Between a Hard Place and a Rock(12Feb06)
Daniel M2 Between a Hard Place and a Rock February 12, 2006
(The sermon can be heard online at:
http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
Big Idea in the extraordinary and ordinary events of life, we need the grace of God.
We’ve heard the expression hitting “rock bottom.”
When a person hits absolute bottom.
Bill Wilson, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, reached the unshakable conviction, that an alcoholic must "hit rock bottom" in order to climb upward. Wilson said the divine paradox that strength rises from weakness, that humiliation goes before resurrection…
Though no-one would choose hardship for its own sake, there is great a spiritual opportunity in experiencing bottom and coming to face to face with our limitations, our weakness, our and falleness.
Healing and sanity begin with the realization that we are not God, we are not in control.
In Bible text we’re going to look at two people experience “a bottom” that will drive them to the great reality beyond themselves.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Daniel 2:
Daniel 2:1-19; 26-45
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means."
4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
5 The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 6 But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me."
7 Once more they replied, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
8 Then the king answered, "I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me."
10 The astrologers answered the king, "There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11 What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men."
12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
(paraphrase vss. 14-19)
14 When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. 15 He asked the king's officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. 16 At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.
17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
Daniel Interprets the Dream
26 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
27 Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
29 "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
31 "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
36 "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39 "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
In this passage the King Nebuchadnezzar has puzzling dreams and he can’t sleep.
So he invites his “dream team” the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers before him to both recount the dream and interpret it.
And they say, tell us the dream and we’ll interpret it for you.
Nebuchadnezzar flies into this rage and demands that his dream team come up with the dream and interpret it or else face death and house turned into piles of rubble, destroyed and literally made into toilets (check Hebrew).
The King demands his wise men to recount his dream to see whether really have special powers, but also because the King (likely) cannot remember his dream.
The dream team say there is not no one on earth can reveal the dream to the King expect the gods and they do not live among people and at this the King flies into a rage and orders that all the wise men of Babylon be executed.
Daniel one of the wise men hears what’s going on and steps forward…he asks the King for time so he might interpret the dream. He asks his friends renamed Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego… to pray to the living God on his behalf…
Daniel prays and the God of heaven reveals the mystery of the dream to Daniel…. And Daniel interprets the dream for the King… Daniel explains how he saw this large statue of human being like figure with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet partly of clay and partly iron… he tells how another Kingdom symbolized by a rock would crush all those Kingdoms…and would endure forever…
The statue’s body parts represent the different Kingdoms… Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom being the head of gold… the of silver chest (and there are slightly differing opinion on the rest of the body parts) may represent Medio-Persian empire, the bronze thighs Greece and feet of iron and clay being Rome…
When the King hears Daniel re-tell the dream and interpret he acknowledges that Daniel’s God is the God of gods and promotes to him to a position of great influence…
(Transition):
Daniel is sharp, has received the best education available anywhere in the world of his day, he’s disciplined and graduates at the top of his class, but in this case he realizes that all of his intellectual gifts and all of that good education can’t help him now.
When Daniel is faced with the challenge of interpreting the King’s dream or die, he realizes he needs something more that simply a great education and superior analytical skills.
We live a world that highly values intelligence and knowledge and education…
and now largely because of the writings of Daniel Goleman we also value emotional intelligence, the ability to feel, understand, and use our emotions in daily life.
Most people believe that IQ helps a person succeed, and now many people now also believe that emotional intelligence or EQ (emotional quotient) may be even more may more important in “life success.”
But there come times when we face a rock bottom situation where neither IQ nor EQ are enough… times when we need grace…
There are times when IQ and EQ alone are not enough…to get us through…
Like Daniel, there are times when we really need a direct intervention of God to reveal something to us….
Most of us will not face an “interpret of a dream of die” challenge, but there are times when our own wisdom will not be enough… we need the grace of God to live through a situation:
A member of the board of World Vision was telling me the story of Debra from Rwanda. One day a couple of Tutsi soliers were riding in a boat… one them open fired on her young, son killing. Obviously the Debra was deeply hurt and angry over the loss of her son, but she decided to pray for the solider who killed her son. She prayed for some 40 days… during this season of prayer she had a vision of chapel, stairs leading up to open doors and at the end of chapel against the wall was cross… she interpreted the dream to mean that in order go through the house of her enemy she had to go through the cross… she had to forgive… at the end of her 40 days of praying, knock on her door… she opened and there was a solider at the door…. He asked are you so and so… she said yes… he said for the past 40 days each night I’ve had a vision of you praying for me… I can’t stand it any longer…. I’ve come to confess my crime of killing your son… ask your forgiveness please over to police… I am ready to face death…. I can’t to live like this any longer… She said first you don’t need to ask my forgiveness, I’ve already forgiven you, but I will have my vengeance, you killed my son, my only son, you must now take his place, I am want to adopt you as my son…
Debra was facing a situation with the murder of her son that her I.Q. and E.Q. alone could not handle. She need a gracious intervention form God.
