Lesson in Decision Making From Daniel 2

It was very moving, and I think it fits in very well with the message I want to share with you today about rescue. You know, one of the greatest prophetic images that we have comes from Daniel 2. We talk about that image a lot. It's the famous image of the head of gold and so forth, and down to the present time that we believe is these ten toes of clay and iron, which we believe represents the European community today, sort of united but disunited and struggling. And at some point then, a great stone will come and will hit the feet of that statue, and the statue will fall, and that stone will grow, and it will fill the whole earth as we understand the prophecy of Jesus Christ's return and the millennial rule of God's Son, which then ushers in the new heavens and new earth.

So thank you for sharing about that in the sermonette. But you know, behind the story of that image is actually a very difficult trial that Daniel went through. And a lot of times we'll focus on the image, but there was a tremendous challenge and a life-or-death situation that Daniel faced. And that's the situation that I'd like to talk about today in the sermon. And I'd like to talk about the situation in the concept of decisions and decision-making, because in each of our lives we're going to be faced with difficult and delicate decisions.

And one thing I've noticed about myself and I've noticed about others is we tend to take our decision-making processes into trials with us. That is, we don't suddenly become really smart in the middle of a trial and suddenly make a whole bunch of really good decisions. We tend to bring those processes into the trial. And if those processes have not really been examined carefully, then it actually is very hard to make decisions in a trial because we've got all the stress on us.

And so whatever sort of skills we may have developed, now those skills are going to be under stress. And whenever you're under stress, it's harder to make decisions. And so it's better to think about our decision-making processes before we go into the trials, instead of having to try and figure it out as we're going through it.

And so today's message is about these decision-making processes, and specifically the processes that Daniel went through and the example we see in Daniel 2. Unlike sort of things that tend to happen randomly, our lives are filled with challenges and trials that have a deeper meaning. They have a deeper purpose, and that purpose can be revealed sometimes in the moment, and sometimes it can be revealed many, many years later. And yet that purpose is going to be fulfilled as we look to God to guide us and direct us through those things.

And so today I'd like to talk about the trial of Daniel 2, the trial that Daniel went through. And as I've said before, I don't think life is full of simple formulas, kind of like, do this, and then this is going to happen over here. Life is much more complicated than that, and so the examples here we'll go through are not necessarily sort of do this and everything works out fine, but there are nonetheless principles that we can learn, and I think that's why the Old Testament and why the Scriptures are there, that we can learn from these things.

So I want to go through five points of decision-making in Daniel 2, and I'm just going to share some of those with you right now in terms of the first one being using wisdom and responding to difficulties. And we'll talk about what Daniel did. Asking for more time, invoking the power of God's people in prayer, having confidence that God does rescue us, and finally, faith that God will reveal an answer to us.

Now those five points, I'm going to go through each one, so if you didn't get those, we'll get them as we go through, but I wanted to give you kind of the overview of the five points that we're going to cover in today's sermon. So let's go to Daniel chapter 1, and let's set the stage for what happens in Daniel chapter 2. It's important to read Daniel chapter 1 first to understand the characters and the context going into it, and many of you have read these verses many times, but let's read them together, and let's put ourselves into Daniel's shoes as he was going through the first trial that he experienced here.

The first trial that's recorded, we'll see he had many trials in advance of that, but let's look in Daniel 1 verse 1 and get the context. Daniel 1 verse 1 says, And so the context here is that Jerusalem was allowed to be conquered, because it says here, Now, that was probably small consolation for the king, for the family, and for the nation, that God had allowed this to happen. But God did allow this to happen, and God is in charge, and now we're going to see the results of those things.

In verse 3, Now, we didn't know this until more recently, but this was actually a very common practice within the Babylonian tradition. And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies, and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that they might serve before the king. Now, we didn't know this until more recently, but this was actually a very common practice within the Babylonian empire.

