Daniel 10:15-19

 

Daniel 10

Vision of Jesus

The vision - Strengthened again

Daniel 10:15-19

 

What do you need to go the extra mile?

Maybe you've seen this cartoon somewhere:

For some persons, opposition in the form of obstacles is "a sign from God telling you not to go that way". And it could be so, in some cases. But not all opposition is sent by God with that purpose. There is satanical opposition we have to defeat in order to continue, and there is God's opposition that we have to accept, and repent, which means to abandon our way and to embrace God's call. The prophet Jonah understood it in the belly of a big fish, and the apostle Paul, by becoming blind and dependent of others, even to find his way forward. When you are called by God, you better obey Him. 

The cartoon above shows one of the most common reasons that we abandon our endeavours - and some ones who are particularly "spiritual" say, "God has told me not to". That common reason is that reality becomes overwhelming because your plan was full of "wishful thinking", or lacking necessary knowledge, or your analysis (and consequently, your strategy) was faulty, or that you were supossed to grow and/or adapt on the way and you didn't... you could add other reasons of your own. 

We need maturity to obey God. Only mature people don't give up because of opposition they could defeat with God's help. If you quitted your career, your work, your marriage, your familiar responsabilities, whatever endeavour at all, and your life is messed up, look no further for a reason to that. Most quitters usually blame others for their failures. But that's the way to become a "social justice warrior" and begin to demand from society the things you most fix in your life. That's not the society's task. That's your task. And God is willing to help you with that task. 

Do you need God's help? Do you want to receive it?

In the message corresponding to Daniel 10:7-8 we saw how God strengthened Daniel, who was utterly weak and even unable to speak to Him or to listen to Him. God's words in verses 11-14 gave him some strength, but not enough. That's why he describes his weakness and God helps him in the following verses, Daniel 10:15-19 (New International Version) 

"While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, 'I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe'."

"Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. 'Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed', he said. 'Peace! Be strong now; be strong'. When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, 'Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength'."

The original Hebrew text is this:

 ובדברו עמי כדברים האלה - נתתי פני ארצה ונאלמתי  והנה כדמות בני אדם נגע על שפתי ואפתח פי ואדברה ואמרה אל העמד לנגדי אדני במראה נהפכו צירי עלי ולא עצרתי כח  והיך יוכל עבד אדני זה לדבר עם אדני זה ואני מעתה לא יעמד בי כח ונשמה לא נשארה בי

 ויסף ויגע בי כמראה אדם ויחזקני ויאמר אל תירא איש חמדות שלום לך - חזק וחזק וכדברו עמי התחזקתי ואמרה ידבר אדני כי חזקתני

And it is the pronunciation:

Uvedaberó imí kadevarím haéle natáti panáy artsá venehelámeti. Vehiné, kidmút benéy adám nogéa al sefatáy vaeftáx-pi, vaadaberá vaomrá el-haoméd lenegdí: Adoní, bamará nehefxú tsiráy aláy, veló atsárti kóax. Vehéx yuxál éved adoní ze ledabér im adoní ze, vaaní meatá lo-yaamód-bi kóax, uneshamá lo nishará-bi?

Vayósef vayigá bi kemaré adám, vayexazkéni. Vayómer: Al-tirá, ish xamudót. Shalóm lax! Xazák vaxazák. Uxedaberó imí hitxazákti vaomerá: yedabér adoní, ki xizaktáni. 

Hebrew כדמות בני אדם (kidmút benéy adám ) in verse 16 and כמראה אדם (kemaré adám) in verse 18 are pretty much one and the same expression, meaning "the one that looked like a man", as it's been rendered in the New Living Translation (1996, 2004, 2015, translated with similar approach than the NIV but improved). There is no reason to suppose that there were several angels talking to Daniel besides the Angel of the Lord, in this chapter. That said, the translation of NIV is an accurate one of the Hebrew original. "Highly esteemed" is better understood as "greatly beloved man" as we saw in the previous message. 

Have you been exhausted? Physically? Mentally? Spiritually? Did you, like Daniel, ask the Lord for strength you didn't have? What for? Climbing the Everest, running 20 km, mowing the lawn or emptying the dishwasher?

I have been. When I came to Sweden and began to work physically - after fifteen years of intellectual work - I usually ended every workday with back pain. I prayed to the Lord for strength to continue, and the answer I got from Him was, "you have to train".

I couldn't believe it. I used to travel more than an hour, work 8 hours and then travel back more than an hour again. When I came home I was exhausted and with back pain (the shoulders hurt, too) and the pain didn't go away on weekends. Just as Daniel, I asked the Lord, "how could I grep a bar with 60 kg and do 3 rounds bench press in that condition"?

God is wise. I was not being wise, because I was thinking in a stereotype in my mind about what is training like. Never passed my mind that those world champions doing bench press with 300 kg didn't begin with even 100 kg. However I had a verse in the Bible where we read, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you". It is in James 1:5. I asked the Lord for wisdom. And in His great wisdom the Lord told me, "you don't have to begin with 60 kg and making 3 rounds bench press". 

That was a revelation to me. I ran to the shop and bought two dumbells of 2,5 kg each. And my workout the first day was ONE repetition for the shoulders and ONE repetition for the back, with that little weight. Apparently, it made no difference. But it did. It was the basis to make two repetitions the second day, three repetitions the third day, and so on. After one month, the back pain and shoulder pain were gone, and I began to add weight to the dumbells. I thought it was better with less repetitions and increasing weight.

