EmmDev 2021-09-30 [Seven Days with Daniel] Powerful Prayer

Powerful Prayer

Our seven days with Daniel have come to an end so quickly! I think we could easily have done 21 days!

Tomorrow we start our annual "Month of Mission" where different ministers across the whole Denomination write daily devotions for us. I'm looking forward to it!

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We're going to finish our seven days with Daniel by looking at one of his prayers.

It's a prayer he prays as he contemplates the hope that the exile would soon be over. 

He's deeply convinced of a couple of things:

1. That God's heart toward Israel is Love.

2. That God is righteous.

3. That the Israelites brought the exile on themselves through their sin.

4. That God is merciful and forgives.

5. That God hears our pleas.

Please read the prayer through slowly and thoughtfully. 

Feel the intimacy, sense the dependence, be buoyed by the hope, recognise the honesty and experience the devotion.

We can pray like this too...

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame --the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.  You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.  Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favour of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.  The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favour on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.  O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name. (Daniel9:3-19)

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EmmDev 2021-09-29 [Seven Days with Daniel] Principles mistaken for weakness

Principles mistaken for weakness

When the Persians defeated the Babylonians, they made use of some of the leaders that were already in place. Among these were Daniel was a rising star who king Darius was about to appoint over the kingdom.

The other administrators, driven by their own ambitions and jealousies wanted to block him, but couldn't find any "dirt" to discredit him. 

Instead, they found that Daniel was a man of real integrity:

"He was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."

There was a fourth aspect to Daniel's integrity: It was obvious to them that Daniel was completely loyal to obeying God.

It's ironic: They saw this loyalty to God as a potential leverage point. If Daniel's loyalty was to something dead and lifeless, they may have succeeded but these men would experience a different reality in the lion's den!

People think that holding onto integrity and devotion to God is a sign of weakness. They think that Christians are weak and that faith is a crutch. They think that strength lies in living as though I am law unto myself.

Daniel had anchors and foundations in his life. His enemies could see that and they thought they could exploit it. They learned differently.

Integrity is coming back into fashion in the business world. Trustworthiness, a lack of corruption and a hard-work-ethic - are a good start, but it's all still self-referencing.

The perceived weakness of Daniel's integrity was that he was not self-referencing, but that his moral compass was set on the True North of his faith in God. This turned out to be his greatest strength.

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Can people see that you live according to the Law of your God?
I pray that your devotion to God would be clear and winsomely attractive! 

Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God." (Daniel6:3-5)

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EmmDev 2021-09-28 [Seven Days with Daniel] Divine Graffiti

Divine Graffiti

King Belshazzar (remember Daniel was called Belteshazzar) threw a feast where he ridiculed the God of the Hebrews by using the temple goblets. A human hand appeared and wrote on the wall - the message declared the king's arrogance and impending downfall. 

We have a number of sayings that have their origin in these events:
- So-and-so "couldn't read the writing on the wall."
- "The words of the prophets are written on the subway halls"

The key thought out of our text here is that in the midst of arrogance and evil, God speaks. He doesn't always speak in the ways we expect Him too.

The interesting thing about the writing on the wall is that the words written on the wall were known words but the king and wise men could not read them! Was it a secret script? Maybe Hebrew writing? Or was it that "there are none so blind as those who will not see?"

There are many issues like this in society today: (You may disagree with some of these, but bear with me...)

• Society promotes and has legalised abortion and we wonder why life is so cheap.
• We allow pornography because we are so "open-minded" and wonder why our rape statistics are off the charts.
• We have enshrined human rights and allow prisoners to vote (when by their behaviour they have undermined society) and then we wonder why corruption and injustice rule the day.
• We have given children so many "rights" in education (education is a privilege in my opinion) that now our schools are torn apart by violence.
• We pay teachers, nurses, and policemen peanuts, preferring to pay lawyers and accountants and techies top dollar and wonder why the fundamentals of our society don't function.