What the Babylonians would do was they would go into their neighboring countries, and they would conquer that country, and as a way of managing their empire, they would bring the nobles, they would bring the leaders of that country, and they would bring them into Babylon, and they would train them, and then they would send them out. Now, we use the word train, but I think the word is really indoctrinate. They were going to assimilate, and they were going to indoctrinate.

They were going to teach them the language of the empire, they were going to teach them the religion of the empire, they were going to teach them everything they knew about governing, and they were going to send them back, because they wanted to know who these people were. And so we understand, then, in verse 7, that they brought in Daniel, and they gave, well, verse 6, And from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. To them, the chief of the eunuchs gave the names, and he gave Daniel the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah, Shadrach, and to Mishael, Meshach, and to Azariah, Abednego. Now let's put ourselves in Daniel's shoes for a moment.

A fearsome and powerful ruler has come in and conquered your country, taken your leaders away, and your people captive. Your country, your language, your culture, your family, even your very name has been taken from you, and you've been given a completely new, quote-unquote, identity. And further, you're one of the, quote-unquote, lucky ones, because you're actually going off to Babylon, and you're not going to be enslaved, you're actually going to be trained now, so you're actually supposed to be thankful, because this very government that has crushed your country is now going to make you a part of that system that did it.

This, you imagine, this must have been very conflicting for Daniel, and for his friends. A lot of scholars believe that Daniel was somewhere between 13 and 15 years old when this happened. Now, Daniel's trying to make sense of this. He's in Nebuchadnezzar's court. Is he going to be angry? Is he going to go along to get along? Is he going to, you know, sort of end up in despair?

How is Daniel going to react to these circumstances that he's in? Well, what we see here is that he managed to stand up for certain principles, even if he couldn't stand up for all the principles. He managed to stand up for some. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

And from this verse, we can see that Daniel made an intentional decision. Yeah, he didn't have a choice. He could be killed if he didn't go along with it. He didn't have a choice that he was going to learn the religion of the land. He was going to be taught astrology. He was going to be taught magic, quote-unquote magic, all the different things and the gods they called upon. But he was going to stand up for some things that he could.

And so he stood up for this. If we skip down to verse 17, it says, And as for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. And now at the end of the days when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king interviewed them. Among them all, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Michel, Azariah. Therefore, they served before the king.

And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. And thus, Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus. Now, our purpose today is not to talk about Daniel I, but just to get the context, because we have then a young man torn from his family, transported to another country, having to learn another language, having to figure out how to cope in this new environment, standing up for certain principles, risking his life, no doubt, to do so, and being blessed for that.

And I'm sure at the time when Daniel I finished, Daniel thought, wow, this has been really tough. And then he lived happily ever after. No, he didn't live happily ever after, did he? Because sometimes we think, okay, we made it through this. You know, okay, you know, three years of training, transported to another country. I'm before the king. I now have my post. He finds me, you know, helpful to the government. I stood up for what I believed in, and we know that he prayed three times a day towards Jerusalem.

And so the story we hear in Daniel I is just sort of a touch point of what he stood before the king. And we might think, we're done. This is good. We made it through the trial. But Daniel II is where the real trial comes in. Daniel I was just a warm-up. And a lot of times we think we're done, and actually we're just getting warmed up. Because Daniel II, then, is where the real difficulty comes in.

And in Daniel II, we see sort of how this thing ended up. So let's go to Daniel II. Now, that's where we're going to focus. Daniel II, verse 1. Now, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. His sleep left him. And then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams.

And so they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them, I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream. And then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic. Now, this is actually something that we'll get to in a second that's important. Daniel chapter 1 through Daniel chapter 2, verse 3, is written in Hebrew. But Daniel chapter 2, verse 4, all the way to the end of chapter 7, is written in Aramaic. So we're going to switch languages. If we were reading this in the original, we would switch languages now. We would stop reading Hebrew, and we would start reading Aramaic.

Because they spoke to him in Aramaic. And so we understand, then, that this conversation is authentic, because this is how they actually spoke to the king. So they spoke to the king in Aramaic, and they said, Oh, king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.

