3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,

and the Lord tests hearts.

I love the way my study Bible talks about this verse:

The second line by itself would make God only an examiner; but the first line implies that his trials are constructive: not for finding a person out but for sorting him out. When things reveal their relative worths under ‘fiery trial’, it is our part to pick out, with him, ‘the precious from the worthless’, for the benefit is not automatic.

I don’t know about you, but I find that I generally experience life according to a sort of ‘continuum’ - at the extreme left side is terrible, like a 0 out of 10, and at the extreme right is just amazing, at a 10 out of 10.  And, I find that I spend most of my life vacillating between the two.  And, what I find most interesting is that, over time, I have noticed that the real character-shaping tends to occur the closer I get to either extreme; either 0 or 10.

Here we see a reminder relating to one of the ends of the spectrum - that in the trials of our lives, in the ‘fire’, we are not just ‘revealed’, but we are shaped.  I think the commentator is onto a fantastic idea here.  If fire simply reveals our character, then it takes a TON of purpose out of struggle.  But, if the ‘fire’ BUILDS our character, then it brings a real meaning to it; it adds a purpose to it.  And, as much as I dislike struggle and ‘the fire’, I dislike it LESS if I know here is a purpose for it.

So, this morning, this verse really just reminds me that I need to maintain perspective when I am struggling, that I need to keep my eyes on the right thing - not getting away from the suffering, but GROWING in the suffering.  I need to focus on the process and I need to view it as an opportunity to commune with God.  I have heard it said, and I think it is spot on, that in times of struggle, we truly find out ‘whose’ we are.  That’s my takeaway for today!

This is one of those stories that I think is over-leveraged in kids’ stories, and that really is a great story, but also is confused with ‘teaching’.  I feel like it is too often the case that teachers will use stories like these to teach people that they need to behave, like Daniel, and pray, like Daniel, and that God will keep you from harm IF you are worthy, like Daniel.

In a subtle way, the message becomes this: behave and God will be there for you.  And, the really twisted thing about this message is that it fits in our mental paradigm as we grow up; it is intuitive.  I mean, that’s how WE interact with other people generally, an eye for an eye.  But that’s not how God really designed us, and that is certainly not what Jesus taught us.  But, a few lessons like this, in isolation and apart from the greater story, and that’s what we hear and what we adopt into our frame of reference and we are then setup for disappointment as it relates to God.  We end up in one of two places:

Both of these thoughts processes come out of this mode of thinking that can be traced back to using a story like this out of context.  And, I know I am only ONE example, but I know this is the kind of Sunday school teaching I received until the day I was allowed to start skipping church.

I could go on about that forever, but I will stop there.

It does beg the question though - Why?  Why did God show up for Daniel?  If we look at the examples from chapters 1-5, what we see is an amazing example of connection between Daniel and God.  We see Daniel’s faith growing.  We see God using Daniel in unique ways and we see Daniel learning how to hear and to step into his different ‘callings’, or ‘missions’.  I don’t think this story is meant to show us how to create a ‘cause and effect’ relationship with God.  I think this story is meant to tell us that if we pray, and if we listen, and if we step into God’s unique calling in our lives, God can do amazing things.  I think it is a promise that God WILL do amazing things.

In the end, if I can direct God’s movement in the world around me by behaving a certain way, then who is really in control?  I don’t know about you, but MY God is bigger than that!  In my mind, this is God’s world, and I am just living in it.  And, Daniel is a GREAT reminder that taking steps in God’s direction unlocks the potential to see God move in the world around me.

Not much is really know of this king, Belshazzar.  But, it can be pretty well deduced that he was more-or-less a waste of a king.  And the message he received from God pretty much summed it up here in verses 26-28:

This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

As I am reading these verses, I couldn’t help but recall what is probably the biggest contrast to them, an exact opposite comment from Matthew 25:23,

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

In Matthew, we a story (or parable) told by Jesus that is kind of famous called the Parable of the Talents.  Essentially, Jesus has given this guy some money or some kind of gift, and this guy leveraged it for the greater good, making the most of his talent.  In contrast, the other guy in the story wasted his gift and was judged by Jesus.

