VOTW: Men of God in a world of Men (1 Aug 2021)

"And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it." Daniel 8:27

Daniel in the bible is a man known for two great stories: namely at the start of the book of Daniel where he and his three friends had to serve in the courts of a foreign empire; and another famously named, "Daniel and the Lions' den". One thing that marked the stories of Daniel was the prevalence of dreams and its interpretations. The first great miracle that happened to Daniel was in regards to the interpretation of the Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of the Babylonian empire. The king set out an impossible task: without revealing a dream that he had one night, he wanted them to tell him what the dream was, along with its interpretation! Through prayer and the grace of God, Daniel was the one to deliver all the wise men by revealing both the dream and interpretation to the king. God revealed the answers to him in a night vision! (Daniel 2)

One of the stories of Daniel told of how he survived a night in a den of hungry lions by the power of God! (Daniel 6)

Daniel had the gift of dreams and visions, and their interpretations; and hence, more than half of the book of Daniel is given to the description and explanation of dreams and visions. In chapter 7, Daniel receives a great vision and interestingly, he also received the interpretation of that vision, in that vision itself (in the vision, an angel was tasked to explain the vision to him). A great mystery and a topic of study, however, today we shall dwell upon the little nuggets of God's grace and power in His people.

Today's verse is a probably a lesser known one. It comes after Daniel had received a great vision and Daniel states plainly that the effects of receiving it left him "sick for days". What jumped out at me was the words"

"afterward I arose and went about the king’s business"

It took these few words to remind me of the position that Daniel held in the courts of Babylon. We are unsure of the exact time of which this happened, but we do know that Daniel was already in the King's courts. His workplace was where the cream of the crop were gathered and trained to be the best administrators of the state. The largest empire at that point in time would have had no shortage of talented and brilliant individuals. Daniel was chosen from the best of Israel (Daniel 1:4) and handpicked by the king (Daniel 1:19) from among the whole empire of Babylon. We could say Daniel was a high achiever among high achievers.

How does that apply to us? Or how does that draw any revelation or comfort? Much to my surprise, I found in those few words a very warm and settling reminder that Daniel was not just a man of God: he was a Godly man in a very worldly world. And he excelled above all. Even when burdened by the great visions and dreams that he received from the Lord, Daniel continued to go "about the king's business". This was not a man who spent all day meditating, or throwing aside all his earthly responsibilities in the name of the Lord. Here was a man who had given his life to the Lord, and saw the Lord both in his Spiritual and in his own earthly workplace. The Lord gave Daniel spiritual responsibility, without taking away his worldly responsibilities.

This gives us freedom to see the Lord working in our life, even as we are walking in a "Babylonian" world. The Lord grows you in your spirit, and He is also there in your workplace, and He gives you the strength to go about the king's business! Catch this, beloved!

While you seek the King of kings in your secret life, He shall give you strength to go about the work of the kings of this world!