then daniel was brought in before the king. the king answered and said it daniel, “you are that daniel, on of the exiles of judah, whom the king my father brought from judah. i have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. but i have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom [daniel 5:13-16]
after many years, daniel is called upon once again
very similar to joseph’s story, in which the cupbearer forgets about joseph for years, until pharaoh has a dream, daniel is apparently forgotten after the death of king nebuchadnezzar, also until someone remembers that he is able to interpret dreams that nobody else is.
God’s sovereignty, in the waiting
many times in life it seems like all we have to do is wait. how does your heart respond to times of waiting? do you get anxious? do you strive in the flesh to find something that needs to be done? do you worry that you’re missing direction from the Lord? i know i do. we don’t get much of a picture of what daniel does in the years between nebuchadnezzar’s restoration and the events in chapter 5, but we can see that when called upon, he is as ready as ever. we can see that daniel’s waiting did not destroy his faith.
God’s strength, in the waiting
when we struggle as we wait, we struggle against something that in our flesh we cannot overcome. our flesh gets antsy when we have nothing to do, and faithfulness in the waiting is something only the Spirit of God can empower us to do. God often uses times of waiting to increase our dependence on Him—it’s uncomfortable, but God is worth it!
Lord, teach me to wait upon you with patience and endurance, the patience and endurance that only you provide. i repent of thinking i can sustain myself, and ask you to teach me to depend on you moment-to-moment. make me more aware of your presence, and my desperate need for you!
~ stephen hall