This morning, my thought is really about this contrast between a person who lives his/her life so as to leverage it and make the most of it, not for his OWN benefit, but for God’s kingdom, vs. the guy who wastes it on himself like this king appears to do.  Obviously I would rather be the former and not the latter, but it just causes me to pause and think, in what ways have I recently lived for my own benefit to detriment of living for the greatest good?  It causes me to sort of take inventory.  It causes me to do a sort of reset on myself.

So, that’s my prayer today, that I would live in a state of awareness today, that I would notice those moments when I have that subtle choice between leveraging the moment for the greater good or just living for my own good.  Often times, it is just the awareness of this choice that provides the will power to make the best choice...it is just listening to the angel on my shoulder instead of the little devil!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this chapter.  I see 2 ideas that really jump out at me as I am reading this chapter.

First is the idea that our relationship with God, our journey in faith, is a deeply personalized experience.  At the same time, because we are all ‘human’, there are some common elements in many of our journey.  In the king’s case, the exact details of his ups and his downs with God, and his eventual derangement are truly unique to him.  But, I can certainly relate the themes that are present in his story - I experience the ups and the downs, and I experience the moments of clarity and the more dramatic moments of ‘coming home to God’ in my own spiritual journey.  That is all completely relatable.

The second, and perhaps one of the most encouraging element (at least to me), is the idea that it is our decision to convene with God.  In other words, God wasn’t going to force the king to trust in Him.  God was certainly willing to demonstrate His sovereignty, and He was willing to do some extraordinary things to make His point (I can also relate to this in my life!), but ultimately the king had to choose to turn back to God.  And, as always seems to be the case, God was waiting and ready when he did.  I love this verse:

Daniel 4:34 “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, ...”

One of the things I have noticed in my own life is that I often don’t realize that I am swimming upstream and that I am working against God’s will, especially when I am weak on prayer and devotional life or living out my life in a more “Godly” fashion.  When I am low on my spiritual disciplines, and tend to start to drift.  And, as I do, I start to get out on the edges of God’s will for my life.  Eventually, I am sometimes even totally off track.  But then, when I have that moment of clarity and I look up to God, He is always there.  And, I usually get this feeling of calm that washes over me...it is a sense of reassurance, that I am once again right where I need to be; I am living as God designed me once again.  I feel like that feeling is what is being described here in verses 34-37...that ‘coming home’ feeling.

This morning, I am thankful for God’s patience, and for His always keeping His arms open for me when do as the king does here at the end of the chapter - when I come back home.

Here we are, literally a few lines further into the text from the point in time when the king was enthralled by God, and now he is creating an image of himself that is nearly 60 feet tall, and when he signals ‘his people’, the text literally says that “as soon as they were hearing they were falling down [and worship him]”...whatever humility the king had in chapter 2 is now gone!

Unfortunately, I can’t say that I am entirely different.  In my spiritual life, I tend to give God the blame and give myself the credit more than I would really care to admit.

Another thing- notice how Daniel is absent from this incident about the fiery furnace?  I run the risk of inserting something into the story that isn’t really there, but I would venture to say that Daniel has probably discipled these gentlemen well.  In the first 2 chapters, they were coming alongside Daniel as he was leading the way, leaning into God, trusting God, and displaying God’s greatness.  Now we see these guys take their own faith to the next level, and without Daniel.  I think that is a cool and subtle point in this book.

For me though, my big takeaway from these stories with King Nebuchadnezzar is really the up and down nature of his faith.  He could be a considered a ‘fair weather believer’...in that, his faith only exists when miraculous signs or direct intervention from God is right there in front of him.  He is unable to extend that faith deeper into his life.   He is unable to translate that experience with God into a relationship with God.  He is unable to let the truths of God and the desires of God play out in his own life.  And, unfortunately, I think there are many of us that suffer from this same issue.

How do we do that then?  How do we ‘step into’ the life in which God has called us, and experience Him on a more systematic, rhythmic basis?

Though this isn’t in Daniel, it is scattered all over the New Testament writings...it is in ‘doing’ the right thing.  This is an area that I am passionate about, as a type A...I like action.  It is just a reality that in doing what God has called us to do, we start feeling things God would have us to feel, and we start seeing things God has in store for us, and we start to experience a relationship with God.  The caveat to this is that our hearts must be settled on the fact that our doing is about experiencing God, NOT about impressing others.  When we do the right things for the wrong reasons, that relationship with God won’t flourish in the same way.

