Daniel 2 • When the Bottom Falls Out

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

This week, we're looking at Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 2, as we continue to look at the lives of Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and into-bed-we-go.
And.
[Laughter]
Yeah, I learned that when I was a kid, right?
So.
[Laughter]
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And learn, of course, that they're in a nation of great hardship.
They are in captivity.
Their families are slaves.
There is a cruel king who's in charge who is willing to lop off the heads of anyone who will disagree with him.
And that king is the object of the early portion of Daniel 2.
King Nebuchadnezzar sleeps one night.
He dreams.
The dream awakens him and troubles him.
He wants somebody to interpret, and so he calls his wise men, the enchanters, the magicians, the interpreters, and says, "Tell me what my dream means."
"Happy to help, O king," they say.
"Tell us the dream.
We'll give you the interpretation."
"Oh, no, no, no," he says.
"If you really have supernatural insight, you tell me what the dream is.
Then I'll know you really know something and after that, you can interpret it."
Well, as you might guess, they can't tell him what the dream is.
As they begin to squirm and maneuver for time, he just gets angrier and angrier until the decree goes out:  "Off with their heads."
Not just these:  "Kill every wise man in the kingdom of Babylon."
Well, that net is wide enough to catch Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
If you remember verse 20 at the end of chapter 1, we read this about them as the Lord blessed Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel, "In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom."
If he's going to kill all the wise men, he's going to kill these good men, too.
What happens next?
Let's stand and we'll read what happens next.
Daniel 2 and verse 17, "Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah," which are the Jewish names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, "his companions, and he told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
Daniel answered and said:  'Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter.'"
Let's end there for now and ask that our God, the King, would make known to us His matters.
Let's pray together.
>>> Heavenly Father, we confess that we might often approach You in the book of Daniel as the God of a Sunday School lesson, removed by cartoon characters and events that seem so remote.
But You speak to us by Your Spirit as we have already prayed in song this day in Your Word.
And so we would pray for that ministry of the Spirit even now.
Teach us what it would me--, what it would be to live in the land of Babylon, even if that is our home now in many ways.
You call us to Yourself by Your Word.
Teach us there, we pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
>>> Please be seated.
So some young men from some ancient families go into captivity in a land far, far away in a time long, long ago.
And though the king is cruel and the captivity is hard, they are trying to live faithfully in a very difficult time.
Of course, that doesn't have anything to do with our time.
Right?
Unless you watched "60 Minutes" last March and the reporter would say in that report, "Just like the Nazi's marked the houses of Jews, Christian homes in Mosul, Iraq, are marked with a red letter 'N' for 'Nazarat,' Arabic reminder of Jesus of Nazareth, whom those within those homes follow.
Those who have the red letter on their homes are required by I.S.I.S. to either pay an extortion tax, convert to Islam, or face the sword.
Issah Al Qurain had to make the choice for his family.
He was in a portion of Mosul, which had been Christian for generations, but the letter was on his house.
And the I.S.I.S. fighters came to his house one day, took all his money, took his wife and children, and demanded he convert or be killed."
He told the "60 Minute" reporters, "They said I had to convert.
I told them, 'I'm a Christian.
I have my faith; you have yours.'
But they told me, 'Convert or you'll never see your wife and children again, and you will die.'"
And so he agreed to convert.
He was reunited with his family, but soon the I.S.I.S. fighters returned and told him, "Shari'ah Law," that is, traditional Muslim law, "says that girls who are ten years old need to marry."
Issah and his wife knew what that would mean for their daughter.
And so as soon as the fighters stepped out the door, they began to weep and asked God to help.
The bottom had fallen out of their lives.
Of course, that's just one family.
That doesn't really have a lot of meaning for Christians in our world today, unless you recognize they were one family of 150,000 Christians in Mosul who are all facing the same thing.
Of course, that's just one town in the Middle East, but then you begin to recognize there are two point five million refugees from Iraq alone:  Yazidis, a cultic Christianity, truly orthodox Christians, and Muslims, millions being driven out.
Well, you know, that's just one country.
