If you make a list of prophets from Scripture, this prophet will most likely be in the top five on everyone’s list; not necessarily because of what he prophesied, but because of what he did. A man mentioned by Jesus (Matthew 24:15) more than 500 years after his book was written. A man who had every excuse to turn his back on Jehovah, and yet remained faithful in all aspects of life. A man of God who was placed in the palaces of multiple world empires because of his “excellent spirit” (Daniel 5:10-12,14; 6:4). A true inspiration and comfort for all who have come after him. Yet, he was a human like us, with likes, dislikes, passions and aspirations. But he “purposed in his heart” (Daniel 1:8) to be fully devoted before the King of Kings, even if that meant going against another command from a human who was titled “king of kings”. Of course, I’m talking about Daniel.
The lessons we can gather from the lives of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah are just extraordinary, especially in the way they pertain to current and future events in our world today. They also demonstrate the way we can live in response to what God wants us to become: His people. He wants to be our God that we should be His people (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
To cover the entire life of Daniel and see how God used him in just a couple of pages is too difficult, and we know the historical accounts from the first six chapters so well. So, we’ll talk about just one lesson from the prophetic section of Daniel—how it has encouraged me and, I pray, that it will encourage you too.
In the first year of Belshazzar, Daniel has his first vision, recorded in the seventh chapter. This is where Daniel sees four wild beasts coming out of the water and is confused by what he sees. He asks for what these things mean, but he doesn’t get a full explanation. There have been times in my life, and I’m sure in yours as well, where you have perplexing questions, which you ask God about, and God seems to not answer. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29), but just because He doesn’t reveal something to us straight away, doesn’t mean that He doesn’t love us. There are times where we pray about something and it is only years later that we fully understand why God “reserved His right to respond”, mostly because of our lack of understanding.
Think of a time where you have waited upon God for an answer, but it did not come straight away. What was your reaction? Did you argue with Him? Did you patiently wait for Him to respond? God cares about you so much that sometimes He does not respond, simply for the fact that we aren’t ready to receive the answer to our prayers. But be assured that those prayers are registered in heaven and God will respond in His time and in His way.
As someone who grew up in the Church, I read the stories of Daniel, admiring his steadfastness, his kindness, his attention to detail, and admiring the God who brought him through the situations we know so well. Daniel allowed God to use him because he completely trusted in Him, something we all must learn. God sometimes must bring us low before He can lift us up again. He did this for me a few years ago.
It’s amazing when on the outside somebody may seem to be “rock solid” in their faith, but on the inside, they are asking questions about “why God is allowing this to happen to me?” This is what happened to me a few years ago when God had to bring me into a valley when I least expected it. I argued with God about why He allowed certain things to not work out in my life. I would cry myself to sleep while praying and arguing about how things seemed so good and why God was allowing the foundation I thought He made to crumble. I got so frustrated with Him that I gave God an ultimatum: “If You don’t show Your love to me in the next 12 months, I’ll walk away and not come back.”
Looking back, I didn’t have anything to complain about. I had an amazing family, I was involved in work and at church, and yet there was something (or Someone) missing. The one thing that I am thankful I did do though, was give God a chance. Like Daniel, even though I didn’t have all the answers, I had to learn to wait on the LORD, and let Him deal with it (Psalm 27:14).
One day would pass to the next, one week to the next, one month to the next. Nothing seemed to change. But I’ve learned that when you are up to nothing, God is always up to something. My tear-soaked Bible became the most important book to me in that period of life—and it still is today. The times where I would sit by myself reading His Word, praying and seeing Him reveal Himself to me afresh were some of the best experiences of my life. There were times where, like Daniel, I would not understand why, but I knew that if God loved me, He would be faithful. At the end of those 12 months, I came out the other side so glad that I gave God that chance and that I didn’t give up my connection with Him. He proved that He loves me and that He is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). That’s how I know that He loves you, that He is faithful to you and wants you to be part of His people. We may wait for years, even decades, but God always has an answer. He won’t give up on you!
Daniel waited for two full years before receiving God’s answer to the first vision. Guess what? It’s another vision! Recorded in the eighth chapter of Daniel, this vision expands on the vision from the seventh chapter, but it leaves Daniel even more confused! He understands more about the little horn, but about the timeframe of the 2300 days, God tells him that this part is related to “many days in the future” (Daniel 8:26). Daniel can’t take it anymore. He faints and the vision ends. He was sick for many days, though he was still faithful in going about the king’s (and King’s) business. Even when we get an answer through God’s Word and testimonies which we do not like, we still have a choice to make. To trust Him (Proverbs 3:5,6; Isaiah 55:6-10), knowing that He will work all things out for His glory (Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:28), or to walk away. Daniel decides to stick with God. He decides to still make Jehovah his God, even when he doesn’t understand everything that God has shown him.
There is a reason why God did this: So that we, living in the time when the little book of Daniel is unsealed (Daniel 8:26;12:9; Revelation 10:8-11), can read it, understand it and pair it with its twin: Revelation. Beautiful doctrines that reveal God’s love like His work in the heavenly sanctuary, the investigative judgement, the first and second coming of Jesus, when unpacked biblically, show us how God is still wanting “whosoever will” (John 3:16) to come and be part of His people (2 Peter 3:9). As an old commercial said, “Taste them again, for the first time.” Let Daniel speak, and discover how much God loves you and longs for you to be in heaven with Him (Daniel 12:13).
John Duncan is a teacher at Mountain View Adventist College and attends Castle Hill Adventist church (NSW).
