Confident in God
“Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” -Daniel 2:45
Perhaps because Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was so dramatic, and because Daniel’s interpretation was so amazing, that we miss a subtle characteristic about Daniel’s life. In the verse above, Daniel has just finished telling the king his dream, and what it means as it relates to future events. Yet at the very end, he makes quite a bold profession—especially to someone such as the king of Babylon, who has the power to put to death any number of people—and Daniel declares: “[T]he dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure” (Daniel 2:45b).
Was Daniel merely being arrogant or cocky? After all, he did say that his interpretation was “sure,” as if to say, “I can’t possibly be wrong.”
Truly, Daniel was not proud in the least, but he had complete and total trust in God. Daniel knew that he had absolutely nothing to do with the revelation of the king’s dream, and recognized that it was entirely from God. And so realizing this, he could be quite bold, and tell the king outright that the dream that he has seen (which the king had also dreamed before him), and the interpretation of what it meant, was absolutely undeniable and sure. Daniel put his confidence in God, rather than himself, and he was greatly rewarded for it. It is not always a sin to be confident or bold, but rather, the heart of the issue lies in who we place our confidence in.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” -Proverbs 3:5-7
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