Romans 11:7-11 “Understanding…And Not”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷What then? What Israel sought, it did not find, but the elect found [it], and the rest were hardened. ⁸Just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor – eyes not seeing, ears not hearing – until this very day,” ⁹and David says, “May their table be a snare and a trap and an impediment and a retribution to them,” ¹⁰[and] May their eyes be darkened, that they [are] not seeing, and may You bow down their back through always.” ¹¹Therefore I say, have they stumbled that they should fail? May it never be! But the salvation [has come] to the Gentiles by their transgression, in order to provoke them to jealousy. ¹²But if their transgression [is] riches of [the] world and their loss [is] riches of [the] Gentiles, how much more [will be] their fullness?

Oh, my. Once again, I’m studying these verses and inclined to just throw up my hands. The truth they’re teaching is plain enough – I just don’t know how to make things reconcile. Again, I am left with that feeling I’m delving too deeply into the eternal counsels of God. “His ways are [in fact] past finding out.” As He tells us in Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor My ways your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts above your thoughts and My ways above your ways” (55:8,9).

However, He did give us this Scripture, so we should study it and try to understand, at least as much as we can. Clearly, what He wants us to know is that He did not reject His people Israel. They are still Abraham’s descendants and thereby the chosen people of God. Though, as a nation, they may reject Him, yet there has always been and always will be a remnant of Jewish people who do believe. One day this Church Age, as we know it, will end and once again, the Lord will raise up the Jewish people to worship Him not only individually but nationally. When the Church is gone, the Jewish people will once again be the people to show the world who God is.

That’s all plain enough and I would suggest that is the main point we should all take from it. What is difficult to explain is this business of hardening and blinding. Then too there is the business here of what are called “imprecatory” prayers – praying down judgment on people. Since this is what the Bible says, I want to at least slow down and think about these things.

As far as hardening, this one definitely takes us back to the infinite counsels of God. The verse is plain enough: “…the rest He hardened.” Paul spoke more at length about this back in chapter 9, where he said, “Therefore, God has mercy on whom He has mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden” (v.18). How do you reconcile that with Jesus’s words, “Whosoever will may come”? This, I believe is precisely where you and I need to clap our hand over our mouth and acknowledge we’re talking about God. I don’t have to understand and I don’t have to explain. The words are plain enough. Both are simply true.

No one can ever say, “I never had a chance. God hardened my heart,” or “I don’t think I’m one of the elect. I can never be saved.” What did Jesus say? “Whosoever will may come.” On the other hand, those of us who have been born again can’t get it in our heads that we’re somehow “better” than other people because we chose Jesus. No. Clearly, He chose us. If I am a saved man today, if I spend eternity in heaven, I will have no one to praise but God Himself and our wonderful Savior. So, does God choose? Yes. Am I responsible to choose? Yes. How do we reconcile the two? We don’t. We believe what He says, fall on our knees, and worship our incomprehensible God!

What about imprecatory prayers? There are several of them – particularly in the Psalms. The quotes from David here are from Psalm 69, but you will find other similar prayers in 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 79, 83, 94, 109, 137, 139 and 143. Our first response is probably, “Isn’t that ‘unchristian’ to pray down judgment on people?” Is it? Read Matthew 23 sometime. Jesus has some very harsh words for the religious teachers of His day. “Woe to you, blind guides! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Look, your house if left to you desolate.” Paul says of the Judaizers in Galatians 1:8.9: “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally cursed!”

Here is what I would suggest. Note that David was a king. Jesus is God. Paul was an apostle. They are all in leadership positions. One of the divinely ordained responsibilities of leaders is to maintain justice. “They do not bear the sword in vain.” Yes, it is unchristian for me to pray down imprecatory prayers on my neighbor just because I don’t like him. However, the minute I step into any kind of leadership position, as they say, “It’s time to put my big boy pants on.” We have all worked in places where the weak-willed management didn’t have the guts to fire people. We now live in a world where too many in government don’t have the guts to aggressively punish crime. And who gets hurt? The good people.

