Believing God – When You Don’t Understand

  1. Then Daniel Answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
  2. He answered and said to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree so hasty from the king?” Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
  3. Then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.
  4. Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
  5. That they would desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
    Daniel 2:14-18
    Life Has No Guarantees but God Does

Being in a good place is no guarantee that problems will never come your way. All the money in the world, all the ability and talent in the world will not exempt you from facing the cold realities of life. What many have found is that the moment you conquer one obstacle, there are many more challenges that seem to line up and even pile up in an attempt to block your path. For that reason, you will discover as the famous hymn suggest, you will need God every hour. No matter how you try, you will not understand everything. Even if you read every book that is available to man, it will not teach you all the lessons of how to make it in the time of storm. God is your only refuge. God is your only anchor in troubled waters. God is your only guide when the road ahead runs out. For the child of God, you must simply believe in those times that you don’t understand.

Daniel and his companions were in a good place. But while they were settling down in training in Babylon, they received the news that they were on the execution list. How could they have gone from head of the class to death row in such a short time? With them still being in school, they did not receive the king’s summons to the palace. They knew nothing about the strange dream that was tormenting Nebuchadnezzar. They did not know about the wise men who failed to explain to the king what was going on. While they were wise men, they lacked knowledge of the Living God and therefore could not answer the king’s question. To put it simply, if you don’t know who God is, you will never be able to answer any questions about God. To make matters even worse, they offered excuses that did more to aggravate Nebuchadnezzar to the point that he issued the order to have all the wise men put to death. Although Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were not part of the king’s counselors yet, they received the same notice of their pending fate.

The question that we should ask is whether or not we are faced with such death threats today. None of us have the insight of looking into the future, unless God
reveals those mysteries to us. Your death date for all intents and purposes is a secret only known to God Almighty. The folks onboard Flight 5342 that was set to land at Reagan International Airport had no idea that they would be boarding another flight in a matter of seconds. They were tragically escorted onto another runway where death would sweep them suddenly away into eternity. On Wednesday, January 29th, in the year of 2025, sixty seven souls (including the military personnel on board the U.S. Army Blackhawk) would receive the notice that they must report immediately for eternity. While that sounds so tragic, and it really is, you and I are on that same list somewhere. That is why it is imperative to believe God when you don’t understand. There is not a human being alive who has the insight of knowing when and where they will make that departure.

If it were possible, we as humans would avoid such tragic conditions. We would certainly choose a less painful path than one that is filled with such threats. But when you know that God is real, that changes everything. As Brandon Farbstein says, “you don’t need to change everything for everything to change.” Let the king make the threats. Let life bring what it will. We know that God can make a way out of no way. Daniel asked a simple question. Please notice that he asked with counsel and wisdom. Daniel said to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree so hasty from the king?” Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. The question is now in Daniel’s court. What will he do to change the decree that has been made by the king? Please note that Daniel and his friends do not ask for an exemption nor do they ask the king for an explanation. They already know that he is angry and simply wants a satisfying answer. Here is the dilemma. Nebuchadnezzar has not shared his dream with anyone. His position is that if the wise men are truly wise, they will tell him both the dream and the interpretation; that way he will be certain that they are telling the truth and not “delaying the time.” At this point, this becomes an impossible feat unless the person knows God. What Nebuchadnezzar did not realize that the dream is actually bigger than both he and the wise men. This was no ordinary dream. This was the Living God showing the king a panoramic view of what will happen from that moment to the end of time. For that reason, the dream and the interpretation had to be one hundred percent accurate. This was God moving in prophecy.

Get Ready to Step Up

Focusing on the important matters of life requires skills and abilities that only God can provide and only we can receive when we are focused and faithful. Please note that the child of God is to be focused and faithful if they are to face life’s many challenges. Let us consider some of the things that we must not do when facing life’s greatest threats. I have listed four snares that many will fall into when faced with insurmountable questions.

First is arguing about the threat. Believe it or not, every one of us has an internal justice system that whenever our rights are violated, we become defensive. We never even stop to ask whether or not God has allowed this. As usual, we jump to the conclusion that anything uncomfortable for us must also be bad. “My rights have been violated,” we scream in protest. Our prayers are even devoted to getting God to agree with us and then of course, we try to force His Hand to bring about deliverance. How do you know if God did not send that challenge in order to show us something that we have never seen before? Here is a good verse of Scripture that we can apply when we are being tested or challenged by the things that life will throw at us. 1 Corinthians 10:13, no temptation has overtaken you, except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. NIV. Rather than argue about the circumstance, bring it to God in prayer and ask a simple question, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” In no case should you be arguing about what God has allowed. Accept the challenge and ask God for further instructions. That is what Daniel did. He knew that God would help them solve the king’s mystery.