When it’s come to direction at the key crossroads of our lives, are I.Q. and our E.Q. may not be enough, we need God to reveal the mystery of our life to us.
As a young adult in my late twenties, I felt like I was at a kind of crossroads… seeking to determine which work path to talk…
I had studied business economics and philosophy as an undergraduate and I had master’s degree in theology.
I worked in both corporate world and as well as in Christian ministry.
In my transition time, I was living with a childhood friend in White Rock.
I had these cards (index cards) listing the top of 5 or 6 job prospects and with pros and cons list written down.
But through a time of fasting and prayer… to determine where should I go, God did not call name any of options written on the cards… God impressed upon 3 wordsTenth Avenue Alliance… and then 2 days senior pastor (a church that I had had no formal connection with).
I could not have received that knowledge, just through my education, or my analysis, but I needed grace, I needed the wisdom of God…
There are times, like Daniel when experience a kind of bottom, when what need more the I.Q. or E.Q. we need the wisdom of God.
Even if we are the most powerful person on earth, like Nebuchadnezzar with everyone at our beck and call, and we can say interpret my dream or make sure my coffee is made the way I like it or die…and have the power to literally deliver on the threat…
like King Nebuchadnezzar we would need still the grace of God to tells us the meaning of our life…
King Nebuchadnezzar his has dream of the enormous statue of with the gold head, silver chest, belly and thighs and of bronze, feet of clay and iron…
Yes, the statue represents the King of Babylon’s Kingdom and other Kingdoms follow is a revelation from God about the future…
But, like many of our dreams, the Nebuchadnezzar’s dream also represents his deepest yearning as well as his greatest fears…
He longs to be the head of gold, he longs to be dazzling, a larger than life figure…
But like a virtually all powerful leaders fear that one day their “Kingdom” their legacy will be crushed…
The dream shows King Nebuchadnezzar that he is the head of gold, but there is rock that will crush him and the other Kingdoms…
He’s so compelled and troubled by this dream that he tells his dream team that if they cannot interpret the dream for them… they will be executed.
At some this dream is our dream: everyone of us here want our lives to be dazzling in some way… and/or fears being crushed…
It may be that we want to have dazzling our career…
I was with a VP of a very well known multi-national company… This VP is a self proclaimed atheist, who was telling me, in my family if you didn’t get bachelor’s and a master’s degrees, my parents would put big tattoo across your forehead, with word “LOSER…” Her siblings are successful doctors… In her family you had to become a professional and had to be leader in your field or else my parents would think you were a loser…
You can be want to dazzling in your career so that you please yourself or someone really important to you…
Or can want to be dazzling in our appearance the way we look and look literally dazzling… or to be dazzling in our recreation pursuits… we can want to have a dazzling set of our “experiences” we can fit our life on earth…
But our some dazzling career, dazzling body, dazzling experience is what we building our life on, even if we achieve “gold,” we will one day we will crumble…
The only life will last forever is the life that is built on rock, cut from the mountain, that will eventually destroy all the others Kingdoms…
The rock may not look dazzlingly at first compared to gold and silver and so is overlooked by majority, it starts small and so is disregarded, but the rock which symbolizes the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, will prove to be the cornerstone of universe…
Jesus said, like a clay pot, whoever falls on the stone will be broken to pieces and whoever the stone fall will be crushed.
Jesus was teaching who does not build his or her life on the rock, will one day be crushed?
How do we become people who receive this hard, gracious wisdom of God?
Some times that wisdom comes through a crisis… a rock bottom experience that can awaken us to our need of God…
In some cases worst thing that happened was paradoxically also the best thing…
It opens us up in a new way to God and our inner world…
Sometimes the wisdom comes through a friend or person who you know walks with God… like Daniel
In the we need to pray, but we also need others to pray and offer wisdom of us…
The King needed Daniel as spiritual guide.
So we need to pray but we also need community to guide us.
Wisdom always comes as a gift… grace…
Some time IQ and EQ are not enough we need the grace of God…
There’s a myth that we are the architects of our lives. To some extent, of course, we shape our lives. The most significant gifts come as grace.
Love cannot be bought. Love is a gift. The ability to be content is a gift with what we have is gift. True wisdom is always a gift.
Silent prayer:
Benediction:
Your true life is not something you achieve.
