Daniel 2:1-13

NO FOOL  "So tell me the dream and interpret it for me" (2:6).

NEBUCHADNEZZAR is no fool. He does not get to where he is by flattery, and silly impractical idealism. He is a rational and logical person. He has been dreaming, and his dreams trouble him. He knows that if he were to tell the interpreters his dream, they will invent some interpretation. How is he going to guarantee that what they interpret is correct, and that they have real understanding?

This test is as simple and as logical as it is severe. He will ask them to tell him his dream. If they can do it, the interpretation is right. The magicians cannot do it and say, "No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men" (2:11). The stage is set for Daniel to be recognized as the mouthpiece of the true God.

What this tells us is that beyond a point, there is nothing human knowledge can do. A person who is sick goes to the doctor as he ought to. He is given medication, and he gets well. There are, however, many instances when a person is sick with an illness modern medicine can scarcely diagnose, let alone treat. Hospital staff and family stand by and watch helplessly.

I know of a case in which all the doctors concurred that the prognosis is not good. This Christian sister is not getting better. All the tests on her are negative, but she remains in a coma. Everyone is brought to the point he has to say, if she gets well, it is the Lord's doing, and the Lord's grace. She recovered.

Every now and then, God will prove a point in our life. He doesn't do it too often for life would otherwise be too stressful. What he does is to bring us, or bring people close to us into the dark valley. When we have nowhere to turn but up, and when we cannot rely on human wisdom anymore, He shows His power. The important thing for us to do is to keep these incidents firmly embedded in our hearts and minds so that we will always remember that God can do it.

OUR ADVERSITY IS GOD'S OPPORTUNITY.