For myself, I can pray down judgment particularly on the evil people who are oppressing our world. The only thing is, I say it something like, “Lord, I pray first of all that so and so may be saved. However, if they will not be saved, I ask you knock them out of their position or even kill them if that’s what it takes to stop their evil.” I don’t believe that is “unchristian.” I think it is loving justice. So, for me personally, imprecatory prayers don’t bother me and, in this case, I don’t believe it is at all hard to understand.

Paul goes on to talk then about how God has actually used Israel’s failures to instead bless us Gentiles and, in fact, the whole cosmos. He will go on to explain this at length in the next several verses, so I’m going to leave this section and go on to see what all he has to say in the rest of this chapter.

In the meantime, we can all say, “Praise God for all the things we can’t understand. May we be humble enough to admit that’s the case. Then let us praise Him for so much we can understand – if we’ll only slow down and think about it.

“And when you know the truth, the truth shall set you free!”

Romans 11:1-6 “Grace”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Therefore, I ask, did God reject His people? May it never be! For even I am an Israelite, out of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ²God did not reject His people whom He foreknew; or do you (pl.) not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, as he spoke to God against Israel? ³“Lord, they have killed Your prophets; they have torn down Your altars; and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴But He said to him what response? “I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed a knee to Baal.” ⁵Therefore, thus also there is by grace in the now time a remnant according to election. ⁶And if by grace, [it is] no longer out of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Well, here I am, back in this section of Romans 9-11, and finally embarking on chapter 11 itself. Even just looking at these first six verses, my first inclination is to throw up my hands and say this is all just too deep for me. As I’ve said earlier, I feel we are almost delving too deeply into the eternal secret counsels of God. When we start talking about predestination and election and faith and salvation, I personally think the first thing we should all admit is that it is all largely beyond us.

We’re talking about God. Everything we know and see and understand is this Creation the Lord has given us. We are created, finite beings who live in time and space. God is the Uncreated, the self-existent, eternal, infinite God who, in fact, created us. The plain simple fact is that all we can possibly understand of Him is what He tells us. Other than that, it us utterly beyond us to understand this infinite God who lives in the eternal Now -- for whom there is no past, present, or future, but only Now. He created time for us to live in, not Him, and we need to humbly admit that this whole discussion of salvation is deriving from His eternal, sovereign counsels. I believe I am correct in these observations, as I see that even Paul closes this section saying, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!” (v.33).

I guess what I’m suggesting is that, if we would study and understand what He has told us in this chapter, we do well to start at the end – in rapturous wonder at the greatness of our God. I don’t have to understand all He does. I don’t have to be able to explain it to anyone else. I need only read His Word, believe what He says, and leave the seemingly unsolvable mysteries where they belong – hidden in the glory of His Divinity.

So, what do we find?

We’re still addressing the question of “What about the Jews?” It appeared in Paul’s day that the Lord had rejected the Jewish people and turned to the Gentiles. There has even been a major vane of Christians all down the centuries who believed exactly that – that the Jews had rejected and crucified their Messiah and so God cast them away and raised up His church.

That is precisely the question which confronts us here in Romans 11. Right out of verse 1, Paul asks, “Has God rejected His people?” And what is his answer? Emphatically “May it never be!” “Absolutely not!” That is a very important question for understanding the Jewish people, but it is also eternally important to you and me.

Why do I say that? Because the most basic element of the Lord’s relationship with Israel is the Abrahamic Covenant. God promised Abraham that He would multiply Abraham’s descendants, that He would be their God and they would be His people. What is critically important about that to us is in realizing that was an unconditional covenant. It was an absolute promise from the God of heaven to this man. However, if because of Israel’s sin, in the end He rejected them and turned away forever, then where does that leave you and me? Jesus said, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). He said, “My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish…nothing is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29). Paul’s  exhaustive explanation of the Gospel in Romans chapters 1-8 ended with those glorious words, “…nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I hope you see our dilemma. If God made an unconditional promise to Abraham, then rejected His descendants because of their failures, where does that leave you and me? I will say it again, if Jesus didn’t save me from me, then He didn’t save me at all. If there is anything I could do to mess up my eternal salvation, you can be quite sure I’d do it. The whole wonder of grace is He won’t reject me! “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!” (Romans 5:8) – we can’t be any worse than we were when He saved us. And as Paul addressed back in chapter 6, that security does not lead real born-again people to license. It overwhelms them with gratitude and only makes them love Jesus all the more. My praise for His grace and my desire to serve Him only grows stronger every time I fail and go to Him, knowing He still loves me – knowing He only wants to help me get up and try again.