Well, it doesn't really deal with our, unless you recognize it is one country of people who are fleeing I.S.I.S. and you forget all about al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, Boko Haram, civil war, militant Islam, in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Nider--, Nigeria, Sudan, and more.
All in our time.
Of course, it doesn't have anything to do with us, because we're a long way away and living in circumstances where your faith is challenged if you are true to Jesus Christ.
That's not really relevant to us, unless you're a family of Christian bakers in Oregon, fined this summer $135,000 for not baking the same-sex wedding cake, even though their decision not to do it was before the Supreme Court decision.
Or unless you're a student denied admission to a radiological school of nursing in Baltimore because you put on your application that God is the most important thing in your life.
And that was the specific reason put in writing that the student was declined for admission to a radiological school of nursing in Baltimore.
Or unless you're a public health official in Georgia, who happens to be a lay preacher on the weekends, fired from your job because on the weekend preaching, you talked about things like creation and sexual purity.
And so, as a health worker in Georgia, you are fired because of what you said in a church on Sunday.
Or unless you're a nation where a leading presidential candidate compares those who believe in saving unborn life in the womb to terrorists who take innocent life in the Middle East.
And on this weekend, Labor Day, rejoicing and holiday for many, this section of Daniel has no meaning.
Unless you're a county clerk in Kentucky.
And I do recognize all the complexities of the issues, the complications of the legalities, and the inconsistencies of the Christian testimony.
I recognize all of those things and freely say I'm not even endorsing the decision.
What you should say and recognize is this is the first weekend in the history of the United States of America that somebody has gone to jail for a faith commitment opposing homosexual marriage.
So, of course, the book of Daniel has no relevance to us at all.
Or does it?
What if the bottom falls out of your life, not near--, merely because of gunmen and governments but because of disease or death of a family member or deep disappointment at some failure in career or relationship that you wonder:  How in the world are we as an individual family or me as an individual going to make it another day forward?
When the bottom falls out, when you cannot see the way forward, when everything seems to be out from under you gone, what do you do?
Daniel's actually here to teach us some of those things.
The answers initially seem quite simple.
In verse 17, "Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and he told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven."
He returns to his friends and turns to his God.
As simple as it is, they are important steps.
Daniel, a man of faith, turned to other brothers of faith and says, "We need to get together and pray about the situation."
It's the reminder that wherever we are in biblical history, rarely does God call individual believers to a solo game of faith.
We are part of a community.
We identify ourselves as the body of Christ.
No one here was baptized into nothingness.
We were baptized into union with one another.
And when we do things like have Community Groups that a lot of you are signing up today, when we have Divorce Recovery, when we have Grief Share, when we have M.O.P.S. programs and Bible studies in your homes and here at the church, when we have campus organizations that we support so that young people are not alone on the campus as they're seeking to live faithfully for Christ but join their hearts and their lives and their communion with one another:  We are doing something that is biblical and historical.
We are not going it alone.
We recognize God meant for us to be together and be supporting one another in a family of faith.
That is our calling:  to be supported and to support others.
When we face the bottom falling out, having those that help us part of God's plan, and being a help to others is part of God's plan.
And so when we're part of a body, when we are members of a church, when we are members of a Bible study group, we are doing what God calls us to do for the sake of facing the crisis moments as well as helping each other just through the day to day.
What else does he do?
Maybe it's obvious.
Daniel and his friends pray.
They seek the God of heaven.
"Lord, help us."
Now, when I say that we should pray, I recognize in one measure I'm just asking you to do a very natural thing.
When the bottom has fallen out, when you don't see what the alternatives are, what do you do but fall to your knees and say, "God, help"?
When Issah Al Qurain and his wife recognized there was no defense for them in the world from the I.S.I.S. fighting--, fighters who were wanting their money and now their daughter, they closed the door and they cry and they pray.
What else can you do?
But when I urge you to pray, I wonder if I can read your mind a little bit:  "The pastor is telling us that we should pray like Daniel.
Well, of course Daniel prayed.
He's one of those Bible people.
He's supposed to pray."
I want you to recognize that while it is a natural thing to pray when the bottom falls out from under you, there were lots of other choices available to Daniel.
