Thoughts for another day
June 30, 2010
Today's verse: Dan. 2:47. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)
Preceding this major declaration by a pagan king, is the episode where Daniel not only interprets the dream to the king’s satisfaction, but before doing it also reveals the dream itself as required. Not a mean task considering that the entire troupe of Chaldean magicians, sorcerers, enchanters and wise men were not even close to an interpretation for they couldn’t even meet Nebuchadnezzar’s challenge of telling what the dream was! By the revelation of God Almighty, Daniel won laurels from the king and also safeguarded the lives of all the aforesaid men whom Nebuchadnezzar had cast to the gallows. What’s important here is the fact that Nebuchadnezzar declares this beautiful God who is also our Father, as ‘God of gods, Lord of kings…’ a fantastic thing from the mouth of an idol worshipper.
We too strive that our God will be held in high esteem by people who don’t yet know Him. However, there’re a few pre-conditions; among them three very important ones are, 1. do we burn with zeal for God’s work? 2. Do we seek God’s glory in the work that He does through our hands or do we seek our own? And 3. Do we spend time with Him in prayer discerning His will for our lives? Essentially, I believe that if we’ve committed our lives to His work, we’ll eventually see His mighty hand in our lives and in the lives of the people we pray for and bless. Now, Daniel was fiercely zealous for the Lord and his deeds reflected that zeal. Another thing is that not all can reveal dreams, for God may not give this gift to all and if He does give that gift, He can even take it away if we’re not up to it. But if we use it correctly with humility and gratitude, God can bring about great things through our hands.
I remember another event in the Bible where Naaman the Syrian was cured of his leprosy when he obeyed Elisha and washed himself in the Jordan River. When despite his skepticism, he was cleansed; he said to Elisha with awe in his voice, ‘there is no God in all the earth except in Israel!’ A declaration like this comes when something great has been done in God’s Name and the one used by Him is just an obedient and empty mediator who He uses to bring glory to Himself. There’s no need to mention of Elisha’s zeal for God as he was easily identified as God’s man. And I can truly say it’s a thing of great joy to be used as such for there’s untold joy in the heart of the person we give God’s Word to and who experiences a dramatic miracle. In the process, we’re thrilled as the recipient of the miracle glorifies God whole-heartedly. O, bless God, Who uses us broken vessels to do such mighty things and all glory and honor be to Him alone.
June 30, 2010
Today's verse: Dan. 2:47. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)
Preceding this major declaration by a pagan king, is the episode where Daniel not only interprets the dream to the king’s satisfaction, but before doing it also reveals the dream itself as required. Not a mean task considering that the entire troupe of Chaldean magicians, sorcerers, enchanters and wise men were not even close to an interpretation for they couldn’t even meet Nebuchadnezzar’s challenge of telling what the dream was! By the revelation of God Almighty, Daniel won laurels from the king and also safeguarded the lives of all the aforesaid men whom Nebuchadnezzar had cast to the gallows. What’s important here is the fact that Nebuchadnezzar declares this beautiful God who is also our Father, as ‘God of gods, Lord of kings…’ a fantastic thing from the mouth of an idol worshipper.
We too strive that our God will be held in high esteem by people who don’t yet know Him. However, there’re a few pre-conditions; among them three very important ones are, 1. do we burn with zeal for God’s work? 2. Do we seek God’s glory in the work that He does through our hands or do we seek our own? And 3. Do we spend time with Him in prayer discerning His will for our lives? Essentially, I believe that if we’ve committed our lives to His work, we’ll eventually see His mighty hand in our lives and in the lives of the people we pray for and bless. Now, Daniel was fiercely zealous for the Lord and his deeds reflected that zeal. Another thing is that not all can reveal dreams, for God may not give this gift to all and if He does give that gift, He can even take it away if we’re not up to it. But if we use it correctly with humility and gratitude, God can bring about great things through our hands.
I remember another event in the Bible where Naaman the Syrian was cured of his leprosy when he obeyed Elisha and washed himself in the Jordan River. When despite his skepticism, he was cleansed; he said to Elisha with awe in his voice, ‘there is no God in all the earth except in Israel!’ A declaration like this comes when something great has been done in God’s Name and the one used by Him is just an obedient and empty mediator who He uses to bring glory to Himself. There’s no need to mention of Elisha’s zeal for God as he was easily identified as God’s man. And I can truly say it’s a thing of great joy to be used as such for there’s untold joy in the heart of the person we give God’s Word to and who experiences a dramatic miracle. In the process, we’re thrilled as the recipient of the miracle glorifies God whole-heartedly. O, bless God, Who uses us broken vessels to do such mighty things and all glory and honor be to Him alone.
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