Title: HE IS ABLE
Focus: Rely upon God in
prayer, for only He is able to do what is humanly speaking impossible to do.
Function: To encourage the people to seek God in prayer with confidence, for God is able.
Text: Daniel 2:1-23
When was the last time that you could not sleep? You toss and turn; you get up; you try again; your mind is racing; your thoughts go around and around. But sleep won’t come—until finally you clunk out. King Nebuchadnezzar could not sleep.
What keeps us from falling asleep? Sometimes, it may be a physical problem. More often, it’s a problem of the heart—we are worried; something is troubling us; something is eating away at our conscience, for example, or there is a dark cloud hovering above us—the cloud of lay offs, for example, or the cloud of a medical diagnosis, or the cloud of troubled children or family members. There are a lot of clouds that may keep sleep away from us. King Nebuchadnezzar can’t sleep.
What is troubling this emperor of Babylon? The text tells us that Nebuchadnezzar “had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep.” Now there is no doubt that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was very unsettling. To him, the dream was a nightmare; it appears to him as an ominous sign.
Now think about this: the most powerful individual in the entire empire of Babylon is frightened because of a dream. He can’t sleep. Nebuchadnezzar has the power to command armies, to subdue enemies, and to govern many lands and provinces—simply by uttering a word or command. All his subjects--knowing what is good for them and out of fear--obey Nebuchadnezzar’s commands and decrees. Yet, it only takes a dream to get this powerful Babylonian king into a tizzy. He can’t sleep; his mind is troubled Why?
It seems that Nebuchadnezzar fears conspiracies against him. He has doubts about his wise men and counselors. He does not trust them. In vs. 9 we find Nebuchadnezzar saying to his advisors: “If you do not tell me the dream, there is just one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change.” You see, one of the greatest fears of emperors is that their empire will slip away from them. Holding on to their power is a burden and a priority for them and also for Nebuchadnezzar.
It seems that Nebuchadnezzar is worried about his reign. And like all ruthless rulers, Nebuchadnezzar is willing to do anything to hold on to power. Thus he is willing to wipe out his inner circle of advisors if it turns out that they are turning against him. So, he calls them and tests them, saying (vs. 5) “If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.” Clearly, Nebuchadnezzar is troubled, afraid, and ready to act ruthlessly to hold on to power.
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Nebuchadnezzar’s suspicion of a conspiracy and his troubling dreams become the wise men’s nightmare. Shocked at Nebuchadnezzar’s demand that they tell him the dream and then interpret the dream for him, the wise men blurt out: (vs. 10) “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”
The King’s advisors think that Nebuchadnezzar is unreasonable. The king’s paranoia is getting the best of him. His request is irrational: “What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”
The wise men are partially right. No one is able to reveal dreams other than the gods. And as far as these wise men were concerned, the gods do not live among men. In other words, we do not have access to them and their counsel. Of course, the gods of our myths and imaginations are precisely that—human concoctions of conscience, culture and confusion. “There are no other gods before me,” says the Lord Almighty. Only He is able to do what no one else can do. He is able to reveal Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
Daniel’s response to Nebuchadnezzar’s decree to exterminate the wise men of Babylon shows that Daniel knows the power of the Living God. Daniel does three things:
The troublesome dreams and mind of King Nebuchadnezzar lead to the wise men’s ultimate nightmare: “No one can reveal the dream to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.” But Daniel, by his actions, sets us all straight: God is able!
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Let me ask you: Can you or any other experienced pilot, humanly speaking, keep his disabled jet with more than 150 passengers from crashing and perishing in the Hudson River? No one, in his own strength, can. But God is able!
Can you or even the most learned physician or scientist, humanly speaking, keep patients from succumbing to cancer or from dying of any terminal disease? No one, in his or her own strength and wit, can. But God is able!
Can you or even the most charismatic pastor, humanly speaking, convert your wayward son, your pagan neighbor, or your most annoying atheist? No one can. Only God is able to change human hearts and bring rebirth or life to a person.
Can you, or the most enlightened president or potent government, humanly speaking, bring peace to Hamas and the Israelis? No one can. Only God is able to dissipate hatred in the human heart and turn hatred and evil into love and good will.
Can you, or the most capable psychologist, humanly speaking, soften the pain and anger of a spurned spouse and give him or her the grace to forgive and to get on with married life? No one can. Only God is able to break the power of pain and anger, so that we can forgive our spouse and start over again loving and caring for each other.
If there is anything that God’s people in the days of Daniel—and in our days--must learn, it’s this: God is able! Therefore, in our most vulnerable moments, as well as in our moments of strength, we must learn to depend upon God and pray to him. For God is able!
Sing: “Jesus Shall Reign” (412:1,2,5)