Posted by Gareth Matthews | Posted on 24-04-2006
Category : Bible, Bible Study, Daniel
Daniel 2 tells the story of the first dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had while he was king of Babylon. Daniel had been exiled into Babylon and was in the kings service but was still a man who hungered after God. This chapter gives us some more in-sight into Daniels character as well as some prophetic words about the future monarchs of the earth.
So, the first thing that strikes me out of this chapter is the sheer comedy of the first part of it. King Neb (forgive me but I can’t be typing that more than a few times) has a dream which he doesn’t understand and when he asks the wise men to interpret it for them he stipulates that not only must they interpret it but they must tell him the dream as well! If they don’t do this then they will be put to death – which would still leave the king not knowing what the dream meant. So when the astrologers say that this cannot be done and the king goes barmy and orders the death of all the wise men in Babylon, including Daniel and his friends.
There is some wisdom in this logic though – for King Neb knows that only something greater than humans can provide an adequate explanation of this vision and that can be done, then they will know what the vision was in the first place. We know that God can provide wisdom and insight into peoples lives just as Jesus did when talking to the Samaritan woman and it seems to me that this is a classic example of how God literally engineers a situation to bring about His will and His glory.
The thing about it is that Gods name would not have been glorified had Daniel not gone to the King and pleaded for time to intepret the dream. The bible doesn’t say that God instructed Daniel to go and plead for time with the King – it simply says that Daniel saw that if he didn’t, he would be killed and knew that his God was the only God who could rescue him. This really speaks to me – as sometimes when I live my life I am constantly asking God to confirm to me really obviously that I am doing His will. While there is nothing wrong with that in itself, this passage shows me that God has placed me in the situations I am in, in the job that I am in, with the friends that I have and God is going to use that for His glory. I don’t need a bellowing voice from God to know that I should help out a friend when they are in need for example, I should just do it – because God will be at work in that situation because He knew it was going to happen and can engineer good things out of all situations.
So Daniel tells the King his dream and interprets it for Him. The vision depicts a large statue made up of different materials and the materials represent future kingdoms of that time:
- The head of Gold we know is the Babylonian empire.
- The chest and arms of silver is believed to be the Medo-Persian empire that ruled from 539BC until 33BC.
- The bely and thighs of bronze represent the Greek empire that ruled from 330BC until 63BC.
- The legs of iron are believed to represent the roman empire.
The final kingdom talked about is the rock that is ‘cut out, but not by human hands’ that destroys the statue and forms a huge mountain that covers the whole earth. This rock represents the eternal Kingdom of God which is built on the ruins of the sinful empires of man. The kingdoms authority is over the whole earth and this has some parrallels with Revalation 21.
The last thing that strikes me about this passage is what happens to Daniel after he tells the King what his vision meant. It says the King lavished many gifts on him and gave him a better job. Sometimes in life people can make you feel guilty if you have more money than someone else, or a better job, or a nicer car, or whatever… But I really believe that God grants us these priveldges when He knows that we can be trusted to use them wisely. Daniel was granted a position of authority for what God did – but God knew that Daniel could be trusted to be wise with that and not allow it to go to his head. So when we find that we have more money than usual at the end of the month, don’t feel guilty about it! Live your life hungering after God, doing the things He wants and He will reward you and take care of our every need.
Posted by Gareth Matthews | Posted on 30-03-2006
Category : Religion
Ok – so I am confused. I have been to a few meetings recently where we have been praying for healing for people – sometimes it is physical stuff, sometimes emotional or other stuff. But I have been really confused as to knowing what to pray for. I mean, as Christians we believe that God can heal us and wants to heal us, but then as Christians we don’t often see God doing that straight away and so we often need to persevere with it and trust God. Apparently just praying ‘God if you want to heal me, then please do’ shows a lack of faith – so what an earth am I supposed to pray?