The second response we take is that of avoiding the challenge altogether. Simply run away and that will solve the problem. If some people can’t run away physically, they run away mentally through addictions, depression, and thoughts of suicide. Yes, the threat is real: no one said it wasn’t. Yes there is the risk that you could lose it all. But if you will give God a chance, whether the outcome is loss or gain, you will at least have the joy of knowing that God is with you every step of the way. Here’s what Daniel did. He did not argue with the king because he knew that would only make matters worse. Instead, Daniel simply appealed to the king for more time and then he gave Nebuchadnezzar a guarantee. Then Daniel went in and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. Some would say, “why did he make such a bold claim that he could interpret the dream?” Daniel knew that God had created the situation. He also knew that God had given him the ability to interpret dreams and visions. See Daniel 1:17. No, Daniel was not being cocky, he was being confident that God could do it. Daniel was believing God even though he did not understand.

The third response that some will resort to when facing a crisis is to blame others for the misfortune. I call this attribution, where people attempt to simplify life by simply saying, “its someone else’s fault.” This is also known as the blame game. It is played in Churches all the time. Meanwhile no one gets anywhere because everyone has a good excuse that somebody has done something to them. Blaming also immobilizes us from accepting God’s Grace and Power. Regardless of who caused the situation, problems never get solved by blaming other people. Daniel did not do that. He never once said, “those dumb wise men – they don’t know what they are doing.” Why do people resort to blame? It is a short-cut that removes us from our own flaws. If I don’t want you to know that I have weaknesses, I will quickly point to the weakness of others.

In the Bible, David is a key figure who demonstrated that you must be focused on God rather than anything else. The Bible quotes God as saying, “David is a man after My Own heart.” Can that be said of us? Yet far too many will often try to prove they are right by making others out to be the villain. If you recall, David was the victim of king Saul’s threats and even assaults with the intent to kill. Yet David never once blamed Saul nor did he become disrespectful of the king as God’s anointed. David simply trusted God and kept believing even when he did not understand. Life is going to have its challenges, but that does not mean that life has become impossible. When Daniel accepted the challenge of solving the king’s mystery dream, he believed that God was able to make it happen.

The fourth response to facing life’s threats and challenges is to attempt to solve the problem on our own. This response springs out of the myth that we are super-human because we possess some spiritual insight into the things of God. It is not only dangerous, but it is also deadly. Self-reliant people tend to lack God dependence. They are the type of people who assume that because they possess a spiritual gift, this is their license to excellence and further training is not required. As we mentioned earlier, Daniel and his friends were in a three year mandated training program under orders of the king. Even though they were ten times wiser, and ten times healthier than their classmates, they still were not allowed to graduate early. What did that suggest? It clearly defined them as being humble servants rather than pious know-it-alls. The other issue that would cause some believers to take the path of independence is the fear of rejection from others. They feel that it is much easier to do things on their own rather than face the criticism of others. That is one of my weaknesses. I will work independently so many times because I feel that I may be looked upon as weak if I ask for help. Again, I’m learning a valuable lesson from Daniel. When these life crisis arise, we must realize that God may send the answer through someone else. What we do know is that Daniel and his friends approached the problem together in prayer.

Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions … That they would desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning this secret. I must be reminded that the Body of Christ consists of many members who have been gifted by the same Savior, Jesus Christ. Here is the good news, if we work together – there is no obstacle that can not be overcome. Within that context of the Body of Christ, we can then make the confession, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” As a matter of fact, even my prayers are hindered by solo performance, but when I pray with others, miracles happen. “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name,” Jesus said, “there I will be in the midst of them.” For that reason, believers must stick together or we will surely fail apart.

We’ll Understand it Better By and By

God does not always answer prayers instantly even though that is within His power to do so. I believe it is due to the fact that through the process of waiting on the Lord, we also learn about His Goodness. I am quite sure that Daniel and his friends quoted many Scriptures and expressed so much gratitude to God while they were in prayer. Someone has said, “God will often send the answer in your praise.” It just so happened that God did show up with a mighty revelation of the king’s mystery. Daniel 2:19 states that while they were praying during the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Did they rush over to tell the good news? No! They immediately praised God for such a miraculous feat.

The revelation was more than simply telling the king the dream. This was about the end times and God was giving them this information that had been hidden since the beginning of time. God revealed the entire revelation in the form of a huge statue that Nebuchadnezzar had seen. Now, through the mighty vision of God, Daniel had seen the exact same thing plus God gave him the interpretation of what the statue meant. Chapter two of Daniel ends with the prophet giving the king the answer that God had given him. But if you will note, the king was so elated that he promoted Daniel and lavished him with many gifts. Imagine that! A few hours earlier, Daniel and his friends were on “death row” but now they were in an even greater position in the King’s service.

What I want you to do is think about your own situation. Now, ask yourself whether or not you have given God a chance to do what only He can do? You will find that regardless of the circumstance, God can turn things around. It is not required that you understand what is going on. What is required is that you believe God. The hymn writer to We’ll Understand it Better By and By reveals some powerful truths about God.

First, God knows the pain we feel – He can save and He can heal.
We’ll understand it better by and by.
Second, temptations take us unaware – Even when we do our best.
We’ll understand it better by and by.
Third, in that land of perfect day when the mist has rolled away.
We’ll understand it better by and by.

It is not up to us to know everything down here. It is certainly not within our power to get everything down here. But if we know God, we can simply believe Him for the things that we can’t understand.