[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.
Reflecting
on Daniel 11, two thoughts stand out to me. First, angels and demons are not
just watching mankind. They are serving and influencing mankind. I expanded on
this thought in an earlier blog. The second thought is that 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, but often 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, “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.
Comments
Post a Comment