So maybe I am overdramatising this slightly – but you get my point yeah? I think that as Christs body we really need to be able to pray effectively into the situations we see around us. Whether that be stuff that we are involved in or stuff that we are simply just ‘standing in the gap’ for. I believe that praying effectively means that we don’t say stuff like “If you want to God, do it – but if you don’t, well then don’t” – as that doesn’t really say much at all. But there are times when we pray for things and they don’t happen – yet months later we look back and agree that it was better that God did not answer our prayers directly and that it was better that we waited.
So when we see someone who is sick – what should we pray? If we pray for direct healing and it happens then maybe we will get complacent as the Isralites did when they wandered the desert and simply took for granted that bread fell out of the sky everyday. If we pray for direct healing and it doesn’t happen we could get discouraged and never pray for it again – as we don’t want to feel silly. The thing is that this didn’t seem to happen to Jesus – and when it happened to His disciples, he rebuked their lack of faith.
I guess the conclusion I am coming too is that often we will pray and ask for things that God has other ideas about. Sometimes, we can actually change God’s mind, just as Moses did. Sometimes I think God really does know best – and it is worth waiting for His plan to come to fulfilment. I wonder if it is like when a child asks something from their parents – they wouldn’t be good parents if they let their children have everything they asked for. I think that God is the same. So as for what we should ask for when we pray? Well I guess we should aim at the top – pray for healing and always keep listening to what God is saying about the situation we are praying in to.
Posted by Gareth Matthews | Posted on 24-03-2006
Category : Bible, Bible Study
So we continue our journey through 1 Thessalonians starting at
chapter 2v17 up to the end of chapter 3. Rich claims that v17 of chapter 2 leads into chapter 3, but I reckon he just can’t stomach a whole chapter at once
.
So this passage begins with Paul recalling a bit of what has been going on with him over the past few years. Paul visited the Thessalonians and preached the message there but due to persecution by the Jewish authorities there Paul fled to Berea. He was also persecuted there and so fled to Athens and while he was there he sent Timothy back to the Thessalonians to see how they were doing. Paul was worried that they may have lost their faith due to the persecution but Timothy sends back a really encouraging report about what is going on – which really makes Paul chuffed.
There are two things that strike me about this passage. The first is Paul in verse 10 where he says that he is “longing to come back to supply what is lacking in their faith”. At first I thought that was a little arrogant – ‘surely Paul should be directing them to God, not trying to supply what they are lacking himself’ I thought, but when you consider Paul’s heart in the matter I don’t think there is anything arrogant about it at all. The people of Thessalonica where confused about some matters such as the second coming (we’ll see more about this in chapter 4) and Paul’s heart is to encourage them in the new life they are striving in and doesn’t want them to be hindered by getting bogged down in untruth. Paul is a natural encourager and he recognises his gifts and prays earnestly to God that he can get the oppurtunity to encourage these people. I think we can all learn something from Paul’s attitude here – if we have hearts that understand the giftings that God has placed on our lives and pray to get the oppurtunity to use them then I believe we are doing what we are created to do and God’s kingdom is furthered. So if you are an encourager, pray for oppurtunities to encourage people; if you are a teacher, pray for oppurtunities to teach people – not in an arrogant “I’ve got what they need” way, but in a “God you’ve given me this ability, let me use it for Your glory” way.
The second thing is the example of the people of Thessalonica. They are new to the faith and are being persecuted – but yet they remain strong in their faith and put God first. I think this is a key message to all of us who have been Christians for a while. It is very easy to remain excited about Church and about what God is doing at the time of renewal or blessing – but when certain stuff hits a certain fan, that is when real faith kicks in and our faith gets a testing. It is really key in my mind to:
- Keep clothing ourselves in holiness,
- Keep immersing ourselves in God’s word
- Keep the communication lines to God open.
That way we can stand on God’s two feet and grow in our faith – even when it would be really easy to let it slide. The amazing thing about God is that He is the same during our time of blessing as He is in our time of hurting – His love never ends and never changes – and if we keep at these things then we will realise this more and more.
