand at work in your life even as you read this sentence. 

Do you see Him?

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

13 “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. 14 He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 16 Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. 17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’

                                                Daniel 4:13-17

When they looked up, all they could see were branches. When he looked down, all he could see was himself. 

Nebuchadnezzar looked over the grandeur of Babylon and believed that it was all by him and all for him. His pride and arrogance deceived him into thinking that he was the source and purpose for everything. But he had forgotten something. There is a King of Kings – One who is the true source of all life, from Kings to the birds of the air. In Him, everything finds its purpose. All of us, Nebuchadnezzar included, need to learn that there are more than branches overhead and to give all honor and glory to the ruler of Heaven and Earth. 

What do you see when you look up?

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”

                                                Daniel 3:14-15

They stood alone. Thousands of people all kneeling before a statue, thousands of eyes, and thousands of reasons to bow down. Yet they stood. They stood for what they believed in and for who they believed in. God had shown up in their lives before and they believed He would do so again. 

It was costly. They knew they were putting everything on the line including their very lives. The king was furious and their punishment was swift and brutal. As they were marched to the edge of an intense furnace that would end their lives everyone was watching to see if their God would save them. 

But God didn’t. He didn’t save them from the fire, He met them in it. God doesn’t promise to save us from the trials in our lives, but He does promise to be with us in them.

May you have the courage to stand, knowing that you are never alone. 

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

                                                Daniel 10:25-29

Who is my neighbor?
It is a simple enough question. On the face of it, it might even sound innocent or simply curious. But for the lawyer standing in front of Jesus that day, that question held much more meaning. 

Justification. 

The lawyer wanted to position and to nuance what he knew to be true in such a way that it justified his selfish and unloving attitude towards others. Like a dispassionate scholar, he had the right idea and yet, he was fundamentally wrong. The command of God was always intended to sink much deeper than just the mind. The true gift of God is a radical change that happens at the heart level. It is a divine passion that leads to compassion and then to action for those in need around us. His question hid a much deeper purpose and it also revealed a much deeper truth about himself: he was spiritually dead inside. 

Racism is a sin against our fellow man and a horrific offense to a God whose image they bear. The soul's deep cure is a heart that loves our neighbor as selflessly as we are selfish. We cannot do this on our own, but need a radical change of heart that only God can bring. If we are hedging, positioning, and justifying our own cold and unloving hearts like that lawyer did, it reveals a deeper truth about ourselves. 

May God, by the power of His Spirit, bring us new life, and give us His desires.

MIDWEEK MEDITATION

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
But Daniel resolved…
                                                Daniel 1:1-8a
 

Nameless, faceless, helpless. Daniel and his friends were simply unknown captives who were ripped from their lives and herded across the country to an unknown land. They had lost everything: their home, their family, their hopes and dreams. But they hadn’t lost their faith. Even when all was taken away, God remained with them. 

When Daniel arrived in Babylon and learned his life was to be spent building the empire that destroyed his life, he resolved. He saw God’s hand in the situation and so he learned to thrive in his new life even as he engaged his faith. He took a risk to honor God and God rewarded him. 

When life has flipped upside down and oppression is all around, we need to resolve in our hearts like Daniel and his friends. Resolve to follow God into the unknown and to live our lives by faith as it exists, not as we wish it were. 

May you resolve in your heart to follow God this week.