Former Blackout Artist

“I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding. ~ Daniel 8:27

Are you tired and weary from the busyness of life? Have you been besieged, day after day, by problems and bad news? Has a sense of uncertainty overtaken your peace and contentment? We all go through seasons like this. Perhaps you’re in one of these seasons now.

Friend, there is no situation or circumstance too great for God to see us through.

Daniel was no stranger to uncertainty and hardship. God had chosen him to do something that no man among us today would readily accept. He’d been taken captive by an evil ruler in Babylon and forced to spend his entire adulthood as a servant to a ruthless king whose nation had brought destruction upon Israel. But God had a plan for him. Through Daniel’s faithful obedience and his gift of prophecy, God’s purpose would unfold.

Daniel was no stranger to dreams and visions that the Lord would give him while he slept. Later on in his life, much nearer the end of his life than the beginning, he had another vision that troubled him greatly. A lot of horrible things lay ahead; death and destruction and the falling of nations and the rising of new ones. The sacred temple of Israel would be destroyed, and his people would continue to suffer greatly before the light of Christ would pierce a great period of looming darkness.

This dream troubled him day and night. Restless, tired, and unable to eat, he had become both physically and emotionally drained. But Daniel realized that there was still work to be done in the meantime. “Then I got up and went about the king’s business.”

Daniel’s words remind us that despite our inability to understand all of the how’s, when’s and why’s, we are to keep moving forward with the King’s business. God doesn’t want us to stay paralyzed in doubt and fear… He wants us to live.

Although Daniel was gifted with the ability to see the future, he never stopped living an effective life for God in the present.

May Daniel’s words comfort you today, knowing that God is ultimately in charge of everything. He’s in control of all the details, He’s already figured everything out. He’s simply wanting us, like Daniel, to continue moving forward, in obedience to Him, one day at a time.