All these thoughts are the big picture of what is going on here in this passage. Back to the Jews, did God reject His people? “Absolutely not.” Elijah is a case in point. At the time he was trying to minister to Israel, it looked as if no one was left who even cared about God. “I and I alone am left – and they are trying to kill me!” But what was God’s answer? “Yet have I reserved unto Myself seven thousand men in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

If one and a half million Jews left Egypt in 1445 BC, what would be their population now in about 800 BC? Surely something in the millions. Yet out of that number only 7,000 were faithful. That might seem an extremely small number, yet what does it prove? That the Lord had not rejected His people. Even back then, “the gate was small and the way was narrow.” However, what explanation can Paul give for why God wouldn’t give up on a people of whom only a tiny fraction had faith? Why wouldn’t He? Grace.

This is where we pass into what I consider to be beyond me. In verse 2, he says, “God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew.” Then in verse 5, he says, “So, too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” Here is precisely where the logic circles back and draws in you and me: “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works, if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (v.6). Salvation comes to you and me purely as a gracious gift from the hand of God. I did nothing to deserve His grace (or it would no longer be grace) and I can do nothing to un-deserve it (or it would also no longer be grace).

“Deserving” and grace are mutually exclusive. If our works are part of the equation, then it is not grace. That is the point of verse 6, and that is again the wonder of grace. The Jewish people are and were and always will be the people of God – because the Lord’s promise to Abraham was gracious. It was unconditional. If you’ve been born again by the blood of Jesus, that same faithful God who “begun a good work in you, will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Those are all simply facts, the obvious and very clear teaching of this passage (and the entire book of Romans). Where we get in trouble, I feel, is trying to understand things like predestination and election and foreknowledge, and all of that. What we are doing then is trying to draw God into our understanding. Even the word “foreknowledge” – what does that mean to a God who lives in an eternal Now? The “fore” is a term that only applies to us, not Him. He is not sitting in heaven waiting for us to be saved. Only we can “wait,” precisely because we live in time. He does not.

As I began, this is precisely where I am inclined to throw up my hands. It is all beyond me. It’s a knot I can’t untie. For myself, however, that doesn’t bother me. I am more than happy to worship this great God who is utterly beyond my understanding. It’s okay if He reveals things to me that my puny, finite mind simply can’t reconcile. He’s God.  I will go out into my day today, fully responsible for the choices that I make, yet living it all in the wonderful comfort of knowing I’m securely in the hands of my wonderful, gracious God.

Daniel 10:20,21 “Seriously”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁰And he said, “Do you know to what I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia and I [am] going and Behold! the Prince of Greece [is] one coming, ²¹but I will tell to you what is written in the book of Truth and not one strengthens himself with me on these [things] except Michael your (pl.) prince.

More from these verses: Consider for a minute the angel’s statement to Daniel, “But I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.” Note he starts with “but.” In Hebrew, the word used is actually a strong adversative. He is saying he has to return to fight against the demonic prince of Persia, then another one will arise over Greece. Demons, demons everywhere! You’d think such news would be fearful – “BUT,” he says, “I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.”

Is this not one of the wonders of God’s Word – the He can tell us what appears to be (and may actually be) bad news, yet for us believers, that gives us peace, not fear! It gives us peace because prophecy assures us He is in control. And because we love Him and trust Him, as long as He is in control, we live in peace. “The good man will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, confident in the Lord” (Ps. 112:7). All things really will “work together for good!”

