Normally my posts here on The Pointed Arrow are stand alone pieces, but the Lord has been leading me through the book of Daniel, and as a result a little mini series has developed that I will share here over the next few weeks. I invite you to follow and invite someone in as we take a closer look at our brother in Christ, Daniel.
Have you ever had a dream you believed came straight from God? We need look no further in the Bible than the book of Daniel to know that our dream space is fair ground for communication with the Most High God, for dream interpretation was such a strong element of Daniel’s life. But such perception is a tricky thing for us, a concept we must handle with great care. This is because our humanity creates much room for misinterpretation, which could inadvertently and quite unintentionally cause harm or questions of creditability.
Part of what I hope to outline in this series are the qualities of Daniel that helped him handle his gifts from God with great care. Not to spoil the series, but you will find that humility will perhaps be the most prominent characteristic mentioned.
Many of us are familiar with Christian humility as it applies to service, putting others before ourselves, or learning to quench our inner desires for attention, fame, and recognition. But Daniel exemplifies for us another, deeper facet of this quality of following Jesus. It is, in short, a presence of mind and quiet authority that moves slowly, thoughtfully, consistently, and prayerfully in concert with our best interpretations of the will and ways of God.
Some of you that follow The Wake Up Call may remember after the Asbury Outpouring, Seedbed produced several great videos unpacking the event. In one about prayer (at about timestamp 9:53), Anna Grace Legband speaks about her experience during those holy days.
I will always remember her description of how the prayer ministers there, while praying for another person, would offer something they thought the Holy Spirit might be communicating. Many times this fostered great connection, insight, and healing. However, there were also times that what they said was not resonant in the other person at all.
Though God has made us incredible instruments, able to make space for the Spirit to move directly in us, we are still human, and therefore faulty, and therefore susceptible to our own motives, distractions, thoughts, or experiences coloring what God may or may not be trying to say through us. Her description of their response to these instances that seemed to miss the mark demonstrates great humility.
She holds her hands up, relaxed and open in front of her and says it is a little like, “Learning to go for it but hold it like this.” “Like this” being the key posture of humble curiosity represented with hands open, loose, and surrendered, “and it becomes so much less about you and so much more about Jesus and what he is doing.”
And here is how we hold the will and wisdom of God with great care. With open, loose hands that are not grasping for certain answers, for correct rightness, for pinpointed glory or assuredness. Hands that are not clenched or tense or hell bent on certain outcomes, but instead open to the mystery, curious of the wonder, and desperate for the mercy that God will allow us to enter into, if we can surrender ourselves to his ways.
Daniel is a rich book. There are many authors more extensively theologically trained than I that can speak to the analysis of kingdoms, numbers, symbolism and end of days theology in this book. But what I am noticing in this series is the person of Daniel and how his posture and approach to faith is something from which we can learn from together. Will you open your hands and look with me?
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