August 4, 2025 - Daniel 1-3

The Middle East . . . wow!  It seems that nothing ever changes.  The nation of Israel always will be despised by the surrounding nations, no matter how the US or Israel tries to appease them.  Oh, there will be a nation, from time to time, because of immediate strategic needs or what not, that will enter into agreements with Israel.  But those sorts of agreements, it always seems, turn out to be temporary and entered into grudgingly by the other nations.  Things haven’t changed much, have they?  Daniel and his companions, though received well enough and, certainly, blessed by God in Babylon, were constantly on the defensive:  they had to go by new Babylonian names, they had to fight for their right to eat according to their consciences, they had to stand against the command to bow before the statue and, then, there were the fiery furnace and the lions’ den.

They seemed under constant threat, but Daniel and his companions also were under the constant protection and provision of God.  When no wise men could interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel confessed that even could not tell the dream and then interpret it, but, he said, “There is a God” who can do it (2:27,28).  Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, God delivered them, and Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged, “There is no other God who is able to rescue in this way” (3:29).  What Daniel and his friends experienced, and what Nebuchadnezzar declared, we ourselves know.  In our God is protection.  Our God is able to save.  Though only a few days ago, I quoted the following verses, I almost have to repeat them, here.

‘Tis the grandest theme thro’ the ages rung;

‘Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;

‘Tis the grandest theme that the world e’er sung:

Our God is able to deliver thee.

He is able to deliver thee,

He is able to deliver thee;

Tho’ by sin opprest, Go to Him for rest;

Our God is able to deliver thee.   -- William A. Ogden (1887)