But the king answered and said to the Chaldeans, My decision is firm, and if you do not make known the dream to me in its interpretations, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. So this is a life-or-death situation. They have no idea what this dream is, and they have to not only figure out what the dream is, then they have to interpret it.

And when he says that you would be cut in pieces here, some scholars believe that this could be referencing a form of execution that the Babylonians followed. What the Babylonians would do is they would go into the forest, and they would take four trees, and they would tie the treetops together like this, so that the treetops were next to each other. And then they would go ahead, and they would tie your arms and your legs to each of the four trees. And then they would cut the ropes so that the trees would end up going back.

And basically, you would be literally pulled apart into five pieces, because the power of those trees going back would basically separate your body into five pieces. And so, you know, what he's describing here is, obviously, execution in a pretty horrible way to be killed. And then, not only that, they would go in, and they would kill your entire family. That's what he's describing with your homes being ash heaps. And then they would basically take your house down to rubble. So they would eliminate all record of your existence. And that's what Nebuchadnezzar was going to do to all of these people in the court.

So this is a pretty challenging situation for Daniel at this point. And so we go down to verse 13. Verse 13, And so the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. So they already started. They'd started this process. We don't know how many people they ended up murdering, but they had started this process. And now they were going to seek Daniel and his companions to do this to them as well. So now, after everything Daniel had been through in Daniel chapter 1, he's now condemned to death. And again, he could be hopeless. He could be despondent.

Sometimes when people are faced with these situations, they take their own lives. There's many ways that they react. And you have to ask, how would you react if you knew that soldiers were coming for you? And they were going to execute you in this way that I described, or just come and take your life at that point. How would you react? Would you become despondent? Would you be filled with despair?

Well, let's see how he reacted in verse 14. Daniel chapter 2, verse 14. Then with counsel and wisdom, Daniel answered Ariac, the captain of the King's Guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. So the first principle here that we want to talk about is that he used wisdom in responding to the threat.

He used wisdom in responding to the threat. And so when we're under threat, when we feel stressed, when we feel besieged, and we're looking for rescue, the first thing here that we see that Daniel did was he responded with wisdom. Now, again, I told you that what we're reading is we're reading Aramaic at this point. Obviously, we're reading an English translation of it. But the word for counsel in verse 14 in Aramaic can actually be translated as prudence. And most translations actually have more of that sense. The complete Jewish Bible says of this, he choosing his words carefully.

That's how they translate with wisdom and with counsel and wisdom. Choosing his words carefully. The New International Version says he spoke with wisdom and tact. So if you look up this word in Aramaic, it's the only time this word is used in the entire Old Testament.

And it can either mean counsel or it can mean wisdom. And so most translations actually go with the sense of he responded with wisdom or with tact in some way. And again, because of this sense, we don't get a sense he necessarily had a chance to go talk to a lot of people.

He might have. But the point was that he didn't respond in a panicked way. He didn't respond in a way that said, well, you know, what are you doing here? And, you know, very angry and so forth as he responded. So he basically said, you know what, I'm going to remain calm. There's this you've probably seen that remain calm and carry on.

Right. He remained calm and he answered the king. Now, sometimes when we feel threatened, we can have an outburst of anger. We can have an outburst of depression. We can feel victimized. I mean, I don't know if you've ever received an email where you've been accused of something, maybe wrongly accused of something. And what's the first reaction we have? Reply, type, type, type, and then, you know, we escalate.

Right. Whereas if we were to just take 10 minutes to step back from that email and respond with tact and with prudence, with a little bit of wisdom, then we might end up deescalating a situation instead of escalating the situation. You know, if somebody comes up to us and says something that's offensive, you know, maybe what we need to do is just take a deep breath and think about what we're about to say.

This is what Daniel, this is the sense of what Daniel had. Instead of Daniel being panicked, and it literally happens, it's called flooding in psychological terms, we can become flooded, we can become anxious, we get a lump in our throat, we can't kind of get our words out. But that's not how Daniel responded. Daniel responded with counsel and with wisdom, or with prudence and with tact.