Beyond that, first of all, I want to praise God that there even is a Book of Truth.  Truth. What is true. What is truly true! Francis Schaeffer wrote his book, “How Then Shall We Live?” The whole point of the book is the importance of what he calls “absolute truth.” Especially in this world of swirling lies and seemingly endless deceptions, social engineering, political spinning, and all the rest, people need absolute truth. There must be somewhere a person can go to get true truth! Schaeffer shows that, because it alone is that absolute truth, the Bible was the cornerstone for the very rise of Western Culture. We have enjoyed about five or six centuries of unprecedented prosperity and scientific advance, but Schaeffer demonstrates that was only possible because we all had the Bible as our common source of truth. Clear back in the 1970’s, he saw Western Culture casting aside the Bible and warned our world would then devolve into chaos. As late as the 1950’s, the Supreme Court still acknowledged openly that our entire system of government is based on the Bible. We cast that away and look where we are today – right where Schaeffer said we’d be!

I am so thankful there is true truth. As Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free!” Jn. 8:32). Truth is a wonderful thing. It has been my lifelong observation that, as long as you tell the truth, life can be simple. When you’re dealing in truth, everything fits together. Everything makes sense. When it doesn’t make sense, you need only dig in and, one way or another, you’ll eventually figure out what’s missing. Truth really does set us free.

On the other hand, as soon as you start lying or believing lies, your whole world gets complicated. Things don’t fit together. Things don’t make sense. If you lie to someone at work, you’d better remember who you lied to about what. When they come back around and you tell them the opposite, you’ll have an ugly situation before you! I’d rather not be cynical here, but that is one thing that tells me we are all being massively lied to in this world – because nothing makes sense. All day every day, you click on the news and nothing makes sense. The government is lying. Big business is lying. Hollywood is lying. Scientists are lying. And what is the outcome? Chaos and confusion for common people like us.

For me, it is a glorious freedom every morning to sit down with my Bible and study true truth! The Bible tells me the truth, I tell the truth, my wife tells the truth – and as far as that goes, life is very simple. Beyond that…yikes! And look again what we see in this passage – even an angel knows there is a Book of Truth.

I also want to note here there is a book in heaven. A book. I realize it’s possible there isn’t a “book” as we would know it, that the Lord may just be using terms we understand. However, how many times in the Bible are we told of books in heaven? Jesus has a “Book of Life.” At the Great White Throne, it says, “And the books were opened…” (Rev. 20:12). Also, in Rev. 5:1 we read, “And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.” I personally see nothing in these texts to tell me they mean anything except “books.” If words mean anything, then a book is a book. The Lord never says they were “like a book.” He says, “Book.”

To me, this makes perfect sense. Once again, I think we share far more with angels than we realize. They are thinking, rational created beings who are finite like you and me. They can only be in one place at one time and they cannot be omniscient, like God. That means they actually have to learn like us. Remember Peter tells us they’re curious, that they “long to look into these things” (I Pet. 1:12). All of that said, why wouldn’t there be “books?” If heaven is a place of learning, why wouldn’t knowledge be preserved in books that angels or you or I could “check out” of a heavenly library and dig into? Of course, that would be wonderful news for us bibliophiles! What if part of heaven will be the glorious pleasure of curling up with a really good book and enjoying reading – and knowing I’ve got literally forever!

Finally, we note that Michael’s name appears again here. Notice, the angel calls him “your prince.” In Hebrew, the “your” is plural. That is because he isn’t just Daniel’s angel. In 12:1, we’re told, “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people will arise…” Michael is specifically the angel (and called an archangel in Jude 9) who guards the people of Israel. Once again, I’m reminded how the nation of Israel today has what they call their “Iron Dome,” which is some kind of missile defense system. However, we can see by faith that the real “Iron Dome” over their people is none other than Michael, the archangel.

So, we know from the Bible that there is a good prince of Israel. We also learn there is an evil prince of Persia (Iran) and we read of the evil prince of Greece. I personally do not doubt that every nation on earth has an angel specifically assigned by God to protect them and an evil angel assigned by Satan to destroy them. Then, what determines which side is “winning?” I suspect it is the people themselves. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Where there is a love of God and the prayers of His people, His angel is strengthened to push back the evil and give them a measure of Jesus’ love and joy and peace.

