When you have to make a tough decision, what do you do?
For most of us I would guess panic! Or maybe that is just my go to method of dealing with crisis.
As you think about it, what was your last major tough decision?
And what was your method of handling it?
It could have been buying a car or a house, or deciding which college to go to, or which college to pray your child decided to go to.
It may have been to have major surgery, or maybe to put a parent in a nursing home, or maybe it was to take a job or change jobs, to have a child, or maybe to get married.
Whatever it was, what was your strategy to figure out what to do?
Daniel, who has become an official in the Babylonian government gets news that the King has had a dream, and he doesn’t know what it means, so he gathers his seers and wise men and asks them what it means.
The problem is though, while it is troubling Nebuchadnezzar, it turns out he doesn’t really remember the dream, and he didn’t and doesn’t understand what it means!
So, when he calls in his counselors, advisors, magicians, and wise men to interpret the dream, he also wants them to tell him what his dream was!
The advisers are all willing to take a stab at an interpretation based on what the King tells them he dreamed, but none of them know what he dreamed!
The king is furious, seeing clearly that these supposed seers really know nothing and are just guessing, and so orders them all killed.
And that’s where Daniel enters this story.
The official in charge of executions heads off to do his duty and Daniel, who it is not real clear from the text may or may not have been one of the ones whose head is on the chopping block, stops him and asks why?
Why is the king so angry? Why is the order for executions so cruel?
Having heard the explanation, Daniel dashes off to the king, asks for time to learn the dream and interpret it, and then jumps into crisis mode and does what most of us have done to some degree or another, he prays –
But first he gathers others who are wise people of faith to pray too!
When you went through your last tough decision, did you intentionally gather other faithful believers to think and pray with you? If so, how did you pick those faithful friends? Do you pray with them often? And if you don’t, why not?
Most of us, I would imagine, pray early and often when facing a crisis, but shouldn’t we follow Daniel’s example and gather the troops to pray as well?
Now, it may have been that Daniel was among those slated for execution, maybe Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were as well, giving new urgency for their prayers seeking God’s intervention and wisdom.
But it is also possible that what Daniel and his friends were doing was interceding for others in harms way, praying for God’s help to save lives, even the lives of Babylonian advisers who might not like them and even betray them given the chance.
Our invitation to pray is not just to pray for what affects us, but what affects other folks along the way too, in Australia after the brush fires, in the Philippines after the volcano eruption, and in Puerto Rico after the earthquake!
And in the lives of lots of folks we may not know or understand, but who need God’s presence in their lives, even if they don’t yet know or understand that there is a God who loves them and wants to bring them his grace.
As you sit there in the pew or at home watching on Facebook or Youtube, who is your go to pray crew, the folks you know will pray for your concerns as you pray for theirs? Write down their names, and thank God for them!
And if you don’t have a prayer crew, maybe it’s time to make one, to invite some others and start the process.
Pray for Ashlyn and Gary and JoAnn, and for folks near and far, and for your own tough decisions and theirs, and then see what God will do!
For Daniel, the dream and its answer became clear. God had sent Nebuchadnezzar the dream, and now he had made both the dream and it’s meaning clear to Daniel. He could go and speak to the king and tell him what he wanted to know, and by doing so, save the lives of many!
And he did!
So, when you have a tough decision to make, what do you do?
Amen!
Why is the king so angry? Why is the order for executions so cruel?
Having heard the explanation, Daniel dashes off to the king, asks for time to learn the dream and interpret it, and then jumps into crisis mode and does what most of us have done to some degree or another, he prays –
But first he gathers others who are wise people of faith to pray too!
When you went through your last tough decision, did you intentionally gather other faithful believers to think and pray with you? If so, how did you pick those faithful friends? Do you pray with them often? And if you don’t, why not?
Most of us, I would imagine, pray early and often when facing a crisis, but shouldn’t we follow Daniel’s example and gather the troops to pray as well?
Now, it may have been that Daniel was among those slated for execution, maybe Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were as well, giving new urgency for their prayers seeking God’s intervention and wisdom.
But it is also possible that what Daniel and his friends were doing was interceding for others in harms way, praying for God’s help to save lives, even the lives of Babylonian advisers who might not like them and even betray them given the chance.
Our invitation to pray is not just to pray for what affects us, but what affects other folks along the way too, in Australia after the brush fires, in the Philippines after the volcano eruption, and in Puerto Rico after the earthquake!
And in the lives of lots of folks we may not know or understand, but who need God’s presence in their lives, even if they don’t yet know or understand that there is a God who loves them and wants to bring them his grace.
As you sit there in the pew or at home watching on Facebook or Youtube, who is your go to pray crew, the folks you know will pray for your concerns as you pray for theirs? Write down their names, and thank God for them!
And if you don’t have a prayer crew, maybe it’s time to make one, to invite some others and start the process.
Pray for Ashlyn and Gary and JoAnn, and for folks near and far, and for your own tough decisions and theirs, and then see what God will do!
For Daniel, the dream and its answer became clear. God had sent Nebuchadnezzar the dream, and now he had made both the dream and it’s meaning clear to Daniel. He could go and speak to the king and tell him what he wanted to know, and by doing so, save the lives of many!
And he did!
So, when you have a tough decision to make, what do you do?
Amen!
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