I mean, the unnatural thing for many of us is to remember to pray when we have all kinds of other alternatives.
Daniel can figure something out.
He is ten times wiser than all the other wise men of Babylon.
I mean, just give him a little time, give him a little space, put a legal pad in front of him:  He'll figure something out.
And if he can't figure it out, then, you know, he also has, you know, some political connections.
He went to Ashpenaz earlier, remember?
The head of the king's stewards and worked out a deal when there was threat before.
So maybe what he can do, you know, is he can pull in, you know, pull in a few favors, pull a few strings, have lunch with somebody, you know, just figure this out as he maneuvers a bit.
Or if trying to figure it out and trying to fix it won't work, of course the third alternative is you can just fret about it.
Just worry a lot.
Those are all alternatives.
In fact, they're the more natural alternatives.
It's really a very unnatural thing to remember to pray.
And I'm not talking just to you.
Had a trip to Chicago this week, hours on the road, a route I'm very familiar with, and that gave me opportunity to think about some family issues that we are dealing with.
In our extended family, we are dealing with issues of age, issues of adoption, issues of addiction.
And on that drive, I was thinking about a very difficult phone conversation that I needed to have.
And I began to even write down on the seat beside me words that I might say, approaches I would take:  But if I did that, it might have this implication; if I did that, it might be interpreted this way.
I tried kind of alternative after alternative, thinking about different things to do, things to say.
Got there and finally, my destination, had not figured anything out.
On my way home, I began to work at it again.
It's just worrying at me, pressing on me, burdening me.
I kept thinking of alternatives.
Finally, at some point I recognized, I was getting toward the end of my drive:  I needed to review my sermon notes just a little bit.
And so I pulled my sermon notes in front of me, while I'm driving; I know I'm not supposed to, but I did.
[Laughter]
And there in my sermon notes it says to do what?
Guess what I had not done?
I was doing all the other things:  you know, worrying, trying to fix, trying to come up with the right words, using my wisdom.
And recognizing at some point I had not actually bowed my head before the Lord of heaven and said, "God, would you fix this?"
And I don't want to tell you it always works out easily, but just praying to God, saying, "Lord, help us in this situation that we are dealing with," and then in ways that I can't even explain to you, I don't want to make it weird or mystical to you, but just to say as the Holy Spirit began to put my thoughts into totally new directions, to get home with--, and have dinner with Kathy and say, "You know, we haven't thought of this yet."
And then to have that conversation and have it turn out so beautifully.
And say, "Thank You, Lord, for working beyond my wisdom, beyond, if you will for the moment, my alternative plans."
You know, sometimes we're expecting God to step up but we haven't knelt down yet.
And because we haven't knelt down, we are standing up in our own, we don't mean it, but in our own pride and in our own alternatives and not remembering God is saying to you and me, "Have you prayed about it yet?"
This is something God calls us to do as He is saying, "Is anything missing?
In the list, you know, the positives and the negatives, this alternative, that:  Is anything missing in the list yet?
Have you sought Me yet, the God of heaven, sovereign over the universe?
Have you turned to Me yet?"
Pray.
As we bend the knee, there is another thing that comes to mind that needs to be done when the bottom falls out.
The next thing that happens for Daniel is not just prayer but praise.
Verse 20, "'Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, and whom belong wisdom and might, to whom belong wisdom and might.
He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.'"
Daniel begins to praise God.
Why does he do that?
Well, one reason that he praises God is God has revealed the dream.
Right?
Do you remember?
What, after all, is the dream that God reveals to Daniel?
The king has dreamed of a great statue:  head of gold, shoulders of silver, belly of bronze, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay.
 7 Head and shoulders  7
 7 Knees and toes  7
 7 Knees and  7  7
[Laughter]
Well, it's the way I remember it, but.
[Laughter]
The dream has been revealed.
So, if I could read your mind again, you're thinking:  "Well, of course Daniel praises God.
God has answered.
God has revealed the dream.
There's no reason not to praise God.
That's a very natural thing to do."