And why should he do that? And why should we do that? Isn't he under threat? Wasn't his life under threat? Why should we do that? Because we're not alone. I believe Daniel knew he was not alone in this trial. He had been through trials before, and when we go through trials, the first thing we need to realize is we are not alone. We are not alone going through this trial. We have our Heavenly Father who was there, and he allowed Jerusalem to be besieged, he allowed Daniel to be taken, he allowed Daniel to go through this situation that he had gone through, and he wasn't going to abandon him now.

You know, I heard a phrase this week, I was talking, James Malizzi is not here, but he shared this with me, so I'll give him credit. He shared a word I had not really heard before, and the word is catastrophize. Okay? You know, that's a word. It was first used in the English language in 1962. It's kind of a new word. And Miriam Webster defines catastrophize as, quote, to imagine the worst possible outcome of an action or event, to think about a situation or event as being a catastrophe or having potentially catastrophic outcomes. And sometimes we can tend to catastrophize things, right?

We see something bad, and we think the worst thing that can happen. Well, we don't need to catastrophize things. If we realize we're not alone, that God has allowed these things to happen, and he is going to get us through these situations, we can respond to whoever we're talking with or talking to, or maybe they're the threat, maybe they're not the threat, with counsel and with wisdom, with prudence and with tact.

Let's go over to Proverbs 3, verse 19, and let's read something that I think would be encouraging. And I wonder if Daniel might have read this, because, you know, Daniel had the benefit of Scripture growing up. I wonder if he had had some scrolls or if they allowed him to take any of these.

And I wonder if he read Proverbs 3, verse 19. This would have been ancient wisdom literature, even in his time. Let's read Proverbs 3, verse 19 to 26. I think this is a good place to go if we're dealing with some sort of thing we might consider to be a catastrophe. Proverbs 3, verse 19. The Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth.

By understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths were broken up and the clouds dropped down the dew. My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion so that they will be your life to your soul. They'll be life to your soul and grace to your neck.

And then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, when you lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes.

For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. I wonder if Daniel read that. I think it would be good for us to read these things when we're facing difficulties and trials. Just be reminded that we do not have to be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes.

So Daniel, that's the first thing he did. His reaction in a crisis was to speak with wisdom and with prudence. And just stepping back from a crisis, recognizing that we're not alone, will help reduce our anxiety as we have to make decisions. And now let's go to the second principle here. Let's go to Daniel 2, verse 16. Let's read about the second thing that Daniel did, which I think can be a guide for us in our decision-making process as we're faced with crises.

Daniel 2, and we'll continue in verse 15. And so he answered and said to Ariak, the king's captain, why is the decree from the king so urgent? Then Ariak made the decision known to Daniel. Okay, so now Daniel understands the situation. And so the second lesson we see is that Daniel, in verse 16, went in and asked the king to give him time that he might tell the king the interpretation. And so the second principle in decision-making is to ask for more time.

He asked for time. Isn't that interesting? You know, why didn't God just reveal the answer to Daniel right there on the spot, right as the guard came in? Why didn't God just say, okay, Daniel, you know, the guy's going to come and he's going to try and kill you, but then this is what you're going to do, step one, two, three? I mean, it would be nice if that always happened, but sometimes it doesn't happen.

So Daniel asks for more time. Sometime in our decision-making process, we put unnatural constraints on ourselves. And I think we do that because we want the thing to be over. We want the trial to be done. And so if we can figure out how to get out of this thing quickly, we'll figure it out.

But by doing that, we often limit our options. We limit our choices. We tend to think in these terms. Oh, I could do option A or I could do option B. Well, you know, maybe with a little more time, option A and option B will not even be the option you want to choose.

Maybe there's an option C or Z. Who knows? With more time, things can emerge. And so asking for more time in our decision-making process, asking ourselves, do I really need to respond to this right now? Do I really need to answer this email straight away? Or can I go get a cup of tea and relax a little bit? Maybe think about something else. Let the emotion run out of the situation so that I can respond. We don't have the time to turn there, but Joshua 10 verse 12 said that Joshua needed more time in the battle.

