The Rise and Fall of the…Every Empire
I have been reading the book of Daniel lately. Fascinating stuff!
Even if you are not a history buff, you have probably heard the basic Sunday-school stories, often told with Daniel as the hero and main character of the stories, and the “lesson” of most of them being: If you are obedient and faithful, God will rescue you. All will be well.
Or maybe you have compared Daniel to Revelation, counting days and trying to nail down where and when the Little Horn fits with what you read in the news.
Either way we are likely to be disappointed when faithful guys don’t get rescued, or frustrated when we can’t figure it all out.
We know that 10 of the original 12 apostles were NOT rescued from the predicaments brought on by faithful obedience. They were martyred! Jesus, Himself, the only truly faithful One, obediently endured every possible kind of suffering without rescue. His prayers to the Father for deliverance from death were answered by resurrection, not rescue.
Daniel’s account spans at least two empires, Babylon and Medo-Persia. The message brought to King Nebuchadnezzar in of one of his troubling dreams is pivotal to our peace no matter the time or place: “The Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone He chooses — even to the lowliest of humans.” (Daniel 4:17c NLT)
The empire in which we live is no different. Because politics is part of our everyday lives under this regime, we can and should thoughtfully, prayerfully exercise our responsibilities as members of the societies where God has us, though we are aliens and strangers. We are commanded to truth-in-love each other and honor those God has placed over us, because He has placed them there. It is lovely when we have righteous people ruling over us, but we have no promise from God that we will get that. (Oh look! Here is another opportunity to relinquish a “right” like Jesus did.)
Here is what we need to know: God is the Hero of every story and Determiner of every outcome. Walking in these two truths from Daniel can strengthen my daily following of Jesus, allowing me to walk in peace, no matter what is happening around me.The empire in which we live, whose length of days is determined by God, desperately needs us to express His True Agape love! Let us together, by the power of His Life-Giving Spirit, demonstrate that we believe what God says and make our requests to God with thanksgiving and speaking respectfully of all those made in His image…like Jesus did whom we
Follow every day in the everyday.
Christi
P.S. Coming soon: Frugal Cooking videos! I’m so excited!
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