Today’s Reading: Daniel 7; Daniel 8; Psalm 137; Luke 4
Scripture: Daniel 7:15, 28; 8:17, 27
Daniel 7:15 "I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me...
28 "This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself..."
Daniel 8:17 As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate...
27 I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days... I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.
Observation: I love Daniel -- both the book and the man. And one of the things I love about it is the fact that Daniel is real -- he's authentic. Here he shares the emotional weight of the visions he saw. I notice how severely impacted he was, maybe even traumatized by the experiences of the visions. Check out the language: "deeply troubled," "terrified," "exhausted and lay ill for several days," etc. These visions had no small effect on Daniel. He was actually laid up physically because of the emotional drain of the experience -- he took a real emotional hit.
Application: What I take from this is that there is a level of spiritual function that has a high cost associated with it. It is intense. Spiritual warfare is probably the most appropriate term for this but there most of what we call "spiritual warfare" does not approach the level of what I see here in Daniel.
Bottom line: I must prepare myself for greater depths and dimensions of spiritual life. There are demands that Daniel was able to address that required great personal spiritual strength. That is what I want to have and that is where I want to be. It's time to grow up and step up.
Prayer: Lord, help me. I have been functioning on a level spiritually that is way below what I read here of my brother Daniel. I want to be able to be used by You to make the kind of impact that Daniel did. Help me to grow and strengthen myself to be fit and able to handle the heavy lifting of spiritual service.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 comment:
Yes sir! I get emotionally drained when somebody I have loved and cared for in the church gets offended at me for a reason I don't understand or don't think is appropriate. That is nothing compared to what Daniel was experiencing. He was overwhelmed by the judgments he saw coming on the whole earth. How wimpy I am in comparison and how much I need to grow.
Post a Comment