JULY 9 - Nº 190 Daniel 2
Night after night King Nebuchadnezzar had the same dream. It troubled him and kept him awake. He became so frustrated that he called for all his “wise men” (magicians, astrologers, and sorcerers) to come to the palace. He asked them to describe the details of the dream for him and then interpret it. If they could, they would receive amazing rewards. If they couldn’t, he would have them all executed for being frauds!
The wisemen insisted that the king needed to tell them what the dream was before they could interpret it. This made Nebuchadnezzar angry: “If I tell you the dream first, you can make up any interpretation and I won’t know if it is true. Quit stalling for time.” The men were scared. “There’s not a single person on earth who can do this,” they replied. “Only the gods know what people are dreaming.” By now the king was furious. He demanded that all the wise men in Babylon be put to death. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were among the men scheduled to die. When Daniel found out what was going on, he went to see the king. “Please don’t execute anyone until I have had a chance to interpret the dream,” he requested. Then he went home and asked his three friends to pray that God would give him the answer, so they could all be saved. That night, God gave Daniel the king’s dream and revealed its interpretation in a vision. Daniel praised God for giving him such awesome wisdom and power. The next morning, he went back to the palace. “Is it true that you can explain what I saw in my dream and interpret it for me?” the king wanted to know. Daniel replied, “No, there isn’t anyone alive who can do that. But there is a God in heaven Who can—and He has revealed the mystery to me. The dream He gave you is a vision of what is going to happen in the future. You saw a huge statue of a man. The head was made of gold. The arms and chest were silver, and the belly and thighs were bronze. It had legs of iron and feet made from a mixture of iron and clay. Suddenly a rock appeared and struck the feet and the whole statue broke into pieces so tiny that the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. Then the rock that hit it grew into a huge mountain that filled the whole earth.” After describing the dream, Daniel explained its meaning to the king: “The head of gold represents the kingdom you rule. God has given you power and glory greater than anyone else on earth. When your rule ends, another kingdom will rise, but it will not be as great as yours. A third kingdom will then rule over the whole earth. The fourth kingdom will be very strong, and it will crush the others. But it will be divided like the legs of the statue. The last kingdom will be even less united—like the ten toes. Parts of it will be as strong as iron and parts will be as brittle as baked clay. In the end, God’s kingdom will appear and destroy all the other kingdoms that have been ruled by men.” King Nebuchadnezzar had his answer. He bowed down and praised Daniel’s God as the God of all gods and the Lord of all kings. He made Daniel a great ruler in his royal court.
Daniel knew that God was in control of everything from the changing of seasons to the changing of kingdoms (Daniel 2:20-21). So, it wasn’t awkward or frightening for him to ask God to help him accomplish the king’s impossible request. Do you count on God to accomplish “impossible” things through you?
