Real worship in a decree from a Gentile king - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Daniel 6:26-27,

"I [King Darius] issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."

Daniel found himself in a tight spot. He had been placed as one of three administrators over 120 satraps (provisional governors) in the Persian empire that King Darius ruled. The others decided to destroy him and devised a plot that would pit Daniel's allegiance to the Lord against his allegiance to the king. Undeterred, Daniel continued to worship God and it resulted in him being cast into a den of hungry lions.

Darius' heart was with Daniel, however, and the following morning when he hurried to see what happened to Daniel, he found him unharmed. We are told Darius was overjoyed, and the above verses express his decree - a decree of worship.

This doxology, just as rich with acknowledgement of who God is and what he does, as was Nebuchadnezzar's in Daniel 4:34-35, is likewise breath-taking in its view of God:

God is the living God (unlike the false idols of Persia).

God endures forever.

God's kingdom will not be destroyed.

God's dominion (unlike Darius') will never end.

God rescues and saves.

God performs signs and wonders, both in the heavens and on the earth.

And, finally, God rescued Daniel from the power of lions.

This is the stuff of real worship. Acknowledging the great acts of God, acknowledging the transcendent nature of his character, his qualities, his person, all provide for the richest of worship and praise - and from this Gentile king comes direction for us in the church today as we consider our own worship of God.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

The handwriting on the wall - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Daniel 5:22-24,

"But you, Belshazzar, his [Nebuchadnezzar's] son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

As successor to Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar was found guilty of not heeding the truths that his predecessor had to learn the hard way. He "did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways." Verse 23. What Nebuchadnezzar learned was that the "Most High" is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes, Daniel 4:25.

Rather than acknowledging what Nebuchadnezzar eventually learned, Belshazzar, who knew what he had learned, set himself up against the One who both seats kings on their thrones and deposes them as well. This night Belshazzar would lose his kingdom to Darius the Mede, and would be put to death.

The handwriting on the wall was God's judgment of him. Belshazzar's days were at an end, he was "weighed in the scales and found wanting" and his kingdom would now be broken up and given to the Medes and Persians.

How frightening this must have been to Belshazzar! We are told, "His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking." Daniel 5:6.

Today we are told we all are weighed in the balance and found wanting, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23. However, the good news is, "Whoever hears my [Jesus'] word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24.

Just as Belshazzar faced the judgment of God, so we do, with eternity in the balance for each of us. We do not, however, have to face God's judgment if we would but embrace him in faith.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Humbly acknowleging our God on the international stage - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Daniel 4:25,

"You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes."

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about an enormous tree. He had Daniel interpret the dream, which was that the tree, with its beautiful leaves, abundant fruit, with food for all and shelter for all, represented his kingdom. In the vision Nebuchadnezzar had, an angel called to have tree cut down, to have his mind changed from that of a man to an animal and to live like one for seven years.

The purpose was to teach "the living" that the "Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people." Verse 17. The fulfillment of the dream took place a year later when Nebuchadnezzar, viewing his kingdom said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" Note the first person personal pronouns used in that statement! Nebuchadnezzar was ripe for humiliation.

At the end of the seven year period we read that Nebuchadnezzar was restored, and made this startling confession, "His [the Most High] dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: 'What have you done?'" Daniel 4:34-35.

Nebuchadnezzar was cured of his arrogance and developed a newly acquired understanding of things of God. What the lesson pointed to, rather specifically, is that God is the one who establishes the rulers of the nations. From Daniel 2:20-22 we read that it is God who establishes the times and seasons, that he is the one who deposes rulers and raises up others. Paul told his hearers in Acts 17:26, "From one man he [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands." God establishes nations and their rulers.

This appears to be a truth that has not made its way into the hearts and minds of many through the years, both within and without the church. We live in a day where God appears to be relegated to merely the definition of morals and ethics, rather than a personal God who directs the affairs of this world for his own purposes.

The wise today will acknowledge the truths we learn about God throughout the whole counsel of his word, including the Old Testament prophets. It is only from this vantage point we have any hope of understanding what it is God is doing in our world today. And, he appears to be very active in what he is doing among the nations in our day.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

An account pregnant with truths we need today - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Daniel 3:24-27,

"Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, 'Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?' They replied, 'Certainly, Your Majesty.' He said, 'Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.' Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, 'Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!' So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them."