So, today, building on what I have been learning the last few days in reading Daniel, I will consider this king that has this up and down relationship with God here in Daniel, and I will remind myself that in doing the right things, the right little things, and for the right reasons, creates a sort of spiritual momentum in my life.  And this momentum will allow me to be more faith-filled, and to experience God more deeply and more consistently in my daily life.

Today we see Daniel (and his 3 friends) step up to the plate and reveal to the king his dream.  The king was applying pressure to his magicians to give him the meaning of his dream while being unable to remember the actual dream himself, and they couldn’t.  So, he is mad and is threatening to kill them all when Daniel steps in.  So, Daniel is interpreting this dream for the king without being told the dreams contents, which surely would have been impressive.  Presumably as well, when Daniel starts to tell the king about the dream, describing elements of the dream as he is interpreting the dream, I am guessing the king starts to recall it and that this further impresses the king.  But, for me, today, the key statement comes right here:

2:27-28 “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...”

As I read that this morning, I have to ask myself, “How forthcoming am I in my daily life at giving God the glory for things that happen in my life?”  When God answers prayers, how do I go about recognizing those answered prayers?  How am I cataloging those victories to remember them later, and to embolden my faith in moments of weakness?  How am I leveraging God’s blessings to encourage others in faith?  How am I using blessings in my life to point to God?

Daniel steps right up and gives up this example...he gives the glory to God at the onset.  Then he goes on to tell the king everything in his dream.  This is also, as I discovered yesterday, a step in Daniel’s spiritual development.  He was able to understand the details of a dream previously, but it was a dream where he was given all of the details and he just had to bring meaning to them.  Now he is getting the details of the dream from God and bringing meaning to them, which reveals a deeper level of connection with God.

Yesterday was about doing the little things, to take the little steps towards developing my spiritual life, and today I am going to do the same thing, to be conscious of the little steps, but I am also going to make an effort to thank God for the guidance in those moments...I am going to recognize that it is God revealing the steps in those moments.

If I were to title today’s reading, in Daniel 1, it might be something like “Sweat the Small Stuff”.

It is interesting - as I read Daniel chapter 1, because there is a lot of effort being made to explain why Daniel and his three friends resisted the cultural traditions that king Nebuchadnezzar was pushing on them.  maybe I am thinking to simplistically, but it seems that the most obvious reason for this would be that they all knew that giving into the little things would eventually lead to a full assimilation into Babylonian culture and foregoing their faith and trust in God.

I don’t know about you, but usually when I am giving into sin or to temptation, it starts with the small things.  I’ll give in a little bit in one spot, and then the next, and eventually I look up and wonder how I got there. That’s the way sin tends to integrate into our lives.  King Nebuchadnezzar probably understood this, and that’s why he was integrating all of these exiles into his culture. Get them eating and drinking and conducting themselves as Babylonians, and before long, they will consider themselves Babylonians. We tend to become a product of the things we see and do.

So here in chapter 1, we see the king doing this, but we also see Daniel and his three friends resisting that cultural integration.  I think it’s reasonable to think that Daniel understood that giving up his Jewish practices would also cause him to start forgetting God.  When I’m not praying regularly, when I’m not reading scripture regularly, and when I get disconnected from Christian fellowship, I certainly end up further from God.  I think Daniel simply understood this principle.  So, he resisted the order to integrate into this culture in order to hang onto his connection with God.

This reminds us of a very important lesson. It is the idea that the small things matter, and this idea cuts both ways.  if we give in a little here, and we give in a little there, eventually we end up in the middle of nowhere, adrift, lost.  Likewise, when we are faithful in our spiritual disciplines, when we are praying, applying God‘s wisdom in our lives, even in the smallest places, reading God‘s word, and in fellowship with other believers, there is a momentum that builds.

Today, I will win in the small things, the seemingly insignificant moments, in order to create momentum in my spiritual life.

These are some confusing chapters, and they bring to mind Revelation, which has some obvious similarities (obvious = confusing, sounding a little crazy, etc.).

I want to step back and take this at a really high level, at least in this first read-through.  What we are seeing is God in communication with Daniel through visions and dreams, as we later see God doing with John in Revelation.  So many people have ventured to try to understand this stuff, and there is just so much symbolism and so much imagery and so many dates and details that it actually makes it very difficult to fully nail down the exact events being discussed.  But it also points out something to me - that we are just not equipped as humans to fully understand what God is up to in this world.  What if part of the purpose of these messages from God is simply to help us to grasp the scale on which God is working?  In fact, I would argue that this is precisely ONE of the purposes.