After defeating the back and shoulder pain, I bought and read several books about training, nutrition, the management of your energy, sleeping time, etc. and through the years I purchased the heavier weights, the bar, the curl bar, the bench... The last time I trained for a season I had reached 120 kg in bench press (not exactly a world record, but a lot greater than I could imagine at the beginning) 

Do you need to be strengthened?

Perhaps. Or perhaps not. But not always our need is to be strengthened. We could need wisdom, knowledge, perseverance, discipline... you name it. From that person we are to that person God have use for the difference could be huge. But God doesn't call anybody without knowing he will be able to do what he is being called to. 

Let's go to Exodus 3 and 4 in the Holy Bible. We find there the call of Moses. There is a huge difference between Moses and Daniel. The Daniel Jesus met was a prophet and a mystic, a man with a deep relationship with God, with a strong anointing of the Holy Spirit and who had been working very near to Nebuchadnezzar as the chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners in Babylonia, the main "guru" of all the wisemen. The Moses Jesus met in Exodus 3 was a military commander, raised as a prince in Egypt, a decision maker and great administrator, who had to flee his country and had been a shepherd for forty years now. 

There were also similarities. Both men had reached old age, were separated from their people, and both said to the Lord they felt inadequate, but out of different reasons. Daniel was physically exhausted, so God gave him strength. Moses knew how Pharao thought about his Hebrew slaves, he was preoccupied about the reaction of the Hebrews to his call, and he didn't know the miracles God would perform to convince Pharao to let the people go. God gave him faith by revealing His Name to him, promising him to be his helper, showing him two miraculous signs and telling him to delegate some functions in Aaron his brother. Even so, Moses tried to evade the call and asked God to send someone else. 

We can see also that the call was different, and according to their personalities and perception. Daniel was left alone with God in all His magnificence, because he had been three weeks seeking God's face. Moses was tending the flocks and was intrigued by a miraculous sign, a burning bush that didn't burn up. He approached God out of sheer curiosity, and the first thing God told him as he was coming was, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground", even before presenting Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

There is something special in this call: God is talking to a man who was very independent, able in many ways and used to solve his own problems, and giving him a problem to solve which he thought was unsolvable. All of Moses instruction, training and experience in life was not enough to set the Hebrews free from Pharao, give them God's Law, and lead them through the desert to the promised land. That call was overwhelming for him. But he finally accepted it and became the leader of Israel, and God's instrument of salvation for His people. Being 80 years old, he was able to go the extra mile and to lead God's people through the desert for forty years - that's quite a few extra miles - until they reached the promised land. 

Do you need help to go the extra mile?

There is a special quality that both Daniel and Moses shared: they loved their people, the Hebrews, and they cared about them. King David, who deeply loved Israel as well, wrote in the book of Psalms:

"Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

    you make my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

    surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

    even at night my heart instructs me"

Psalms 16:5-7

Those "boundary lines" that David considered to be fallen for him in "pleasant places", and which marked out his "delightful inheritance", are a figure of the boundaries in David's life, separating that which concerned him from that which was not under his supervision (in verse 4, "those who ran efter other gods") David's inheritance means both God - his "portion and his cup" - and Israel - the "saints who are in the land" in verse 3, and it was "delightful" to him. 

This "for King and country" feeling (the King meaning Jesus) is under heavy satanical attack in our times. Patriotic Christians are accused of being "Nazis", "White Supremacists" or many other derogatory terms, by the servants of Satan. Interestingly, those same satanical servants wouldn't call names to the Chinese who love Marxism and China, to the Hindus who love Brahma and India, or to the Arabs who love Allah and Oman. You'll never hear about "Chinese supremacy", "Hindu supremacy" or "Arab supremacy" from them. It looks like their hatred is concentrated against Jesus, the Bible and the Western countries where Judeo-Christian values constitute the moral fundament of society. Of course, as good satanical servants, they are preparing the lost souls for the kingdom of the Antichrist. But that's another message. 

The love of Moses, David, Daniel and many others for the people of Israel is a reflection of the love of God for the same people, and for all mankind as His creation. That love is the reason God sent His only begotten Son to die on a cross for us all. And it is a prerequisite to ask for God's help. The Bible says that the one who doesn't love has not known Him, because God is love, and that only faith that works out of love is what matters to God. When Jesus was asked about the most important commandment, He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments". (Matthew 22:37-40)

If you love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself - I'm assuming you love yourself - be sure that God's plan for you is the best. He has tailor-made ways for every one of us, which will cover our spiritual needs. Where we are not capable, He is. Where we are not sufficient, He is. The power to transform us is in Him, and when He calls us, even to something we think we can't, He can and will anoint us to fulfill our call. He has not only promised us help with the extra mile. He has promised us to be with us "always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20)

Maybe you have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you have no idea about the whole message. Repent and come to Him! He is willing and able to save you, pardon your sins, comfort you and help you all the way. And we all need this salvation. Satan's work is to make us more and more miserable, until we die and end up in hell with him. Believe me, you don't want to be there, let alone be there on eternity. I don't know how many decades left have you and I to live on this world, but I do know that after this life of us, an eternity comes, where we will end up in the place our decision led us when walking on earth. Make your decision for Jesus, here and now!

In the love of Christ, your brother

Israel Leonard

PS. Jesus is coming soon!