Nebuchadnezzar set up a statue to be worshiped and when the God-fearing friends of Daniel refused to bow down to it, Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into a hot furnace. In the fire, they were unharmed and there was a forth figure seen in the fire, someone who looked "like a son of the gods." There is only one God and he has only one Son, Jesus Christ. We believe this forth figure to be a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, the Son of God.

Nebuchadnezzar called them out of the fire and found that, not only were they unharmed, even their clothes had no odor of smoke!

Is this an account for only the genre of children's Bible stories? I think not - not by a long shot. This account reveals very important adult-level truths (as well as truths for the younger ones), that need to be learned and understood by the most mature of believers.

From this account we learn how to address the issues of what we all will be confronted with in the days ahead, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." Matthew 22:21. We find out that at times it may only be after we make the right life-and-death decisions that express our faith (as did Daniel's friends) that we find ourselves in the Lord's presence in this life. We find for ourselves, experientially, that the one to fear is not the civil authority or anyone else when it comes to the things of God, but God, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." Luke 12:4-5.

I'm certain there are many truths that can glean from this account. It is an amazing account, as so many are in Daniel's book. It is a truthful and accurate record of an event that took place that day in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom and it holds for all of us many things we need to learn.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

God determines world history, not man - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Daniel 2:20-22,

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him."

Here is Daniel's response to the revelation God gave him regarding the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had. He dreamed of a statue and was perplexed with its meaning. He ordered all the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he dreamed and the meaning of it. When they could not, he ordered their execution. Daniel and his friends were considered among that group and so prayed to God for the revelation of the dream.

Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a large statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and iron with clay, from top to bottom. The Lord revealed to Daniel, who revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, that the portions of the statue with the differing materials were the present Bablylonian world power and world powers to come: the Medo-Persian empire, the Greek empire, the Roman, and what follows Roman till the Lord returns. The dream was a perfect foretelling of the future periods of mankind to come.

The dream ended with God setting up a kingdom that will endure forever and will crush all the others. "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. 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." Daniel 2:44-45. I am reminded of Paul's quote of Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 in Romans 9:29, "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame."

Daniel's worship as quoted above in 2:20-22 is breath-taking in its broad and sweeping understanding of the things of God. It acknowledges that God is the One who, "made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands." Acts 17:26. He destroys nations and raises others up. It is God who changes times and seasons. It is God who determines world history!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Our present and involved God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Daniel 1:2,

"And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God."

In this first chapter we read of the Lord bringing about events, as well as his involvement documented in the book of Daniel. We are told "the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

It was God who caused a chief official "to show favor and compassion to Daniel." Daniel 1:9. This made possible the approval of Daniel's request that he not eat the royal food or drink the royal wine of Babylon, as he did not want to defile himself. 

We are also told God gave Daniel and his three friends "knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds." Daniel 1:17. This will become an important aspect in later accounts in this book.

This places God squarely in the center of the events and visions we read of in Daniel. Those who read the book without acknowledging God's presence and involvement in the accounts provided become distracted and misdirected in their failure to account for the supernatural and divine elements of these amazing accounts.

God is always involved!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

God: flawless and impeccable perfections! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Amos 9:11-12,

"'In that day I will restore David's fallen shelter— I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins— and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,' declares the Lord, who will do these things."

This amazing and wonderful prophecy about the future restoration of Israel is given by the One who is going to first bring its destruction. Following his judgment of the nation for its rebellion against him, he is going to bring them back to the land and prepare the nation for the coming of his Son, to be born by Mary.

God's word is true. It is always reliable and whatever the Lord says will come to pass. The book of Proverbs tells us that what a person desires is unfailing love, Proverbs 19:22. This kind of love can only be found in him. Where others may disappoint us and while we may disappoint others, the Lord never does. He says what he does and he does what he says. As we recognize the chief characteristics of God that he reveals to us - his sense of justice and his unfathomable love - knowing he is faithful is something we can "hang our hat on."

The Lord never changes, Hebrews 13:8, and his love for us is incomprehensible. What a wonderful combination of qualities our Lord has! He really is a many-splendored God of transcendent glory in his array of flawless and impeccable perfections!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.

Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com