But actually it's a very unnatural thing to do, because the dream has more to it.
Do you remember other things that are in the dream?
As the king dreams of this great statue, he also dreams of a rock that is cut without human hands.
And the rock comes and it strikes the feet of iron and clay and the statue topples over.
And as the statue topples over, it goes into a zillion pieces and everything that has been established is undone.
What does that mean?
What is all that about?
If you'll look at verse 44, toward the end of the chapter, Daniel 2 and verse 44, what does all of that mean about the rock that comes and establishes a new kingdom after all the other things had been destroyed?
Verse 44, "'In those days,'" that is the days in which this vision will be fulfilled, "'in those days of those kings, in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.
It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.
A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this.
The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.'"
Alright, what's the dream mean?
Nebuchadnezzar, you dreamed of all these different elements of a great statue, and each element represents a succeeding kingdom.
You're the head of gold, but there are kingdoms that will follow you, ultimately all to be destroyed by this rock without human hands that once it has destroyed everything else, will itself grow into a mountain that eclipses everything else on the earth.
What does the dream mean?
Okay, spoiler, okay, if you don't want to hear, spoiler alert, right?
The rock is Jesus.
The coming rock is Jesus who will be greater than all the preceding kingdoms and will destroy them.
Now, that's the thing you might take some joy in, but you be Daniel.
Already Nebuchadnezzar has sent out the death certificate for your head, right?
Now you're going to go back to Nebuchadnezzar and you are going to say to King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful ruler on the earth at that time, "King Nebuchadnezzar, your about as important as sweat on a flea."
[Laughter]
"You are dust.
You are history.
You don't mean nothing.
There is a time in which you will be succeeded by other kingdoms who will be greater than you, but none greater than the final King, sent from heaven, who will rule over all."
You be Daniel:  How much do you want to take this news to Nebuchadnezzar?
[Laughter]
And, yet, he is praising God.
How does that make sense?
He praises God for the good he can see despite the grace yet unseen.
He does not know how it's all going to unfold, but he praises God for what he can see.
God has revealed the vision.
I mean, he can see that.
That's in the present tense.
And God has been faithful in another way.
Verse 23, "'To you, O God of my father I gi--, fathers I give thanks and praise.'"
God has preserved His people, His covenant people, for generations, for millennia up to this point.
And Daniel looks back and he says, "I recognize that God preserved us so far by revealing the dream.
He actually revealed, remember, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego their salvation in the preceding chapter by letting them eat vegetable soup, remember that?
So they wouldn't compromise their faith and yet they were preserved.
God has been faithful to them in the immediate, but God has been faithful to fathers past.
Daniel looks in the present and he looks in the past and he says, "There's good I can see, even though I don't know where all this is going yet.
If I tell Nebuchadnezzar what I must to be faithful, I don't know where it will go.
But I will trust God for the grace yet unforeseen, because I have seen the good already that He has done and can do."
It's a hard lesson for us, because sometimes we think we can't praise God and won't praise Him until we see the end of the course.
We do understand cause for praise.
When the Oregon baker family was pressured so much to pay the $135,000 fine, that Christians gathered around them and a crowdsourcing website was used to begin to collect funds.
But when various political forces determined that that particular website was being used to collect funds, so much pressure was put on the website that they rejected the family, which made so much news that another crowdsourcing website was established in which the family was given $360,000 to pay for the $135,000 fine.
Now is it easy to praise God?
Sure.
We see the end.
It's easy to praise God.
We have seen Him in the immediate.
And Issah Al Qurain, he and his wife prayed.
And as they prayed, it just came to them:  Al Q--, the I.S.I.S. fighters are going to be around us, but maybe they haven't closed the noose yet.
And so they just called a taxi, and the taxi got them out with their family.
God preserved not just in the immediate:  He preserved the next generation.
Is it easy to--, easy to praise God now?
Yes.
We've seen His hand in the immediate and forgen--, but what about Daniel?
Do you recognize Daniel is praising God, but his people are still in slavery.
His people are still in Babylon.
He does not know where this will go.
