There is something that is both comforting and awe inspiring
about how the Lord speaks to Daniel toward the end of the Book, starting in
Chapter 10. Daniel has had a vision of a war that was so distressing to him
that he had decided to fast and mourn for three weeks. At the end of the three
weeks, he has a vision of the Lord that is so powerful that he falls with his
face to the ground. The other men with him do not see the vision – this is a
very important point – but they are filled with terror and run for their lives. I don't think that it's because they're bad people that they don't see the vision, but Daniel is a very special man who is close to the heart of God. The experiences that he has had over the years have drawn him closer to God, and his faith has been strengthened by tests and trials. He understands not only who his God is, but their relationship has been developed in a way that has brought him to a point of being able to meet with God in a much more intimate way.
Beholding the glory of God is a very special event, and one not
everyone will experience while in their lifetime on earth. We all one day will
see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12), but we may not see Him until we are
facing Him in the throne room of Heaven. There are only a handful of people in
the Bible who actually met with the Lord face to face. Each one was terrified
that they would not live because they recognized their own sinfulness in the
face of His holiness, and each one was reassured by God that they would live
because He had chosen to reveal Himself to them.
In Daniel 10:10-12 we read, “Suddenly a hand touched me,
which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And He said to
me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you,
and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.’ While he was speaking this
word to me I stood trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Do not fear, Daniel, for
from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble
yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of
your words.’”
When I read that passage, as I did yesterday when the Lord
gave it to me once again, I am touched in a deep way to the centermost core of
my being. It was commonly thought and truly believed in those times that one
could not see the Lord and live. But here is the Lord of Hosts, coming to Daniel,
touching him with a hand that could destroy, but instead it is used to
strengthen. Here is the Lord, speaking to Daniel and telling him that he is
greatly loved, and that his words are heard and have been heard ever since he set
his heart to understand and humbled himself before his God.
Biblical messages and stories are meant to encourage and
strengthen and warn us, words that give us knowledge and understanding at any
time of our lives, no matter whether the original story happened thousands of
years ago. When the Lord speaks to Daniel, we can hear His words as
encouragement to ourselves, that when we have set our hearts to seek Him and
have humbled ourselves before Him, our words are heard.
I have written here before about humility in a post of the
same name, that humility is not being humiliated, but rather is a recognition
that we need God’s help. That He is greater than we are, that His ways are higher
than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). That
in Him is all wisdom and knowledge and that we accept His love and His mercy
and His Lordship over our lives. It means that there may be times that I want
to tell someone off, but instead I show them kindness. It means that there may
be times that I don’t want to do something, but if He says I need to do it, I
do it. It means that at other times when I want to do something, if He says don't, I don't. It means that I set aside my own agenda, knowing that His agenda is
better, even if I don’t understand how that is true at this current moment. It
means that I accept that I don’t need to know everything and I don’t need to be
in control of everything, and that I don’t need to be the one who has the last
word. It means I forgive when people wrong me and I love when it is difficult
to love. It means I say yes to doing things His way and not my own.
Those are not easy things to do, but when we do them, when
we set our hearts to seek Him, when we allow Him to be Lord of our lives, then
we can know that our words are heard. 1 John 5:13-15 tells us, “And this is the
confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His
will, He hears us: And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions that we have desired of Him.” There is an intimacy
there, an even stronger intimacy than that of a good friend, someone who you
may have known for many years. There is the intimacy of knowing that when you
speak, He hears you, and that you can be confident that He will answer your
prayers because He is reliable, and you are in a place of intimacy that you are
able to understand each other and communicate clearly.
There are times when I am talking to God that I will understand
in the middle of my request that I need to wait for the answer to my prayer
because I need to wait for His timing. There are times when I am talking to Him
about something that I know is not right for me to want, something that has to
do with getting revenge or having justice done on my own terms perhaps, and in the middle of my complaint, I understand that instead I need to pray for the person who I have a complaint against, and to ask God for His mercy over my life and theirs. There are times
when I want something that isn’t a bad thing, but in speaking with Him I may
realize that I need to accept His plans in my life because they are better than
what I can ask or think of. Ephesians 3:20-21 reads, “Now to Him who is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the
power that works in us . . .” There are times when I am asking for something
and I know that He can do so much more if I can just be patient. That is the
beauty of clear communication with God, and that is why allowing Him to be Lord
is worth every bit of breaking down of the old habits, worth every bit of
getting over myself and letting Him be God.
Just before that passage, in Ephesians 3:14-19, there is one
of the most beautiful prayers I know, “For this reason, I bow my knees to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth
is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and depth and
length and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you
may be filled with all the fullness of God.” The passage in verse 21 ends with,
“to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and
ever. Amen.” If we give Him the glory that is due Him, if we can allow that He
is greater than we are, if we can let ourselves let Him dwell in our hearts, if
we can allow Him to love us with His lavish love, He will fill us with a
fullness that overflows with His strength and power, and He will gladly give to
us what we ask for, and exceedingly abundantly more.
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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