These are just some examples of "writing on the wall." You may think of more. I just hope that as a society we may start to read some of them.        

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way. (Daniel5:1-6)

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EmmDev 2021-09-27 [Seven Days with Daniel] Chopping Trees

Chopping Trees

The pattern we detected in Daniel continues:

• ch.1-STANDING UP against culture - Daniel and diet
• ch.2-VISION - Weakening statue and rock - Culture is not forever
• ch.3-STANDING UP when all bow down - Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue and commands everyone to bow down. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse and are thrown into the furnace, but God delivers them.
• ch.4-VISION - A big tree - If you try to be a god you'll get the chop!

This is what Daniel 4 is all about. King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a great tree that will be chopped down. Daniel interprets it for him: The tree is Nebuchadnezzar and the sober warning is that he needs to humble himself or he will go insane and land up living like a wild animal for seven years.

Nebuchadnezzar does not heed the warning and the rest of the chapter shows how he becomes so arrogant that he considers himself a god (I think it is safe to assume that the statue in ch.3 was of himself!) With that he goes insane, eating grass and living like an animal until he finally acknowledges God.

Those who want to be worshipped are on a slippery slope. Their time comes and sanity is always at risk. History has repeatedly shown that despots, pride and a belief in one's own infallibility are a perfect recipe for a downfall.

Those who want to be worshipped have - by history's standards - a short lifespan. Leaders, organisations, and "pop" stars all lose the plot at some point unless they discover humility and acknowledge the God who gives them what they have. 

I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all... I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He called in a loud voice: Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.  (Daniel4:10-13)

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EmmDev 2021-09-23 [Seven Days with Daniel] Culture and the Kingdom

Culture and the Kingdom

In ch.1 we watched Daniel interact with the powerfully pervasive Babylonian Culture. He couldn't reject all of it. He carefully chose his battles and was gracious, wise, respectful and courageous in his negotiations to achieve win-win solutions.

We may have to deal with a corporate culture that promotes excessive time away from family, outings to strip-clubs for office parties or the paying of bribes. Or it may be a society that imposes new values and norms on us while ridiculing our values as old fashioned, outdated and even intolerant. We have to handle these pressures  by:

- Earning people's respect through integrity and good performance.

- Coming up with win-win solutions or trial periods when we negotiate changes.

- Being firm of purpose but maintaining respect and gracious politeness.

The first six chapters of Daniel can be divided up as follows:

-The Pressure of Culture (Ch.1-2)

-The Pressure to Bow down in public (Ch.3-4)

-The Pressure to give up personal faith (Ch.5-6)

In each division there is a chapter describing the pressure and a chapter that describes a God-given vision that gives us more perspective.

Chapters 1 and 2 have been about the power of culture.

In chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. This was a vision of the Babylonian Regime which would be followed by the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Then the statue is struck by a rock "not cut by human hands". 

Nebuchadnezzar's dream reminds us that culture is not forever. Kingdoms come and go and at some point things happen to cultural giants (like Nebuchadnezzar) that make them look to the "God-people" (like Daniel) for help. There is a Kingdom that will endure and our citizenship is of that Kingdom. 

"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. (Daniel2:44)

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EmmDev 2021-09-22 [Seven Days with Daniel] Sleep

Sleep

Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream - one that left his mouth dry and his stomach unsettled. He knew that there was a message in it for him and he didn't want armchair philosophers sucking meanings from their thumbs. So he made an impossible demand: "Tell me my dream and what it means! (And if you don't, I'll have you executed)"

So Daniel negotiated, asked for prayer and got an early night. 

 
Was it Divine Intervention or a case of a good night's sleep?

I think it was a bit of both! When Daniel heard of the king's unreasonable demand and the impending across-the-board death penalty for failure, he took a couple of important steps.

