Last week, we travelled with Daniel into Exile. Before there was a Lion's Den and great prophetic visions, there was just a young man taken away from everything he knew and loved. And in the place of Exile, where the future is uncertain and decisions are hard, Daniel showed us (as a teenager) what it means to live with God as our ultimate judge. And so, we can resolve, like Daniel, to make decisions based on our identity (who we are) in Christ - not in our circumstances and not based on the opinions of others.
But Daniel's story, of course, continues. He was given a great gift of Wisdom and the opportunity to have influence over the future of the Babylonian Kingdom. And in Daniel 2, we hear that Nebuchadnezzar, king of all kings on the Earth, has a very bad dream. Dreams in the ancient world were often considered as messages from the gods. And our king's spooked.
And as you can imagine, he wants answers. So he calls together all his advisers - the magi and astrologers and sorcerers and psychics and Dr. Phil - and asks them about the Dream. But no one has an answer. So the king decrees what kings decree - "Do what I want or you're dead." This was a problem, for the people could not do what he wanted...and they did not want to die.
Here we find a hard situation: King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of an Empire which governed the majority of the known world, was about to execute all of the wise men and advisors in his Kingdom. Not only is this bad news if you're an advisor to the King, it's bad news if you're going to be living in a kingdom now devoid of wisdom as the result of a King's rash decision.
And into this void steps our man, Daniel.
“When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.” (Daniel 2:14–16, NIV)
When Daniel asked for time, he didn't have the answer. He didn't even know what the dream was that he needed to interpret. There was a lot on the line. But Daniel took a faith-filled risk...he believed that God would come through for him. And as we'll see, God did. But here's the secret, as risky as it was to take action, Daniel realized, I think, just how risky it would be if he didn't.
God's people exist to function as intermediaries for a broken and lost world. And if Daniel didn't step into the gap to avert a real tragedy, who would? Daniel took a risk, but it was rooted in Faith. This week, we continue our series on YouTube...Resolutions, Ep. 2: Risk goes live on Sunday morning.
I'll see y'all over there!
In the meantime, I'm praying for you,
Steve
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