While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. Daniel 10:15 (NIV).
In this verse, Daniel was overcome with emotion, being in the presence of his Lord and then His angels. He didn’t know what to say or do other than to simply look down and be quiet. All of us would do well to do the same
Me, would I do that? Would you? Or any of us? Or would we break out our smartphones and try to capture it on video? Would we open Instagram and try to share a picture of it along with our “it’s all about me” commentary? Would we text all of our friends, “I’m here with God’s angel and I don’t know what to do!” What would our Tweet say?
Admit it: you’d be tempted. So would I. And, with social media, it’s all too convenient. It’s so easy to shift the focus to ourselves and away from God. Perhaps that’s why He uses moments in our lives to speak to us through conscience so that we stop speaking, start worshipping, remain speechless and begin to listen.
Daniel could have gone vain. He could have been one to say, “how did I feel about this.” Or “what’s in it for me?” There were plenty of others in the Bible whose personal feelings or self-focused vanity mattered more than what God put on their hearts. The Pharaoh of Moses’ time; Balaam, Judas Iscariot; Ananias and Sapphira; the list goes on. In 2021, we’d encourage Daniel to share what he thought because that mattered more than anything else. It’s all about you. Your feelings matter more. You have a voice!
Sure. But, in remembering those things, remember that God’s voice is bigger, and more important. In all moments of our lives, God is calling us to develop the discipline that seeks Him first before getting to the bottom of our feelings. That happens through reverence, prayer, and a few quiet minutes before Him, confessing our wrongheadedness and listening for what He has to say. There are times to talk and times to listen. And there are times to remain speechless and reverent instead of talkative and selfish. How many times does the devil use our words against us, or against others? How many times do we let our tongues draw us into sin?
You know the answer. Yet every time we go to God, He listens. Shouldn’t we do the same?
The next time God puts it on your heart to clam up, listen to Him.
For further reading: Numbers 22, Ezekiel 24:27, Luke 1:20, Acts 5, Daniel 10:16
Lord Jesus, You listen to my prayers. Remind me today to humble myself, to be quiet in Your presence, to listen to Your voice and do as You bid.
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