It’s something you receive.
(The sermon can be heard online at:
http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
Big Idea in the extraordinary and ordinary events of life, we need the grace of God.
We’ve heard the expression hitting “rock bottom.”
When a person hits absolute bottom.
Bill Wilson, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, reached the unshakable conviction, that an alcoholic must "hit rock bottom" in order to climb upward. Wilson said the divine paradox that strength rises from weakness, that humiliation goes before resurrection…
Though no-one would choose hardship for its own sake, there is great a spiritual opportunity in experiencing bottom and coming to face to face with our limitations, our weakness, our and falleness.
Healing and sanity begin with the realization that we are not God, we are not in control.
In Bible text we’re going to look at two people experience “a bottom” that will drive them to the great reality beyond themselves.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Daniel 2:
Daniel 2:1-19; 26-45
Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, "I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means."
4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
5 The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 6 But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me."
7 Once more they replied, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it."
8 Then the king answered, "I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me."
10 The astrologers answered the king, "There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11 What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men."
12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
(paraphrase vss. 14-19)
14 When Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. 15 He asked the king's officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. 16 At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.
17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
Daniel Interprets the Dream
26 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
27 Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
29 "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
31 "You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
36 "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39 "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
In this passage the King Nebuchadnezzar has puzzling dreams and he can’t sleep.
So he invites his “dream team” the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers before him to both recount the dream and interpret it.
And they say, tell us the dream and we’ll interpret it for you.
Nebuchadnezzar flies into this rage and demands that his dream team come up with the dream and interpret it or else face death and house turned into piles of rubble, destroyed and literally made into toilets (check Hebrew).
The King demands his wise men to recount his dream to see whether really have special powers, but also because the King (likely) cannot remember his dream.
The dream team say there is not no one on earth can reveal the dream to the King expect the gods and they do not live among people and at this the King flies into a rage and orders that all the wise men of Babylon be executed.
Daniel one of the wise men hears what’s going on and steps forward…he asks the King for time so he might interpret the dream. He asks his friends renamed Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego… to pray to the living God on his behalf…
Daniel prays and the God of heaven reveals the mystery of the dream to Daniel…. And Daniel interprets the dream for the King… Daniel explains how he saw this large statue of human being like figure with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet partly of clay and partly iron… he tells how another Kingdom symbolized by a rock would crush all those Kingdoms…and would endure forever…
The statue’s body parts represent the different Kingdoms… Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom being the head of gold… the of silver chest (and there are slightly differing opinion on the rest of the body parts) may represent Medio-Persian empire, the bronze thighs Greece and feet of iron and clay being Rome…
When the King hears Daniel re-tell the dream and interpret he acknowledges that Daniel’s God is the God of gods and promotes to him to a position of great influence…
(Transition):
Daniel is sharp, has received the best education available anywhere in the world of his day, he’s disciplined and graduates at the top of his class, but in this case he realizes that all of his intellectual gifts and all of that good education can’t help him now.
When Daniel is faced with the challenge of interpreting the King’s dream or die, he realizes he needs something more that simply a great education and superior analytical skills.
We live a world that highly values intelligence and knowledge and education…
and now largely because of the writings of Daniel Goleman we also value emotional intelligence, the ability to feel, understand, and use our emotions in daily life.
Most people believe that IQ helps a person succeed, and now many people now also believe that emotional intelligence or EQ (emotional quotient) may be even more may more important in “life success.”
But there come times when we face a rock bottom situation where neither IQ nor EQ are enough… times when we need grace…
There are times when IQ and EQ alone are not enough…to get us through…
Like Daniel, there are times when we really need a direct intervention of God to reveal something to us….
Most of us will not face an “interpret of a dream of die” challenge, but there are times when our own wisdom will not be enough… we need the grace of God to live through a situation:
A member of the board of World Vision was telling me the story of Debra from Rwanda. One day a couple of Tutsi soliers were riding in a boat… one them open fired on her young, son killing. Obviously the Debra was deeply hurt and angry over the loss of her son, but she decided to pray for the solider who killed her son. She prayed for some 40 days… during this season of prayer she had a vision of chapel, stairs leading up to open doors and at the end of chapel against the wall was cross… she interpreted the dream to mean that in order go through the house of her enemy she had to go through the cross… she had to forgive… at the end of her 40 days of praying, knock on her door… she opened and there was a solider at the door…. He asked are you so and so… she said yes… he said for the past 40 days each night I’ve had a vision of you praying for me… I can’t stand it any longer…. I’ve come to confess my crime of killing your son… ask your forgiveness please over to police… I am ready to face death…. I can’t to live like this any longer… She said first you don’t need to ask my forgiveness, I’ve already forgiven you, but I will have my vengeance, you killed my son, my only son, you must now take his place, I am want to adopt you as my son…
Debra was facing a situation with the murder of her son that her I.Q. and E.Q. alone could not handle. She need a gracious intervention form God.