So he asked God to keep the sun up. Joshua basically asked for more time to get the job done. He asked for more time. The prophet Isaiah writes that God gave Hezekiah more time. Hezekiah was going to die and he asked for his life would be extended. And God gave him 15 more years. Maybe to see what he would do with that time and how he would use it. Again, we often hear the phrase, don't panic. Well, there's a reason you hear that phrase because when we panic, we tend to rush and we tend to make these decisions quickly.

We might also, again, as I said, we might hear somebody say, well, you can do this or you can do that. Well, maybe neither of those are good choices. Now, some people take this to an extreme and some people don't want to make the decision. And so they end up sort of postponing and postponing. Well, that's a ditch. That's another ditch you can fall in. Some people want to make the decision right away.

Some people don't want to make the decision at all. There's a balance here, of course, because not making a decision over a period of time is making a decision to not do something. You can't get away from that. So you have to make the decision. But sometimes our first reaction is just to try and get it done, get it over with, make the decision to move on.

But Daniel asked for more time. So the second principle that I think we can see from this story is that we should ask for more time and not put an unnatural constraint on ourselves. The third lesson here, let's continue. So after Daniel went to the king and asked for more time, then in verse 17, Daniel 2 verse 17, then Daniel went to his house and made the decision known to Hananiah, Michelle, Azariah, his companions. Why did he tell them? He told them in verse 18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret. So the third principle in decision making is to invoke the power of prayer from God's people.

He went and asked his friends to pray about this. He asked them to pray. And we see this principle over and over and over in Scripture. And so when we make decisions, we don't have to panic. We can answer wisely. We can ask for more time. And then we can go ask others for prayer on our behalf.

Help me in this process. Please beseech God on my behalf. Please pray with me. Now, sometimes people like to pray together. And there's lots of examples of that, too. Other people like to pray individually. Let's look over at Esther 4, verse 15. Let's look over at Esther 4 and verse 15. And let's see an example where the nation prayed and where Esther asked for help in prayer. And keep your place in Daniel 2 there. Esther 4, verse 15 to 17. Esther says here that Esther told them to return this answer to Mordecai.

Go, gather all the Jews, verse 16. Esther 4, 16. Gather all the Jews who are present in Shushant and fast for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And then I will go to the king, which is against the law. And if I perish, I will perish. And then Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him. Esther asked for prayers before she went in. That was part of her decision-making process. What should she do? So we see Daniel invoking the same practice.

Let's go over to the book of Acts this time, Acts 4, verse 24. And let's see the early New Testament church follow this principle as well. Acts 4, verse 24.

We see here the church praying together over a situation. It says, when they had heard that, that is the issue here at hand of the fact that they were forbidden to preach, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God. You made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Who by the mouth of your servant David has said, why do the nations rage and the people vain things? And then we skip down to verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. This is an example where they prayed together. We pray together before services. We pray together after services as we begin and we conclude services. Sometimes we might pray together during an announcement if there's a specially difficult situation. They pray together. Let's look over in Acts 12 verse 4 and 5.

Acts 12 verse 4 and 5.

It says, And so when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. In this situation, James had just been beheaded. And so now Peter is going to be taken and probably executed as well. But verse 5, Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

Constant prayer was offered for him. Now, we know it's not the number of people that are praying. God doesn't say, well, there's only five people praying, and as soon as I've got ten, I'm going to pay attention. It doesn't work that way. But what it does is it brings us together as a community. And now, sometimes it might be a prayer within the whole church. Sometimes it might just be a few close friends.

When somebody asks you to pray for them, that's a serious thing. That's a serious thing. And we should have a prayer list. We should have a note card or some sort of piece of paper somewhere. Because otherwise, you know, we might forget. We might forget to pray for somebody when they ask for that. Go over in James 5 verse 16 one more time here, and we'll see how prayer and these things come together.