1. He cashed in the goodwill and credit he had with the king and negotiated some extra time. We can do this when we have a track record of delivery, performance and integrity. Daniel could make the withdrawal because he had been making the deposits. We need to learn to negotiate when we are faced with unreasonable demands, but we have to build up the credit first!

2. He asked for prayer. This is a good thing to do. People are sometimes too proud to ask for help, but Daniel had the courage to ask his buddies to pray for him about what was essentially a work issue. Have you got a tough meeting tomorrow? Consider phoning a friend and saying: "Listen, I have a tough meeting tomorrow and I'd really appreciate it if you could spare a prayer for me."

3. He went to bed! There comes a time when we realise that we can't do everything and that we need to trust God. Daniel went to bed and he slept. You might argue that he went to bed because he had to dream Nebuchanezzar's dream, but we were told that Daniel could interpret dreams not dream them. I don't think that he knew that he would get the dream too - I think he just went to bed saying - "I don't know how God will do it, but I believe that He'll show me the way." Sometimes we lie awake for hours trying to solve things and yet if we would let go and "sleep on it," we might get more answers!

Sleep is a vital part of keeping our strength and sanity. Daniel had enough trust in God to go to bed even when he didn't have all the answers. Sleep is a significant act of trust: We close our eyes, surrender control and leave things in God's hands. While we sleep God works. More and more I am realising that a good night's sleep is a powerful weapon.

At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. 17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. (Daniel2:16-19)

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EmmDev 2021-09-21 [Seven Days with Daniel] Adapting

After a short break, I'm back with EmmDevs. We'll be starting the annual "Month of Mission" devotions in October, but to carry us over until then, I want to look at Daniel. I hope you enjoy the short series.

Adapting

The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587BC. They devastated the city and the countryside and took all the potential leaders, especially young people, into exile "by the rivers of Babylon" where they were given new Babylonian names honouring Babylonian gods and were educated in the culture and practices of the Babylonians. This "brain-drain" and "brain-wash" kept defeated nations suppressed because there was no-one to lead a rebellion.

Daniel and three of his friends are "drained" from Jerusalem and are about to be brain-washed. It started with new names. If you look at the footnotes, the names are so interesting. Daniel means "God is (my) Judge." Hananiah means "The LORD shows grace." Mishael means "Who is what God is?" Azariah means "The LORD helps." Similarly the new names are significant: Belteshazzar means, in Babylonian, "Bel (i.e., Marduk), protect his life!" Shadrach means "command of Aku (Sumerian moon-god)." Meshach means "Who is what Aku is?" Abednego means "servant of Nego/Nebo (i.e., Nabu)."

What's interesting is that throughout the book, the name that sticks, even in the mouths of his enemies, is not Belteshazzar, but Daniel.

Daniel and his friends did not have much say in their naming or their education. But, when it came to food, Daniel decides to take a stand. It needs to be said that the Old Testament doesn't have a problem with meat. However, I think there are three possible reasons for Daniel's detox vegetable diet.

1. The meat would have been offered to Babylonian gods and Daniel didn't want to honour those gods by eating the meat.
2. The food and wine came from the opulence of the king's table and Daniel didn't want to be sucked into the opulence. (There may have been an element of him thinking of his people in Israel who were struggling for food in the aftermath of war)
3. Daniel is simply exercising some control over his environment to maintain his sense of independence. We don't know if he knew the "detoxing" power of a vegetable diet. If he didn't, he was a man of great faith, and if he did, he was a man of great wisdom.

Daniel uses tact and wisdom to deal with his changed environment and I think all three of the above reasons motivated him. While there were some things he could not control, there were some things that he could. Every day, while they were being bombarded with new names, new ideas and new learning, they'd be served veggies and water and be reminded that they had some control and that they were honouring the one true God. And, as a bonus, they got healthier!

As you and I face an increasingly secular society, it is our little "detoxing" habits that help us maintain our faith, values and integrity. 

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility-- 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service. Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you." Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. (Daniel1:3-19)

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