IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS
Shared with permission from Rebecca Sloan Lindhout from Antioch Baptist Church.
READ Daniel 2 Comic from the link below:
https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-26656454/documents/5e74e172391c52AKP5gF/Daniel%202%20Nebuchadnezzars%20Dream%20Digital%20Comic.pdf
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.” Daniel 2:20-22
Do you ever feel like people expect the impossible from you? Teachers want your classwork and your homework and your attention. Coaches want you to listen, follow directions, and do things better every time. Moms and dads during this time especially, may have gone off the cleaning deep end and expect you to clean your room AND help them clean the rest of the house AND do yard work! Maybe they even expect you to get off your devices and have family time…Ahhhh!!! Life can seem unfair when we think that the impossible is being expected of us.
In today’s comic (if you didn’t read it, stop and read it now) King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that had him super stressed out, so he asked his wisemen, and mystics and sorcerers to do an impossible task, he asked them to tell him what his dream meant, without him actually telling them what the dream was. It was a test to see two things A) If all these people he was paying were actually the real deal or just fakers and B) To actually know what the dream meant.
All these wise folks told the king this was an impossible task, that only a god could do what he was asking. Luckily, Daniel did love and worship THE GOD, The Great I Am, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When Daniel was presented with the challenge what did he do? HE PRAYED!! Not only did he pray, he asked his friends pray too! They prayed for wisdom and understanding and if God didn’t mind, could he send it soon? And that’s exactly what God did! He told Daniel what the dream was and what it meant, and Daniel was able to tell all of it to the king. But before Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar what it all meant, he told him that he couldn’t know or interpret the dream in his own strength and wisdom, but that God had told him all of this. It wasn’t in Daniel’s power to know and interpret the dream, it was in GOD’s power and GOD had given him the answers. When Daniel gave God the glory, then Nebuchadnezzar was able to see God’s great wisdom and power.
While we are home and social distancing ourselves, there’s a lot we don’t know or understand. We are dependent on doctors and scientists and our government to help us to understand and interpret everything about Covid 19 and what it means for us. But guess what, they can’t do it on their own. We need to pray for them, pray that they have wisdom; pray that they find a vaccine; pray that our leaders make the right decisions, because they cannot do this by themselves, they need our great big God to help them!
When things seem impossible, that is the moment when God’s glory shines the brightest. When you feel like the impossible is being asked of you, stop, pray, and ask God to give you the wisdom and strength to do the task before you. How you accept and face the challenges expected of you will reflect God’s power in your life!
Prayer: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, may your power be reflected in me today. Help me to face challenges with prayer and confidence that you will give me just what I need to get through them. Help me to know that I cannot do the impossible, but with you God, all things are possible. Amen.
Boredom Buster: Give yourself a challenge today! What will it be? Push ups (can you do 10 or more)? A reading challenge (can you read for 30 minutes without stopping or even taking a potty break)? Maybe it’s a family challenge (work together to see how much you can clean in one room or do in your yard in 30 minutes). Maybe it’s a relationship challenge (can you play with a younger sibling for 30 minutes without fighting?). Whatever your challenge is, ask God to help you do it and then give HIM the glory when he does.