James 5 verse 16. Praying for one another is fundamental to the community that we're in. It's fundamental to the ecclesia. James 5 verse 16 brings this together by saying, confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. And then we have this famous verse, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. It's interesting how, you know, it says to confess and to pray together. Now, in the case of Daniel, Daniel didn't necessarily do anything wrong. This was something that was outside of his control.

But sometimes when we have a trial or difficulty, we have brought it on ourselves. And so we might need to go to a friend and say, you know what, I've done something really dumb. I have brought a really bad situation on myself. And maybe you're not ready to tell your friend yet what that is. But you say, please pray for me. But at some point, just confessing and sharing what that means is going to be encouraging both for you and for them.

So it says, confess your sins and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. This is a very powerful verse. You, we won't have the time to turn there, but you can you can note Matthew 18 verse 19, where it says, where two of you agree, it will be done. And where two or three are gathered together, I will be with you.

If two or three of us get together and pray, God says he's going to be with us. That's what Matthew 18 verse 19 says. That is a very powerful thing, praying together. As I said in the beginning of this point, it might be praying together or praying individually. I have prayed together and I have had that prayer answered. I have prayed individually in my room where I've closed the door in private and I've had that prayer answered.

So with this in mind, let's go to the fourth point here, Daniel 2. Now in verse 18. Let's go back to Daniel 2. And let's read what happened next in the story. After Daniel had answered with wisdom intact, he'd asked for more time. He had gotten together with his friends and they had prayed that God would reveal the secret.

Let's continue in verse 18. That they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning the secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. The fourth lesson here is confidence that God rescues his people. Daniel probably had in mind the story of Joseph. Again, we read these stories and we sometimes forget that he read these stories. Or maybe he knew about how David had been rescued and saved from his enemies as he read the Psalms.

He certainly knew about how Israel was saved from Egypt and what they had been through. Sometimes life is unfair and when it's unfair, we need to know and believe that God can rescue us from circumstances. Even circumstances of our own making. Sometimes we might say, well, I deserve everything. I deserve this. Well, maybe you do. Maybe I do. But that doesn't mean that God is not gracious. It doesn't mean that God is not merciful. God can rescue us even if we've made a mess of things. And God is gracious to do that if we humble ourselves and pray and ask as we see here they did. Let's look over in 2 Peter 2, verse 4.

2 Peter 2, verse 4. There's a promise here that sometimes it's easy to miss because of the way Peter phrases it. But Peter had seen a lot of things in his life. We read about how he was imprisoned with four squads around him and yet the church prayed for him. 2 Peter 2, verse 4.

2 Peter 2, verse 4 to 9. What we have here are four or five examples of how God took the responsibility to execute judgment and how God's hand is not stayed. 2 Peter 2, verse 4. For if. So this is a case. It begins with for if, which means he's going to give a case. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell and deliver them to the chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment.

Now we have a semicolon. So this is the first case. For if. Basically what he's saying is, look, God took seriously this and he executed judgment. And then the next one in verse 5, continuing the sentence. And did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood of the world of the ungodly. This is the second case. He executed judgment before the time of Noah and he wiped out the world.

He executed judgment against them but saved Noah, one of eight people. That's the second case. The third case, verse 6. And turning the cities of Sodom-Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterwards would live ungodly. We're still in the same sentence. This is the third case he's going to bring out. That God took this seriously. And verse 7. And delivered righteous lot, who was oppressed with the filthy conduct of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds.

So these are four cases where God either rescued somebody or executed judgment against the ungodly. And we're still in the same sentences. So it all began with four. And now we're going to get in verse 9, the then. So if all these things are true, what Peter says then is in verse 9, then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.

And especially those who walk according to the flesh and the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed, and not afraid. Whereas angels, verse 11, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a riling accusation against them before the Lord. God knows how to execute judgment. If we are being persecuted, if we are being oppressed, God will address that. He will deliver us.

