September 11 - Just Another Terrorist

 Read today’s texts first: Daniel 1-2; Revelation 16

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

When terrorism threatens, remember we are on
the winning side and that Jesus will be standing
with us in any fiery trial we face. 

It’s September 11 and coincidentally the passages from both testaments focus on terrorism from the Middle East – Iraq to be exact, known then as Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was the Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden of Daniel’s day – a megalomaniac bent on world domination. He was so petulant and self-absorbed that he was ready to execute all of his “wise” men until Daniel intervenes.

What amazes me from this account and the next few chapters is how even a terrorist/world dictator is subject to God. The dream Neb had, which Daniel both described and interpreted for him, showed how fragile even a world power is in comparison to the “Rock”. The rock that destroys the four world powers represents God’s Kingdom, and the passage in Revelation describes that final showdown at Armageddon.

Every once in a while Neb got a clue as to who was really in control, telling Daniel, your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings (2:47). But it would take several more miraculous demonstrations by Daniel and his friends, plus a personal crisis (a complete mental breakdown) before Neb would actually submit to this one true God.

Daniel and his buddies, however, knew from the start they were on the winning side. They sacrificed privileges (like eating from the king’s table) and refused to bow to other gods when “everyone else was doing it!”  Even though they worked for a terrorist who threatened them with hungry lions and blazing furnaces, they were as steady as the Rock who stood with them (I love it that Jesus Himself hung out with them at the barbeque when they were supposed to be the main course). Daniel had the inside scoop on who would win in the end, seeing the very same things described in Revelation hundreds of years before John would write about it and thousands of years before it would actually take place.

We are living in those days now.

“Lord give me the faith of Daniel in the threat of terrorism today, knowing I’m on the winning side and that You will be standing with me in any fiery trial I may face.”