Daniel Chapters 7 and 8 take a peculiar turn as Daniel is now the one experiencing visions that are particularly worrisome. This requires Daniel to lean on the promise of God and his providential sovereignty. As we see laid out in the narrative, this means that God's good and loving character is what is established as the ultimate rule and authority over all. This is where we find hope in the midst of our current troubles.

In the midst of exile, there are things that we have to endure in order to experience the gift of God's growth in us. As we come to Daniel chapter 6, we see how Daniel remained steadfast in his faith in God even against immense hardship, and how God provided a way through even in the face of death itself.

Daniel 4 & 5 are in direct contrast from one another. We see how pride leads to downfall, while humility before God leads us to restoration. It's in the process of humility where God restores us back to him. Are we willing to submit to his authority in our lives, and allow him to take us through that process?

As we look to the book of Daniel to inform us of what faith looks like in the midst of a time and space where things aren't as they ought to be, we learn in Chapter 3 what it means to be faithful even in the midst of hardship. We are faithful because God is faithful, and he stands with us even in the fire.

As we continue talking about what it looks like to live faithfully in Exile through the book of Daniel, we come to a pivotal point in the narrative where God establishes his ultimate power and authority over everything.

It is easy for us to get distracted from our focus on God, and therefore our foundations become brittle and easily shaken. Therefore we learn from Daniel what it looks like to keep the main thing the main thing–maintaining our pure love and devotion on God and God alone. That is how we build a lasting foundation on his solid rock.

We are going through the book of Daniel and talking about what it means for us to live faithfully in a time where things aren't as they ought to be. In the beginning of Daniel's story, he decides to take a stand and not defile himself through eating of the King's food. This narrative teaches us something of what it means to remain faithful to God in the midst of exile: it means faithfulness is unconditional, we have to see it through to completion, and at some point we too have to take a stand in our faith. Scripture tells us that this stand is what brings victory over evil. It shows us that God's faithfulness is revealed through our faithfulness.

The Biblical story validates our feelings that things aren't as they ought to be through the literary theme of Exile. Exile speaks to this time and place we live ought to feel like home, and yet somehow doesn’t feel like home in the way it was intended to be, but God has provided a way back home to him.

We are taking the next several weeks to walk through the book of Daniel in order to see how to live faithfully in the midst of an exiled era. It begins with having the hope of God and living in his holiness.

Easter Sunday!! He is risen!! When we look to the resurrection of Jesus, we see the result of how God uses suffering to bring glory. However, it's not only that God's radiant light shines on us through his presence. It's not just becoming glorified in heaven after we die. But because of the resurrected Jesus, we experience his glory here and now through our suffering. Suffering and death don't have the last say, God's glory manifests to bring us through suffering and death to new life.

God identifies with our suffering through the person of Jesus, and one of the many ways he want through suffering is experiencing loneliness and isolation. When we look to Jesus we see the answer to how we should respond to loneliness through leaning into God and into our community.

We all carry a burden, we all try to carry it alone, and yet none of us can. Therefore Jesus enters into our burdens, and bore that weight for us, bears it with us, and calls us to bear it with one another in his love.