therefore daniel went in to arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of babylon. he went and said thus to him: “do not destroy the wise men of babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”
then arioch brought in daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “i have found among the exiles from judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” the king declared to daniel, whose name was belteshazzar, “are you able to make known to me the dream that i have seen and its interpretation?” daniel answered the king and said, “no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to king nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: to you, o king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. but as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that i have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind. [daniel 2:24-40]
does God get ALL the credit from you?
often, God gets a lot of credit when something “huge” happens in our eyes.
and …. often, God gets little to – no credit when something “small” happens in our eyes.
does God get ALL the credit from you – when anything happens – huge or small in our eyes?
i want to give God all the credit all the time – for everything that happens. when i wake, when i breath, when i worship, when i love, when i repent, when i give, when i eat, when i hope, when i reconcile, when i rest, when i forgive, when i laugh, when i am forgiven, when i work, when i confess, when i teach, when i grieve, when i rejoice – in all these things and more, i want to give God all the credit, all the worship, all the honor, all the glory, he deserves – all the time.
but ….
i often don’t.
why?
look at daniel’s story above. what you will see all through chapter 2 is a young man who had oriented his whole life – heart, soul, mind, and strength – around the LORD. he did not orient his world around the LORD in crisis. he lived a life oriented around the LORD. in other words, his life orbited around the LORD. the LORD, his ways, his life, his rule, his love, was central. daniel was not the center with the LORD being one of the things that orbited around daniel’s life.
who is the center of gravity in your day to day life?
is it you?
is it your job?
is it your family?
is it your dream that has not yet been achieved?
is it your kids?
is it your happiness?
or…
is it the LORD?
daniel saw himself and all of life orbiting around the LORD. the LORD was King and the center of all of life.
the result, when something huge or small happened in daniel’s eyes – the LORD received all the credit.
said another way …
when the LORD is the center of ALL, the LORD receives worship in ALL things.
today – make the LORD the center of all your life for, he is the center of the world! make the LORD what your whole life is geared to and for. your life cannot be geared to family, to happiness or even the church if you are to be a worshiper of the LORD in Spirit and truth. (john 4)
question – what needs to change today? to put him as the center, as the King – what needs to go?
o LORD – be the center of our lives for you are the center of this world! any less than this – is wrong and makes you less than GOD! help us see and remove what needs to go. help us see you as the greatest, most powerful, and most beautiful of all. draw our hearts to love, our eyes to awe, and our knees to worship!
in Jesus name – amen!
~ john ryan