Daniel 4:19-28

This chapter is naturally dominated by Nebuchadnezzar. His dream. His transformation into an animal. His restoration back into a king!

In the midst of this drama is Daniel. I am struck by Daniel. Put yourself in his shoes.

He has the fun job of telling the king the bad news. Picture the king, in all his grandeur and at arguably one of the highpoints of his reign, being told it is all going to come crashing down. Picture yourself as God’s messenger.

There is this phrase, “Don’t shoot the messenger”. It probably comes exactly from scenes like this one.

It is easy, and perhaps wrong, to picture Daniel as this prideful person telling the king how wrong he is. That is not the scene. Daniel is truly concerned for the king. 

I had noted pride as the issue. Often pride is not on direct display. Often it is behind the scenes.

Yet when we are truly concerned for the other person, we speak from our heart. 

Daniel is speaking from the heart. He tells the king, not only his dream, but the solution. 

Daniel tells the king to merciful to the poor, and to get right with God—to be righteous. The fancy religious phrase is to pursue righteousness.  

Let’s pause and reflect on this picture. Not only does Daniel give the king the bad news, he tells the king the solution—to return to God.

Have you ever found yourself in this situation? Are you and I in this situation?

You and I probably will not be facing a king, but we may be facing people who are even more important, to us.

Consider our friends who are leading lives disconnected from God, perhaps even in opposition to God’s ways. What do we do? They have use influence over us.

Step One is to genuinely love and pray for our friends. 

Step Two is to pray to God for His leading. 

Step Three is to act in love. 

This “acting in love” usually has a choice of being present in their lives, or not being present. 

If it makes sense for you to be present, then simply be prayerfully present. In that situation, I suspect most people know you are a follower of Jesus. Which should mean, most people know your lifestyle choices are governed by the Word of God. The Holy Spirit will lead you at the right moment to speak.

If it does not make sense for you to be present, then simply pray. Prayer is powerful. It may take years, but it is powerful.

What people in your circle might you be thinking of right now? What might you do?