the queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “o king, live forever! let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. there is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and king nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this daniel, whom the king named belteshazzar. now let daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” [daniel 5:10-12]
in the days of your father
does God stop working through us as we grow older?
in the book of daniel, a lot of time passes between chapter 1 and chapter 5. in-between these chapters, lifetimes have come and gone.
in daniel 1, we are introduced to daniel the young man, whose wisdom and fiery devotion to God are exceptional. his future is bright and he is respected by the king.
in chapter five we now see daniel as an old man. his glory days seem to be far in the past, and he is no longer known except by a few old folks who were also around ‘back in the day’.
yet his age has not made him any less effective.
the new king has surrounded himself with a new guard: he has his own lords, his own magicians and enchanters, and his own way of doing things. in spite of all that daniel has done in the past, daniel is not known to this new generation of leadership.
yet he is well-remembered by someone who was there and saw what God accomplished through him. the queen (likely the daughter of nebuchadnezzar) was around to see and hear of these earlier events involving daniel, and knew that the unique wisdom from God that daniel possessed could not be found among this current group.
daniel reminds us that God is not hindered in working through his people as they age – God works mightily through daniel before he was 20 and after he was 70.
there is no point at which our relationship to God, or his ability to work in and through us becomes irrelevant.~ jason soroski
although the world around him seemed to have passed him by, the opposite was true. God was working in ways that would keep this strong, faithful and wise man of God front and center. daniel’s relevance to the kingdom would not end with the rule of the next king, or the next king, but would far surpass the relevance of them all.
~ jason soroski