Monday, February 11, 2013

KNOWING GOD, CON’T with notes by Lynne Farrow

Daniel is one of those books of the Bible that no matter how many times you read it you always come away knowing more about God than you did when you started. Daniel truly and almost completely, knew his God! In this book you will find the most vivid and sustained presentation of the many-sided reality of God’s sovereignty  in the whole Bible.

The Babylonian empire had swallowed up Palestine, and in thinking of the great world-empires to follow, dwarfing little Israel by any means of calculation, the book as a whole forms a dramatic reminder that the God of Israel is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that the heavens do rule, (4:6) that God’s hand is on history at every point, that history, indeed, is no more than ‘His story’, the unfolding of His eternal plan, and that the kingdom which will triumph in the end…is God’s. I personally feel compelled to say here, in light of our present day circumstances, that the same God of Daniel’s life and time is the same God that oversees our world today…we have so very much trauma and horror going on all around us, it is easy to lose sight of that fact! When the government is so completely corrupt, the church is not what it should be and people tend to constantly do whatever they please, never giving a thought to what God may think or want in our lives. But, that does not have anything to do with His sovereignty…He still is over and controls it all, including the persons and happenings of the US government, the Jewish nation, the Arabs or anybody else, He rules, raises, and puts down at His good pleasure. Therefore, we should not fret…we will…but we shouldn’t, knowing Who is in control of it all! This is the central truth Daniel taught Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, all kings of some of the nations that Daniel served. Daniel’s prayers and confidence in defying authority, his friends confidence also defying authority,…”the Most High ruleth  in the affairs of men.” He knows and He foreknows all things…His foreknowledge is foreordination; He therefore will have the last word in world history and  the destiny of every man. His kingdom and righteousness will triumph in the end, for neither men nor angels  shall be able to thwart Him!

These were the thoughts of god which filled Daniel’s mind, as witnessed by his prayers…the best evidence of a man’s view of God: “Blessed b the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. He changeth the times and the seasons, He sets up and removeth kings, He gives wisdom, He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him. The LORD our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth.” Is this how YOU view God???? Is this what we say to God in our own personal prayers? Do we express these kind of ‘feelings’ to God as we pray? Do we thank Him for His moral perfections, His gracious faithfulness, graciousness that keeps us humble and dependent, awed and obedient, ad it did Daniel? By this standard we may measure how much or how little, we know God!

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