What to Do When Life Gets Hard
I’m studying the prophesies of Daniel with fourth and fifth graders at church. I learn as much as they do, so I hate to say I am their teacher. We just finished chapter 8 last week, and they fail to see the connection between past and future world events and these strange beasts and so many horns. I can’t say they are unlike Daniel in this.
Let me refresh your memory. Daniel was 15 years old with his whole life ahead of him when a pagan king conquered his homeland of Judah. Apparently it was some sort of promise being fulfilled by Judah’s God, the covenant-maker and covenant-keeper. Long ago, Moses had laid out plainly God’s expectation of obedience complete with consequences for disobedience. (See Deuteronomy 28.) Apparently God means what He says, and Daniel learned this hard lesson as he was marched into captivity and into a devotion to God that could prove to be costly.
The lesson served him well. Daniel would soon make many choices about how he would live: serving Nebuchadnezzar or the God of Israel. Daniel chose wisely and did not eat from the king’s table nor bow to the king’s idol. Instead, he redoubled his efforts to live devoutly in a hostile land. In fact, his fealty to God earns him a trip to the lion’s den, where God spared him by shutting the mouth of the lion, because God wasn’t finished with Daniel yet.
Daniel lived so that God could share with him His plans for his chosen people and all the inhabitants of the earth that would unfold in the future. The visions were so grandiose, complex, intricate, and horrifying that they impacted Daniel physically. At the end of chapter 7, Daniel is pale and greatly alarmed, yet keeps the matter to himself. At the end of the next vision, he is exhausted and sick for days. Daniel was astounded at the vision, but there was none to explain it.
So what did Daniel do? He got up and carried on the king’s business.
Is your news bad news?
Are your future prospects making you cower in fear, overwhelming you, making you physically ill?
Is there no one who will understand?
Or no one who can kindly explain what it all means?
Is there no one to help you carry the burden?
Then do as Daniel did twice in his lifetime.
When he was taken captive and faced an uncertain future, he put one shackled foot in front of the other until he was delivered into costly service to God in a foreign land. When he was unsure of how to respond to all that God had shown him of the terror to come, he got up and continued to serve God.
He carried his burden, yes. And alone, too. But he got up and carried out the king’s business. It’s a easy thing to miss among the more riveting details describing monstrous creatures and their fights for supremacy.
Nonetheless, there was a man who, in the context of all of history—past and future, devoted himself to God in a strange and foreign land. And when the future looked so bleak he did not know what to do, he got up and did as he always did. He served the Lord.
Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and carried on the king’s business. I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it (Daniel 8:27).
~Dedicated to the Davis Family in memory of their son and brother, Elijah.
Great post, as usual, Dawn. We can learn much from Daniel’s life and faithfulness. I’m always inspired and encouraged by his story.
Wonderful post.
I love the book of Daniel. He truly was a example how to live a life devoted to God.