It would be so easy to be diverted away from Daniel today, but I am staying on task - well, sort of! Daniel 11 is way over my head. It is a chapter that demands research and figuring out, and scholarly wisdom. I don't have time to do that today - - and feel a bit compelled to wrap up Daniel soon, because Lent is coming, and my blog originally began as a Lenten journey. It is a good discipline for me....
Though I can't desert Daniel, I can slip past delving deeply into this chapter with a promise to myself to return later.... I want to go deeper here, but time constrains me.
What this chapter does provide for me today is perspective. Daniel 11 was written in +-539 B C, during the first year of the reign of Darius. Daniel was +-81 years old at this point. Daniel had found favor with King Darius, which he certainly didn't have during the reign of Belshazzar. God revealed snippets of the future to Daniel, and he shared that information with King Darius. Theirs was a good relationship. That is a foundational truth to absorb prior to what would come later....
It is informative in my life for today. This chapter lets me know God has the future in His perfectly capable hands. My faithfulness to Him is not based on circumstances, but on the truth of who He is - the one and only true God, Creator of the Universe, and Master of all. He alone is worthy of all honor and glory and power and praise. And in the end, He wins, no matter what current circumstances look like!
My heart aches today because we have reached a point in history where good is being proclaimed as evil, and evil as good.... A lie is being purported to be truth, while the Truth is called a lie.
In August 2009 God spoke to me and said, I want you to contend for what I contend for. May 18, 2011 when I prayed and asked specifically what that meant He clarified, "I contend for Truth. I contend for man's souls."
On this sad, sad day for my state, I am reminded of that. Current circumstances look bleak, but no matter what the challenge, the battle belongs to the LORD. He contends for Truth. In balance with that He contends for man's souls. 'Man' is a generic reference to people - all people. Sadly, not everyone will believe in Him or in His one and only Son, whom He sent to earth with His greatest message of love, but it sure would make God happy if they did!
In just moments, the Governor of my state will sign the 'gay marriage bill' into law. No matter what man states is O K, God's authority is higher. He says it is sin. Validating sin by making it a law does not make it acceptable in God's sight. I awoke with a heavy heart this morning. I wondered if there would be an earthquake as the law was signed.... Perhaps the signing is enough of an earthquake. Perhaps it will awaken people out of their apathy....
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