And as we get in future weeks into this prophetic portion of Daniel, we are going to recognize:  He will see generations of pain to come, not just all good stuff, not just easy stuff, hard things ahead.
And still he praises God.
Why?
He praises God for the good he can see despite the grace yet unseen.
I thought about it.
I wrote it down when we were singing earlier.
Do you actually believe God's grace abounds in deepest waters?
When you feel like you're drowning, when you don't have all the answers yet, to still believe that God is at work, that He has promised in His Word.
And so I look and I say, "God, there's some good in the moment.
I can't make sense of where all this is going, but I will praise You in the moment for the good I can see."
I'm reminded some years ago as I have dealt with some of the layoff things that are happening in our community of a young man who sat in my office and he'd recently been laid off.
Before he'd been laid off, he had a good job and with the good job, he and his wife had far overextended themselves financially:  purchased things they should not have purchased, were living a lifestyle that distanced them from their family and friends.
They were estranged on many fronts, including in the church.
And now in his time of need, he came to my office and he was just kind of pouring out his pain and his heartache and his desperation.
And as he began to talk, he got angrier and angrier at the church and at the friends and at the company and at God.
And toward the end, he just said, "I just tell my wife that at least we have each other and kids that we love."
And then he just kind of threw himself back in the chair in the complaint.
And then in the silence began to hear echoed the words that he had just said:  "At least we have each other and kids that we love."
And after a bit, he sat back up in the chair, kind of a sheepish smile on his face, and he said, "I guess God hasn't been so bad to us after all."
He didn't know where it was all going.
He did not know.
But he looked at how God was preserving and had preserved and he praised God for the good he could see despite the grace yet unforeseen.
If we do that, it has profound effect.
After all, recognize that what's happening here in the book of Daniel is something not just written for his age but for the ages to come.
And as he is praising God in the hard situation whose end he does not yet himself know, he becomes a witness to how believers act in times of trial and testing when the bottom falls out.
Yes, they bend the knee.
At the same moment, they lift their hands and say, "God, I praise you for what I can see, and I trust that Your grace abounds in deepest waters.
I'm going to believe that by faith, even though I cannot make sense of it all yet.
I'm going to praise You.
And, God, I may not see the answer to where all this is going in my own lifetime."
Daniel wouldn't.
He would be an old man and dead before these prophecies are fulfilled.
He's never going to see his people released from captivity.
He will never know freedom, even as an old man.
And, yet, he's saying, "God, I believe in a grace that goes beyond me, beyond my life."
And so he praises God in that moment, and that becomes proclamation, as the witness of God's faithfulness in the trial becomes a proclamation that others need as well.
Do you want to see this very unnatural thing that Daniel does, teaching us?
He begins to praise God in the midst of the trial.
Verse 28, as Daniel is speaking to Nebuchadnezzar and saying, "You know, you thought wise men could interpret a dream, but they really can't.
Who can?
Verse 28, "'There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.'"
Now, recognize:  He's just now approaching the king.
He may have his head cut off in the next three minutes.
But Daniel is saying, "I'm going to proclaim my God.
Even now, even in this moment, I'm going to proclaim my God."
And so in the hardness of the moment, he still says, "King, you need to know there's a God who makes Himself known, even in situations like this.
There is a God who makes Himself known."
It's not the end.
Daniel will say even more.
Verse 34, "'As you looked at a stone that was cut by no human hand, it struck the image on its feet and broke them in pieces.'"
This God is going to act.
How do I know that?
Verse 36, "'This was the dream.
And now we tell the king its interpretation:  You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,'" you're the one who's going to get the message.
Wait.
"King, you have been given power by God.
You are the enemy of God's people.
You're the one who holds them in captivity, but my God is so great that He has the life of the king in His hand.
And what you think you are doing independently has only been given you by God."
I think of the word of Jesus to Pilate before the crucifixion.
"Pilate, you could not do a thing to Me had it not been given to you by God.
You think you're independent:  You are only under the control of God."
Here is Daniel proclaiming who his God is:  He's the one who makes Himself known and He's the one in absolute control over all things, doing ultimately His will, so that verse 44, "'In thee--, in the days to come of the kings that God is revealing the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.'"