When it’s come to direction at the key crossroads of our lives, are I.Q. and our E.Q. may not be enough, we need God to reveal the mystery of our life to us.
As a young adult in my late twenties, I felt like I was at a kind of crossroads… seeking to determine which work path to talk…
I had studied business economics and philosophy as an undergraduate and I had master’s degree in theology.
I worked in both corporate world and as well as in Christian ministry.
In my transition time, I was living with a childhood friend in White Rock.
I had these cards (index cards) listing the top of 5 or 6 job prospects and with pros and cons list written down.
But through a time of fasting and prayer… to determine where should I go, God did not call name any of options written on the cards… God impressed upon 3 wordsTenth Avenue Alliance… and then 2 days senior pastor (a church that I had had no formal connection with).
I could not have received that knowledge, just through my education, or my analysis, but I needed grace, I needed the wisdom of God…
There are times, like Daniel when experience a kind of bottom, when what need more the I.Q. or E.Q. we need the wisdom of God.
Even if we are the most powerful person on earth, like Nebuchadnezzar with everyone at our beck and call, and we can say interpret my dream or make sure my coffee is made the way I like it or die…and have the power to literally deliver on the threat…
like King Nebuchadnezzar we would need still the grace of God to tells us the meaning of our life…
King Nebuchadnezzar his has dream of the enormous statue of with the gold head, silver chest, belly and thighs and of bronze, feet of clay and iron…
Yes, the statue represents the King of Babylon’s Kingdom and other Kingdoms follow is a revelation from God about the future…
But, like many of our dreams, the Nebuchadnezzar’s dream also represents his deepest yearning as well as his greatest fears…
He longs to be the head of gold, he longs to be dazzling, a larger than life figure…
But like a virtually all powerful leaders fear that one day their “Kingdom” their legacy will be crushed…
The dream shows King Nebuchadnezzar that he is the head of gold, but there is rock that will crush him and the other Kingdoms…
He’s so compelled and troubled by this dream that he tells his dream team that if they cannot interpret the dream for them… they will be executed.
At some this dream is our dream: everyone of us here want our lives to be dazzling in some way… and/or fears being crushed…
It may be that we want to have dazzling our career…
I was with a VP of a very well known multi-national company… This VP is a self proclaimed atheist, who was telling me, in my family if you didn’t get bachelor’s and a master’s degrees, my parents would put big tattoo across your forehead, with word “LOSER…” Her siblings are successful doctors… In her family you had to become a professional and had to be leader in your field or else my parents would think you were a loser…
You can be want to dazzling in your career so that you please yourself or someone really important to you…
Or can want to be dazzling in our appearance the way we look and look literally dazzling… or to be dazzling in our recreation pursuits… we can want to have a dazzling set of our “experiences” we can fit our life on earth…
But our some dazzling career, dazzling body, dazzling experience is what we building our life on, even if we achieve “gold,” we will one day we will crumble…
The only life will last forever is the life that is built on rock, cut from the mountain, that will eventually destroy all the others Kingdoms…
The rock may not look dazzlingly at first compared to gold and silver and so is overlooked by majority, it starts small and so is disregarded, but the rock which symbolizes the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, will prove to be the cornerstone of universe…
Jesus said, like a clay pot, whoever falls on the stone will be broken to pieces and whoever the stone fall will be crushed.
Jesus was teaching who does not build his or her life on the rock, will one day be crushed?
How do we become people who receive this hard, gracious wisdom of God?
Some times that wisdom comes through a crisis… a rock bottom experience that can awaken us to our need of God…
In some cases worst thing that happened was paradoxically also the best thing…
It opens us up in a new way to God and our inner world…
Sometimes the wisdom comes through a friend or person who you know walks with God… like Daniel
In the we need to pray, but we also need others to pray and offer wisdom of us…
The King needed Daniel as spiritual guide.
So we need to pray but we also need community to guide us.
Wisdom always comes as a gift… grace…
Some time IQ and EQ are not enough we need the grace of God…
There’s a myth that we are the architects of our lives. To some extent, of course, we shape our lives. The most significant gifts come as grace.
Love cannot be bought. Love is a gift. The ability to be content is a gift with what we have is gift. True wisdom is always a gift.
Silent prayer:
Benediction:
Your true life is not something you achieve.
It’s something you receive.
posted by Shigematsu at 11:10 AM
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