Where there is no regard or love for God, the people are sitting ducks to suffer endlessly under the lying, stealing, murder and chaos that comes from Satan’s rule. Probably the only reason those nations even go on existing is because God has an angel assigned to protect them, although that protection is (because of their godlessness) provided only because the Lord still loves the people. Even though they’re godless, He will only let the devil go so far. The people certainly don’t deserve it, but still His grace provides a measure of protection. As Matthew wrote, “He makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good” (5:45) and we learn in Psalm 145, “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made…The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” (vv.9,15,16).

So then, each of us believers need to realize we are a soldier on the front line of the cosmic spiritual battle for the peace and prosperity of our nation. To whatever extent we truly try to live godly lives and lift up our people and our nation in prayer, we are at least one small part of seeing evil pushed back. And, of course, what were we supposed to learn from the feeding of the 5,000? Even when all we have is “five loaves and two fishes,” what do we do? We bring them to Jesus. In the hands of Jesus, even our feeble prayers and broken efforts to live godly can be blessed to feed thousands!

I would go on to suggest that this angelic/demonic presence extends into every place of authority and into each individual life. The Bible doesn’t tell us much on this subject, but, on the personal level, we have Jesus’ words, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:10,11). From this passage, believers have long understood that there really are guardian angels. That makes sense to me. Satan would no doubt assign a demon specifically to destroy you and me, so why wouldn’t the Lord make sure we each had an angel to protect us?

I also suggest the battle extends into every place of authority, but this is totally an observation on my own part. What I see in our world is that, every time someone is placed in any position of authority, they immediately possess significant power to make people’s lives better or miserable. How often do we see a family’s peace and happiness depending on the father? Mothers of course also play a massively important role in the happiness of their families, but is it not generally true, where the father is a godly man, you see smiling happy children? Then, sadly, we all know the alternative. Where a boss is a truly godly man, you can expect to see an entire office, or even corporation, of basically happy people. Then there is the alternative.

I have never really understood why the angel says to Daniel, “No one supports me against them, except Michael your prince.” I still don’t understand that. My mind wanders in a million different directions, but nothing adds up for me. Either I just don’t have the maturity (yet) to understand it, or it is bound up in that great spiritual warfare of which we can only see in parts. Perhaps if I live long enough to come back and study through Daniel again, then it will make sense.

For now, Daniel 10 has certainly taught us enough to open our eyes and move us to be more like him. May we, by faith, see the battle raging around us, our families, and our world. And may we take our own faith more seriously, when we see we really are soldiers.  Our lives matter.

 

Daniel 10:20,21 “Seeing”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁰And he [the angel] said, “Do you know to what I have come to you? And now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia and I [am] going and Behold! the Prince of Greece [is] one coming, ²¹but I will tell to you what is written in the book of Truth and not one strengthens himself with me on these [things] except Michael your (pl.) prince.

So we come to the last couple verses of Daniel 10. I suppose I always say this, but I’m sad to have to leave this wonderful chapter. Somehow it’s like my heart wants to just crawl inside what I’ve learned and then hide there ‘til Jesus comes! The Lord’s truth is so calming and comforting, while the world outside is so chaotic and frightening. However, He then reminds me that is exactly the world where He wants me to live the truth I’ve learned! So I am always loathe to move on, but I know I must. (Heavy sigh).

Fortunately, I have these two last verses to nurse on at least for a few more glorious minutes. As usual, though it’s only two verses, they are packed with truths and I’ll have to restrain myself. The first thought I want to record is that I’ve always found the angel’s question curious. He asks Daniel, “Do you know why I have come to you?” then, seemingly not waiting for an answer, he tells him he has to return to fight the prince of Persia. This all seems odd. He’s already told Daniel why he’s there and, in fact, it is very specifically in answer to exactly what Daniel has been praying about for three weeks. Then it seems strange that he doesn’t wait for any answer from Daniel, or even reiterate himself why he’s there. All just seems odd.

Perhaps I should just accept that it’s “odd.” Remember this is 2,500 years ago in a culture on the other side of the world and not only do those people not talk like us, they don’t even think like us. We shouldn’t be surprised, especially when the Bible is recording dialogue, if what they say and how they say it doesn’t always make sense to us. I’ve read many suggestions of how to understand the question, but the one I like best is that the angel is realizing just how rattled and disoriented Daniel may be.