Daniel offers praise to God, but ultimately he says, "Because my God, not only does He reveal who He is, not only does He control all things for good, He is going to set up an eternal kingdom by what He is doing."
He has time and eternity in His hands.
The immediate is not the end of the story.
The next day is not the final chapter.
He has eternity in His minds eye.
He has eternity in His hand.
My God controls it all and I proclaim Him in the worst of moments, because I believe in a God who has shown His faithfulness for the provision of the rock, who is Jesus Christ.
You recognize, of course, that Daniel is looking forward when he talks about the rock who is coming that will establish a greater authority than all the kings of men.
We look back.
We recognize that this is the Jesus who has come and will come again.
And that great God of glory is ours.
He has confirmed His presence and His power, so that we say, "I don't know where all this is going, but I proclaim the God who sent Jesus for my heart when He knew the worst about me."
I think about Issah.
Did you miss that part where I said he denied his faith, that he turned away from God, that when I.S.I.S. said to him, "You convert or you'll be killed and you'll never have your children back," and so he said, "Alright, I'll convert"?
And then still, when he recognized that was not a path that was going to save him or his family, he turned back to God.
What a wonderful message.
Anytime is the right time to pray.
Even when you've done the wrong thing, even when you've gone the wrong way, God is still listening and He says, "Seek Me again."
And when the circumstances are not turning out the way you thought, we still praise God, because we say, "He has been good in the past.
He has provided Jesus.
He has provided for my sins.
Even though I can't make sense of all that is happening, I will praise God for the good I have seen despite the grace yet unseen.
And, finally, I'll proclaim Him."
Why would you do that?
Because when your faith makes sense to you in crisis, it will make a difference to your loved ones in their crisis.
God is amazing, powerful, working eternally.
As I think about two point five million, it's just troubling thinking of that number, two point five million refugees from Iraq, Yazidis and Muslims and Christians, and they're in these huge refugee camps in the Middle East.
And Mindy Bells is a Christian correspondent that I and I know some of you others read and trying to track that for the Church, what's happening in the Middle East right now.
And she wrote several weeks ago that the U.N. sponsored schools set up in the refugee camps are empty.
Because of fear and suspicion, the Muslim and the Yazidi and the Christian families won't go to the U.N. schools.
But there are schools that are filled up and overflowing with hundreds and hundreds of children who are Muslim and Yazidi and Christian.
And those schools are the ones that are being built, supported, and staffed by Christians who view the crisis as one of the greatest opportunities to witness the gospel that the world may have ever provided.
The crisis is the wrong time to be silent.
The testing is the wrong time to stop your witnessing.
God calls us to say, "Does your faith make a difference when the bottom falls out?"
Then tell people how great is the God that you serve of eternity, because they will need that God too.
It's not just for the national scene, the international scene.
It's what God is calling us to do:  to kneel down and to lift our hands and to lift our voices for a world that needs to hear the gospel as much as we do.
Not in the first service this morning and he hasn't been here for the last few weeks was the missionary and now regular resident of our community, Tom Barkley.
The ravages of time, age, disease have taken their toll on Tom.
And so he's not with us regularly now.
And if you were to visit him in the skilled nursing center that he's a part of, he may not recognize you.
He may not recognize the family members who come to see him, nor the pastors who come to see him.
But two weeks ago when a pastor came to see him in his hard, hard place, and began to speak of the goodness of God, from some place deeper in his mind, heart, and soul than the circumstances of the immediate, Tom began to sing, "How great Thou art," to all who would hear.
And they gathered around as a man in the hardest of times talked about the greatest of Gods who rules beyond time and trial and eternity for the sake of the glory of the name of Jesus, in your life and in mine.
What are we called to do?
To pray, to pray, to kneel down and to lift our hands and praise God and ultimately proclaim Him in sunshine or in shadow, because it is the path by which you will find rest for your own soul.
Pray.
And praise Him for the good you can see, even if there's grace yet unseen.
And proclaim Him, for time and eternity:  He has it all in His hand with you.

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