Today, I am going to keep it simple, as I tend to try to do when I get deep into the weeds.  First, I am going to go ahead and pause and go through my time of prayer.  Doing that now.

So, my prayer today is simply that God would show up for me, and give me clarity around his calling for me life.  I pray that God would help me to understand my purpose; that God would help my faith develop to deeper and deeper levels as he did with Daniel, and that I would have to courage to continue to step into that faith as Daniel did.

In the last reading, I covered Daniel 1-4, and today I have gone through chapters 5-7.  Today we see a story about Belshazzar’s pride in chapter 5, Daniel’s famous story about the lion’s den in chapter 6, and a story about Daniel’s own dream and vision in chapter 7.

So, we have seen laid out in front of us 3 big ideas now.

In chapters 1, 3, and 6, we see stories about the faithfulness of Daniel and his friends, across a few extraordinary situations.  In chapters 4 and 5, we see the reason for all of the chaos in this book is related to human pride, specifically these two kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar.  And we then see encouragement that God’s people should be patient, and faithful, and should be in a sort of mode of ‘waiting’ and ‘longing’ in chapters 2 and 7, as we see the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s dream.

As we flip to the last few chapters, the question we start looking to have answered is simply, “When?”.  When will we see these rescue that is promised?

The thing that strikes me this morning, which is not nearly as complex or deep of a thought as this material could provoke, is Daniel’s journey.  As I read this, I am thinking about how Daniel’s first actions was a small step of faithfulness (compared to later steps), to refuse to eat food that he felt compelled to resist because of his relationship with God.  It was his battle.  In doing that, he discipled three guys (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), and he brought them on his journey of faithfulness.  Then Daniel is tested again, this time alone in the story of the lion’s den, and proves a faithful servant of God.  All along the way, we see him interpreting visions and dreams that are more and more complex.  Eventually, he finds himself communicating with the angel Gabriel, and even God.

The reason I find this encouraging to me is that it demonstrates how our spiritual maturity takes us to a deeper level of understanding over time.  It leads us to a place of more intimate relationship with God.  It reminds me that the world isn’t really completely visible or understandable to me...God has to bring me to a place of understanding over time, and as I develop.  It reminds me that there is a reward for faithfulness here in this life; that is understanding.  I also have to imagine that with that understanding comes a love and respect that is also deeper...for God, for life, for those around me.  Daniel is showing me that there really is a lifelong journey of spiritual development for me.  What a great reminder for this morning.

Today is the first half of my full read through on the book of Daniel. It is long enough and I’m breaking it up into two sections. Today I listened while following along in my Bible to chapters 1 through 4.  I actually do this a lot, I will listen and follow along because it engages me in a different way than simply reading.

Three things really stood out to me this morning.

The first is in chapter 1, and it’s how strongly Daniel follows his lead from God to resist eating food that he was being given.  I don’t think the point of the passage is to inform us about food to eat. I think what’s important is that Daniel had a personal relationship with God and clearly felt led to conduct his life in a certain way.  Daniel followed that personalized directive from God.  This reminds me that our spiritual journey is personal, and it looks different for each of us.  For me, the most obvious example of that is the global mission field.  I don’t believe we ALL are called to go travel the world on mission.  For some of us, our mission field is here.  For some, our mission field may be one other person.  Each of us has a unique journey, and it is incumbent upon us to seek out God’s unique plan for our own life, and then to pursue it.

The second thing that really jumped out at me was Daniels humility in chapter 2, in verses 27 and 28 when he clearly credits God as it relates to his ability to see and interpret visions for the king.  How many times I’ve been credited with success and not given the glory to God? How many times has God been largely responsible for that success? The answer to both of those questions is approaching 100% unfortunately. Shame on me.

And third, King Nebuchadnezzar really is a lot more like me than any other character in this reading this morning. He is changed by an interaction with God, he has a momentary perspective, and then he snapped back into his sinful self.  That’s my journey; I feel like the best I can manage sometimes is two steps forward and one step back.

Today, I will be praying that God would instill a little more of Daniel in me, and a little less of Nebuchadnezzar.