Although he says to the angel, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength,” remember just a few seconds ago, he was on his face trembling in terror and saying, “I can barely breathe!” Perhaps the angel is asking the question rhetorically, mainly to get them both back on the whole point of their meeting, and also to give Daniel a chance to “gather himself up” and clear his head? The fact that the text pushed immediately on to “Soon I will return…,” that doesn’t mean the angel didn’t pause. If I let myself feel the ethos of what’s happening, that is exactly what I suspect happened – that he did pause until Daniel could come to his senses and nod “Yes” in return. That explanation would be consistent with the angel’s kindness and graciousness to poor Daniel.

Just to inject once again, if I’m correct, it reminds me how much you and I need to learn from angels. I’m sorry to realize how insensitive I’ve been most of my life. It is easy to be so caught up in what I’m thinking, what I’m doing, what I’m wanting, it doesn’t even occur to me to ask how others around me are doing. This angel is keenly aware of how Daniel is being affected by it all. He’s paying attention to Daniel! How I wish I did a better job of that! I think it all goes back to how this angel sees Daniel. He thinks he’s precious.

The angels in Daniel have taught me to sincerely try to see other people as precious. It’s one thing to say I’ll try to love people. I feel it is another step deeper to say, “Lord, help me to see them as precious – all of them, everyone I meet. They’re precious to You. They’re precious to angels. Let them be precious to me!” These are new thoughts to me, but I do find, on those rare occasions I remember to apply this, it is much easier to be sensitive. When something is “precious,” we all just naturally handle it with far greater care – like we should with people.

Then notice what we learn, that this angel is very busy “behind the scenes.” He was very specifically sent to answer Daniel’s prayer. He was delayed for three weeks fighting the demonic prince of Persia. As soon as he leaves Daniel, he’ll go back to that battle. Then it won’t be long and he’ll be fighting another demon, the prince of Greece. Let us all again note, we don’t “see” any of this. As we look at history, we can learn all about the rise and fall of the Persian empire. We can read about Cyrus’s decree. We can read about the battles between Greece and Persia, until Alexander came along and actually conquered Persia and took over the rule of nearly all we call the “civilized world.”

However, was that really all that was happening? Daniel would teach you and me a very loud “No!” No it is not. In fact, there is a massive cosmic battle going on in the spirit world, whether we “see” it or not. It was going on then and it is still going on today. As I’ve said before, by faith you and I can “see” that battle. By faith we can fully realize the events of this world are not just people making decisions. There are extremely powerful forces – both angelic and demonic – constantly battling and vying for influence over people’s minds.

The current battle between Russia and Ukraine isn’t just between Putin and Zelensky. The strife in the Middle East isn’t just between Iran’s terrorist ogres and the people of Israel. The battle between good and evil here in America isn’t just a conflict between Democrats and Republicans. As much as it may look like it is, you and I, by faith, can realize the battle is far, far greater. If we do, I believe it will even change our prayers.

There is more to note here, but this has been long enough, so I’d better stop for now. Whether it’s “seeing” the needs of other people or “seeing” the cosmic battle around us, we all need to heed Jesus’ advice and “buy from Him salve for our eyes, that we might see!”

Daniel 10:19 “Being Strengthened”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁹And he [the angel] said, “Do not fear, man greatly valued. Peace to you. Be strong and be strong.” And as he [was] speaking with me, I was strengthened and I said, “Speak, my lord, because you have made me strong.”

One more thing before I leave this verse: Notice the order of the angel’s admonitions to Daniel: “Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed. Peace! Be strong now; be strong!” I believe it is quite deliberate. First he tells him, “Don’t be afraid.” If we are to be “strong in the Lord” we must vanquish our fears. In particular, I’m thinking of our inappropriate fears of God. The right fear of God arises from worship, but there is a slavish fear of God which believes He cannot be trusted, that He will only hurt us, that He is fed up with us. Paul says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a well-ordered mind” (II Tim. 1:7). John tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (I John 4:18).

