Daniel 2:19,20 – “Blessed Be the Name”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁹Then to Daniel in the vision of the night a mystery was revealed. Then he blessed the God of the heavens. ²⁰Daniel answering and saying,

Blessed be the name of the God from the ages upon the ages,

because the wisdom and the power are to Him.

Answered prayer. How amazing is it when we pray and get to see God answer? In v18, we just read, “Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 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.” The young men together turned to God and prayed.

Think for a minute what they were doing. Here are young men in a foreign land. The greatest king on earth has decreed they are to be executed. There is no “sanctuary” where they can hide. They can’t escape. There is no appellate court or any constitutional right to fair trial. They have at most a few hours to live.

Because they’re human, they had to be in great fear. Yet, in their fear, they turned to God for mercy. “… he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb 11:6).

What they needed and what they’re asking for is impossible. Humanly speaking there is no way we can know what someone else dreamed, much less what it meant. And to be unable to do so meant they were about to be executed, and again, they have absolutely no escape. Humanly speaking, they are about to die. Period.

Yet they have a God to whom “impossible” means nothing. “With God all things are possible.” And so with David they pray, “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in Thee: yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, ’til these calamities be passed by. I will cry unto God Most High; unto God who performeth all things for me” (Ps 57:1,2).

I’m not facing anything so serious as my impending execution, but I certainly know how these guys feel. As I sit here early on a Monday morning, I’m headed into work where there are a number of situations which are very frightening to me. Some are more serious than others, but all remind me that I’m living at the end of myself. My son and his wife just gave us a new grand-daughter, but there are uncertainties all around her health. Whether at work or at home, I need to and want to get results that in many ways I simply don’t have the power or perhaps the wisdom to secure. My grand daughter’s health hangs in the balance. At work, people are depending on me. What to do? Well, obviously, we’ll all keep praying for our little girl and I’m confident my son and his wife will get the best medical care available. I’ll head in to work and make the phone calls, do the calculations, do everything that is within my wisdom and power, and then I must trust this God who does in fact “dwell among men.” I must go on trying to be kind, trying to treat other people with respect, and, rather than turning on them, I need to turn to the God of Heaven and believe that He will in fact work all things together for my good. Then, like the guys here, it is, of course, wonderful when we actually get to see the answer to those prayers right before our eyes!

But whether we do or don’t, Daniel’s response is still true: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; wisdom and power are His.” This God who does in fact “dwell among men” is worthy of our praises and our deepest trust. Daniel and his friends turned to this God and He delivered them. He did for them what was impossible. And I love the first thing Daniel says, “Wisdom and power are His.” The two things we all lack – wisdom and power – actually belong to our God! It wouldn’t be enough if He had wisdom but then lacked the power to use it. But it would be a sad thing indeed if He had power but lacked the wisdom to use it benevolently. To our God belong both!

This is precisely why the psalmist can say of the godly man, “Surely he will never be shaken … He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, confident in the Lord” (112:6,7). The more we know our God, the more we can walk confident in Him. The more we know Him, the more we learn that in fact “wisdom and power are His.” Faith very often ends up a matter of believing this in spite of our fears. I often (usually) don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make things turn out “right.” And even if I think I know, I most of the time live keenly aware that too many things seem out of my control. I don’t have the power. But God does. “Wisdom and power are His.” And so we pray. And so we invite others to pray with us. And sometimes we get to see those prayers answered right before our eyes. And sometimes we don’t.

But the people who know their God just keep on praying, keep on loving and giving, keep on trying. Sometimes they (we) fail, but no matter what, He goes on being worthy of praise, the God to whom belong wisdom and power.

All praise to Him who reigns above, in majesty supreme;

Who gave His Son for man to die, that He might man redeem.

Blessed be the Name.