13Then Daniel was brought before the king. The king answering and saying to Daniel, “You [are] him Daniel who from the sons of the exiles of Judah whom my father the king brought from Judah? 14I have heard upon you that [the] spirit of [the] gods [is] in you and illumination and insight and wisdom extraordinary are found in you. 15And now, before me were brought in the wise men [and] the conjurers that this writing they might read and the meaning of it to make known to me and not ones able to declare the meaning of the word, 16and I have heard upon you that you are able meanings to interpret and problems to solve. Now, if you are able the writing to read and its meaning to declare to me, [with] purple you will be clothed and the necklace of gold upon your neck and third in the kingdom you will rule.”
Before I move on from these verses, there is a matter of wisdom I believe we can observe in this passage and hopefully profit from. It concerns our timing. What I mean is this: Daniel has to tell Belshazzar the truth. "The truth” is not pretty. Yet notice when Daniel tells him. Belshazzar is a very wicked man who has lived his life reveling in his wickedness. We’ve even seen him so insolent that he would deliberately desecrate the temple vessels of a god. Had Daniel walked into the middle of the feast and called him out for it all, Belshazzar would have scoffed and had him executed on the spot.
Yet, what do we see? Suddenly, this arrogant, pompous king is actually calling for Daniel to come and tell him the truth! Why the change? Because something profound has happened in Belshazzar’s life to bring him to a place where he actually wants all the charades to end and someone to tell him the truth. Daniel is about the give him a message this man has refused his entire life to hear, yet now the man is asking him to tell it!
Clearly, from cover to cover in the Bible, there are times when people need to be told the truth whether they want to hear it or not. In Matt. 23, Jesus speaks a stinging rebuke to the Scribes and Pharisees, knowing full well it will only drive them closer to having Him killed. However, if we pay close attention, we will also notice there is often a wisdom demonstrated, a patience that can wait until a person is ready to hear.
The classic verse on this is of course I Peter 3:15, “…and
be ready always to give an answer to any man who asks you a reason of the hope
that is in you.” As you and I simply live our lives, work at our jobs, mow our
grass, and buy our groceries, we don’t even realize that other people may be
seeing we are people of hope and then actually want to know why. I would
suggest that, for the entire Christian community in America, it would do us al well
to realize this. We ought to all be repenting and begging God to raise us above
ourselves in order that we might so live our hope in Him that someone else
would actually see it and be moved to want it for themselves.
In II Cor. 2:15 it is said of us, “We are to God an aroma of
Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” The
question is, “Are we?” Are we that aroma? Is our life actually sending out the
sweet smell of Christ or not? If it is not, our “talk” is probably useless. If
it is, then we can fully expect sooner or later someone may come “asking.” I
really believe a huge part of the church’s place in this world is to be
softening people’s hard hearts so that, when they do hear the Gospel, they’re
actually ready to listen. When they come to the end of themselves, they
actually do “come and ask a reason” from one of those “Jesus” people they know.
If I may inject, I strongly suspect that herein lies a great deal of the reason
America has “gone to hell in a handbasket.” All through the 20th
century, the church has crowed about their evangelism, yet our country fell
headlong into a massive moral abyss.
Why? It wasn’t because the Gospel wasn’t true. It wasn’t because the Gospel wasn’t “the power of God unto salvation.” The problem, I would suggest is that the ground was hard and dry and wouldn’t take a plow. There was little aroma and so there was little asking. The church should have been dispersed throughout the country softening the hearts of people with their love and kindness and hope. Our Daniel was known to have “an excellent spirit.” He had been faithful at his job, and so, when someone came to the end of themselves, they knew they could call on Daniel to help them.
Another case in point is the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. He
wasted his father’s inheritance in wild, riotous living. While he was riding
the wave of his sins, he couldn’t care less about his home or his father. But
what happened? “…when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that
country, and he began to be in need…he longed to fill his stomach with the pods
the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” Only then did it happen
that “…he came to his senses and said, ‘I will go back to my father…’” Only
then did he say to his father, “I have sinned against heaven and against you.”
It was only when he came to the end of himself that he was able to see and value his father’s house. I guess I’ve always marveled how, when he asked for his half of the estate, the father actually gave it to him. I strongly believe the father was wise enough to know this was the only way his son could ever come to his senses. A proof of that is that the father saw him while he was “yet a long way off.” The father was expecting him home and when the boy came, he welcomed him with open arms.
I could note many, many such examples from the Bible where God brought people to a place where they were ready to listen. What I want to suggest is that you and I should recognize the wisdom of timing, that we should trust God enough to sometimes let people run their course, let them come to the end of themselves. It can be extremely painful to watch loved ones and friends essentially self-destructing, yet we need the wisdom of God to realize when what’s going on is that He is at work.
I realize what I’m saying calls for great wisdom and, in fact, a wisdom far beyond you and me, but I want to believe if we sincerely walk with God and try to know His heart, try to see the world through His eyes, He will help us to sense when “timing” is an issue. I also want to point out again how this highlights the importance that you and I actually live our faith all day every day. In America, I’m afraid “church” only happens on Sunday morning. Having “been to church” American Christians basically think they’re done. Instead, God help us to realize faith, hope, and love, and walking in the Presence of God are all day everyday matters. He wants our lives to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.”
May the Lord allow you and me to so live His grace that we really are an aroma of Christ in our worlds, that our lives might be softening the fallow ground of people’s hearts. Then may He give us the wisdom to discern when people are ready and the patience sometimes to wait for that time.
Surely if you and I would pray to that end, the Lord would be more than happy to grant our request!
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