Do you ever feel beat down by the news surrounding you? Are your friends sharing more and more about illnesses and troubles with you? Do you sometimes just want to sit in a dark room and cry? It is hard to have a positive attitude when negativity swirls around you. Yet, God says that we can – and he offers models and instructions to help us do it! It is time to smile again! (Part Two)
Key Principle: Because life is filled with problems does not mean the believer should be negative. Problems are another tool in the hands of a Creative God!
The management guru Steve Covey wrote: “The way we see the problem is the problem”. In many cases, he is right! Is there a GOOD SIDE to troubles and problems? Sure there is! The believer is the one who should be able to see through trouble into blessing!
Truth #1: Problems are God’s way of revealing truth (Daniel 2:1).
“Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.” (NASB)
What looks like LIFE driving forces isn’t just a series of coincidental events – it is the work of a Providential God! Difficulty is often God’s hand shaping of His people through the enemy’s powerful plans to defeat them! Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your God.
Truth #2: Problems force an unbeliever to use the system they created without God (2:2). Look at the kinds of people that were on the payroll of the king:
“Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.”
- the “magicians” (khar-tome’: a horoscope reader; as in drawing magical lines or circles. This is someone that reads the world to find answers in the cosmos – a modern version of superstitious animism. “The universe knows” is their mantra.
- the “conjurers” (ash-shawf’: a necromancer, or exorcist). This is someone who claims to be able to breach at will the veil between the physical and spiritual world and speak to those beyond the veil (the dead). They use as evidence the ability to hypnotize to persuade people, snakes, etc.
- the “sorcerers” (rendering of the Hebrew “mekhashphim”: literally mutterers, men who professed to have power with evil spirits. From kaw-shaf’: to whisper a spell, enchant or practice magic or witchcraft). The harshest punishments are given to them, as they claim to direct the spirits of the enemy of the Lord and His people.
- the “Chaldeans” (kas-dee’: literally the inhabitants of Chaldea, with a long tradition of wise sayings and formulas). These are the imported experts from think tanks with interesting pedigrees.
Truth #3: Problems reveal the hopeless cynicism that lurks beneath the surface of the unbelieving world (2:3-9). People claim to believe (and in many cases truly invest in) things that when the chips are really down, they bail on.
The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.” Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: “O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.” The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.”But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.“
The king insisted they show if they truly knew what happened in a verifiable situation. If they didn’t know the dream, the king could clearly tell they weren’t able to help him!
Truth #4: Problems reveal the limits of life without the Creator God (2:10). I think often of the statement of George Bernard Shaw: “Science… never solves a problem without creating ten more.” – everytime I hear how we are going to use “science” to solve our newest problems.
“The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer or Chaldean.”
Truth #5: Problems reveal the lies of the experts (2:11). Note the list of people that were invited and their claims that they could pierce the spiritual world. Why were they now claiming, when placed under the hot lights, that they had no such power (see “whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh”)!
“Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.”
Truth #6: Problems create a platform for the clear presentation of God’s ability to fix life (2:12-16). Daniel heard about the problem (2:12-15). In response, Daniel shared with the lost king that God COULD fill the need, and asked for time to see if God WOULD fill it (2:16). The believer isn’t in the business of using God’s power to gain power for himself. He must proceed with caution and wait on God to succeed.
Truth #7: Problems give an opportunity to draw us to each other, and eventually to worship and praise of our God (2:17-23)! Daniel gathered praying friends to seek God (2:17-18). God answered the request (2:19) and Daniel worshipped and praised (2:20-23).
Remember, because life is filled with problems does not mean the believer should be negative. Problems are another tool in the hands of a Creative God!