He knows how to do these things. And sometimes we lose track. I have in my Bible, in verse 9, the fact that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, out of difficulties. God knows how to rescue His people. If God is working in our lives, then the things that happen to us happen for a purpose, happen for a reason. Again, I don't have time to go to Romans 8, verse 28, but it says, All things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose.

It is a promise. Which brings us to our final point, Daniel 2, verse 19. Let's go back and see the final point here from this terrible trial that Daniel, where his life was on the line, and what he did in verse 19. After all these things, in verse 19, Daniel 2, it says, Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.

And so Daniel blessed the Lord God of heaven. The fifth lesson is that we can have faith that God will reveal the answer to us. We will receive an answer. God doesn't want to just let us sit out there and hang forever on these things. The answer will be revealed as we follow these steps and as we see these things.

And how does it work? Is it a still, small voice? Is it something in a dream? Well, we understand that there's a difference today than when Daniel received this. Let's go to Hebrews 1, in verse 1, because we'll actually read specifically, and I think the writer of Hebrews probably had Daniel 2, verse 19 in mind. When he wrote Hebrews 1, verse 1, Hebrews 1, verse 1 tells us how we are told these things.

It says here, God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son. By his son. God speaks to us by his son. And there's, in my margin, it uses reference to logos. This is, he speaks to us through his word. He speaks to us through the things we read in the Bible. He speaks to us by the things that are revealed to us as Christ speaks to us through his word.

For the sake of time, I don't have time to turn to these other verses, but you can note them. 1 Corinthians 2, 9-10 says that God has revealed his will to us by his spirit. God's Holy Spirit working in us will reveal these things to us. I don't know if you've had this experience where you're praying and you're asking God for help with something, and some thoughts will come into your mind, and you'll wonder, well, is that my thought or is that God's thought?

Well, you know, just go and think about it, pray about it a little bit more, and see how that might go. God's will is revealed to us by his spirit. Psalm 25, verse 14, again, you can note that one, says that the Lord confides in those who fear him. He confides in us if we fear him. And John 15, 15 says that all things that I've heard, speaking of Jesus Christ, from my Father, I have made known to you. Jesus Christ will make known to us the will of the Father.

Let's go back and finish this point, and go back to Daniel 2 and verse 20, and let's read the conclusion, because this is something that should be encouraging to us as we consider decisions we've made in the past, or if we're going through a difficult time, or as a trial comes upon us that we thought about this decision-making in advance, and we're ready.

Daniel chapter 2 and verse 20, Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. And he changes the times and the seasons, he removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. Verse 22, he reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him.

Don't be afraid of the dark. Isn't that interesting? Don't be afraid of the dark. He knows what's in the darkness. I thank you and praise you, O God of my fathers. You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what he asked, what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's demand.

Daniel thanked God, and that's the final point you might add. He thanked God for what had been revealed to him. In verses 24 then to 45 we have this image revealed and what's going to happen there. If we skip down to verse 46, we see then Nebuchadnezzar's response to the dream. Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.

And the king answered Daniel and said, Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret. Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts. And he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.

But Daniel sat at the gate of the king. This is the conclusion of Daniel 1. Daniel 2. Daniel had this terrible life and death trial, and it was finished by being promoted to being chief among all the administrators in the area. I think it's encouraging. I think this is an outcome of a trial. Daniel goes from being captive before, when he's taken to Babylon, to the point where he is in charge of all the affairs. Daniel's life and experiences, as revealed in Scripture, makes clear that God does guide us through difficult times in our lives. And I think these five things that we see in Daniel 2, I think they're a good set of principles that we can use as we think about trials that come upon us.

And I hope we can think about these things in advance of going into difficult trials. In this case, Daniel's life, Daniel's trial, had a purpose, the great purpose of revealing this image, which would give us a roadmap through the ages, down to our time, of how God is going to work in the world. We should not underestimate what God may be doing in our lives to prepare us for a future, and how this trial might have a bearing on us and our community.

Thank you.