Instead, we must believe we are, in fact, “O man, O woman greatly valued” – precious in the sight of God. In Ephesians we’re told to live our lives “as dearly loved children” (5:1). In Zeph. 3:17, we’re assured, “The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save. He will take great delight in you. He will rest in His love. He will joy over you with singing.” These thoughts are exactly the “perfect love” which casts out fear. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” This is precisely why we must believe Romans chapter 8, that, being born again we are eternally secure in the arms of His love, that “nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When we fill our minds with these thoughts and allow ourselves to be assured of His great love, then (and only then) can we know true peace. There can be no greater peace in this world than the confident assurance that I am loved by the infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, and infinitely loving God. That is what the psalmist means when he says, “The righteous man will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, confident in the Lord” (112:7). I am personally amazed at how much peace the Lord has injected into my life, not because I do such a great job trusting Him, but because He fills my heart with that very confidence. People ask me, “Aren’t you worried about this or that?” and my honest response is, “No, not really. The Lord has it covered.”

I am quite aware that He may allow hardship and pain, but He's been doing that my entire Christian life. At this end of life, I can look back and easily see in so many cases what He was doing, and the fact is I’m thankful He did. I don’t want to go through it again, and I am not asking for pain, but I’ve lived long enough to be convinced it really is true that “all things work together for good.” He is totally trustworthy to only allow what He knows is the absolute best for my life. So, because of who He is, I can be confident in Him. That is peace.

In a similar vein, read the words of the old Anglican minister, James Vaughn: “Notice the order of the words of the heavenly messenger when he spoke to Daniel. They are suggestive. He places ‘peace’ before ‘strength.’ ‘Peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.’ ‘Strength’ must have a foundation. And in proportion as you feel quite at peace with God, you have a foundation. In this, as in everything else, pardon, and the sense of pardon, come first. Then you are upon a rock…There must be quietness: and there is no real quietness till the soul sits pardoned at the feet of Christ.”

To have that kind of peace and to know I am precious to God transforms me! Instead of running from one fear to another, I can stand my ground and be strong – and it is “strong in the Lord,” not me. We can look up to Him and say with Daniel, “Speak, my Lord, for You have given me strength.” It is amazing, because that strength allows you to do what needs to be done, but, like Daniel, to do it in complete humility. It is a wonderful feeling to do what needs to be done, but know it is the Lord who is enabling me, so I have no reason to get proud, or, for that matter, even worry about who I am or whether I’ll personally gain or lose. As Jesus said, “The truth will set you free!”

I’m guessing every true believer could write the rest of this blog and we would all be encouraged to hear whatever they have to say. For myself, my mind goes particularly to work. Every day, the challenges seem overwhelming with ridiculously short deadlines, with difficult decisions which need to constantly be made. In addition, rubbing elbows with people for such a prolonged period of time, one can’t help but see their needs and sometimes to have to listen and respond to what are to them huge worries or fears. It is an unspeakable blessing to be praying even as we face those things and saying, “Lord, help me make the best decision here, or help me have the right words to encourage this person, to say anything at all that you can use to draw them to Your own heart” – and to have that wonderful peace of just knowing/trusting that He is using me, even if I can’t see it. It is wonderful to truly be able to say in our heart, “Who I am really isn’t important here. What matters is who God is.” As Daniel said, “Wisdom and power belong to Him.” If we “abide in the Vine,” we can “bear much fruit.”

We could multiply examples at home, in our marriages, with our children and grandchildren, with neighbors and fellow believers. However, whatever happens to be on our plate right now, this angel’s words are exactly what we each need to hear: “Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed. Peace! Be strong now; be strong!” Then, having ourselves drunk deeply from that well of grace, may we be angels in the lives of those we interact with, to help them not be afraid, to remember even as we speak, they are precious to God (and must be to us too!), to point them to God’s peace, and pray they’ll find God’s strength!

God wants us to be strong (in Him), angels want us to be strong – like our friend Daniel, may we receive their encouragement, then “be strong” for whatever it is the Lord would have us be and do in this world. There may be thousands and thousands and ten thousands times ten thousands of angels, but it is likely the only ones most people will ever see is you and me.

 

“For I can do all things through Christ,

 who strengthens me” (Phil.4:13).