Daniel 11:2-4 (ESV)

[2] “And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. [3] Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. [4] And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.

Daniel 11 is an interesting chapter. The angel from chapter 10 is still speaking, revealing the future to Daniel. It is so specific that to read the chapter is to read the history of Greece and Rome, even to the part where “two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail” (Dan 11:27). It is so specific, and so accurate, that those who do not believe in God, or who reject the supernatural, are inclined to say that Daniel couldn’t have written this. Someone must have written it centuries later and added it to Daniel’s writings.

The angel starts the chapter with these words, “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him” (Dan 11:1). An angel rose up to encourage and protect the king of Medo-Persia. There is far more behind the scenes spiritual activity going on in our world that we realize or perceive. It makes one wonder who is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Is it demons or angels? God knows, but we need to be careful to make assumptions based on our own perceptions and preconceived ideas. Who would have thought that an angel would be encouraging and protecting the king of Persia?

Two thoughts stand out to me here. First, angels and demons are not just watching mankind. They are serving and influencing mankind. There is a spiritual battle raging behind the scenes that we only get glimpses of. Our responsibility is not to get distracted by what we cannot see in the spiritual realm, but to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. It is easy to become enamored with the idea of angels and demons. Back in the 1980s I read about a man whose ministry consisted of opening people’s eyes to the presence of angels. From my perspective, he was so obsessed with angels that God was almost forgotten. But when you read the scriptures, the role of angels is primarily behind the scenes. They are active, but we are to keep Jesus as our focus and let them do their jobs quietly back stage.

Second, God is never caught by surprise. When Trump was elected President of the United States many people were shocked and surprised. They never imagined that it could happen. When 9/11 happened, our nation was in shock. We never saw it coming. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor our nation was stunned and shaken. We never expected it. These are just three events from three generations in the history of the USA. Things happen every day, all around the world that surprise people. Sometimes the surprises are good, and sometimes they are devastating. The good news is that they never take God by surprise.

Why did the angel tell Daniel these things? Most of them would happen long after Daniel was gone. Today we look back on them as history. Why do we read this? Why did God give this revelation to us? I don’t know the full answer, but surely a part of the answer lies in the truth that God wants us to know that he is never taken by surprise.

That should change our perspective on life. No event in our lives, good or bad, catches God off guard. We tend to spend a lot of energy worrying about things that may or may not happen. God is already there. He already knows. We can trust him to walk us through the pain or the joy. A part of the Lord’s Prayer is, “And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil” (Mt 6:13). That is certainly a request we need to lay before God’s throne; but then, we need to worry less about the potential evils in life and focus more on the first part of that prayer. “Your kingdom come, your will be done” (Mt 6:10).

Where is your focus in life? To what are your energies given? Worry about the future, or to the present practice of God’s will? Maybe if we were more concerned about God’s present will we would be less concerned about tomorrow’s fears.