Receiving God's Strength

Daniel 10:17-18:  "How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord?  My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.  Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.  'Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed,' he said.  'Peace!  Be strong now; be strong.'  When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, 'Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.'"

Daniel is an amazing prophet of God that had been taken into captivity by the Babylonians (ca. 605 bc), and was required to serve the king there.  To be sure, he would face a number of challenges throughout his time in Babylon.  During the reign of Nebuchadnezzer, Daniel and the other sages were threatened with execution were it not for God giving Daniel the ability to interpret the king's dream that he had.  There too was the time that Daniel's associates, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were placed in the fiery furnace for failing to pay homage to the golden idol that Nebuchadnezzar had built on the plains of Dura.  Then again, we find Daniel (now much older) being placed in a lion's den for violating the Medo-Persian King Darius' decree not to pray to any god or man other than Darius himself.

In Daniel 10, Daniel has a amazing encounter with God; in fact, it was so overwhelming that Daniel could not catch his own breath.  The prophet highly esteemed by God turned deathly pale at God's vision to him, and even those around him were overwhelmed with terror and hid themselves, even though they did not see the vision of the Lord directly.  Daniel's strength failed him, as he was quite afraid.  Then the Lord touched the prophet and gave him renewed strength.  The Lord too called out that Daniel have peace and commanded him to be strong!  Daniel then was ready to receive a word from the Lord, for he sensed within himself that his strength had been restored.

What is interesting is that Daniel had received a prior vision of a great war that was so dreadful that he mourned for three weeks, refusing choice foods and lotions that were at his disposal.   God heard the prayers of the saddened prophet from the very beginning of his determination to gain understanding and to humble himself before God; however, it was only until later that Daniel would have a messenger sent to explain the things to come.  Part of the explanation given was the spiritual battle that was waging against the Prince of Persia (representative of the forces of evil) and the Lord's forces.  The messenger had made his way to Daniel, and because the prophet was strengthened and receptive to a word from God, the messenger was ready to give instruction from the Book of Truth.

Although this text is not the easiest passage to understand, there are several important things that we can glean from it.  First, we find that Daniel was considered a man high esteemed by God (10:11,19), and he denied himself the comforts of life when he needed a word of truth and revelation from the LORD.  Secondly, he was overwhelmed by the awesome encounter with God; and even though he did not receive an immediate response from the Lord, he was persistent in his focused determination to hear from God, and he humbled himself as he prepared for an encounter with God.  And although Daniel was overwhelmed when God spoke to him, the prophet received strength from the LORD and then his heart was open to hear the word of truth from God.

The questions we must ask ourselves as we read this text are . . . (1) Do we find that we living our lives with such godliness and righteousness that God considers us highly esteemed?  (2)  Do we deny ourselves and humble ourselves so that we might hear a fresh word of revelation and instruction from God?  (3)  Are we persistent and yet patient to wait for God to come to us and reveal His abiding truth?  (4).  Do we realize that we need the strength of God and the truth of God to live our lives to their fullest?

It would be good for us to learn from Daniel's encounter with God in Daniel 10, for it is God who gives us the strength to press on to do the work of obedience that He has called us to do.