Revealer of Mysteries

It's an interesting story of crushing circumstances, uncommon integrity, and courageous trust.

King Nebuchadnezzer had called his wise men and asked the impossible: that they describe his troubling dream and interpret it. If they didn't deliver, they wouldn't live.

Only the gods could do that, they said. And the gods didn't live among humankind.

True. Except for the one true God who can reveal mysteries.

Daniel and his friends fasted and pleaded with God to have mercy and give them the answer.

After God revealed the mystery, Daniel was quick to give God thanks and praise (Daniel 2:20-23).

 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you. (Daniel 2:23, NIV)

Sometimes only God can resolve our complicated situations. We do our research and weigh our options, but variables stretch like an endless country road. Our God is with us. He is real and vitally involved in our lives. As we earnestly seek God's wisdom, He will reveal what we need to know.

Trusting Him brings life.


FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

See Jeremiah 33:3, then read Daniel 2.

Where can you see yourself in this story? What can you learn about God? What can you learn from Daniel?

Do you have a mystery that needs God's help?

Notice Daniel's strategy. Have you ever asked others to join you in prayer for a critical situation? Have you ever added fasting with prayer? What kind of insights did you gain?

 

CONFIDENT SUPPLICATION

Most of us major on supplication, represented by the last letter of the ACTS prayer acrostic (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication).

While supplication or petition is effective because God is kind, it's the caboose that can’t get very far unless it is coupled with the rest of the train.

Celebrating and describing God’s glory (adoration) ushers us into the Almighty’s presence, the engine room. There we find our high priest Jesus Christ, a savvy engineer, able to forgive the sins we confess. This propels us into new intimacy and thanksgiving comes easily from our freshly cleaned heart. Plus, in hard times, instead of whining or gritting our teeth, focusing on God and giving thanks speeds us away out of a dark night into the sunrise.

When adoration, confession and thanksgiving happen, we bring our requests with confidence. No mere wishful thinking. We’ve been in the presence of our powerful Lord. We've been forgiven. Guilt can no longer keep us away. Any false guilt or false notion – like bothering a “busy” God or evaluating our need as “unworthy” - gets escorted off the train like an apprehended terrorist.

Confidence settles into the seat next to us and introduces us to a new passenger: God’s peace.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5: 14-15).

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

“Rejoice in the Lord always.… Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).

Identify any terrorists aboard your prayer train. Confidently ask your Engineer to bind and remove them.

Spend some time rejoicing in God’s promises. Let your anxieties be escorted away, replaced by a new travel mate, God’s peace.