Treasured and Strengthened

Daniel 10:7-19 ~

Only I, Daniel, saw the vision. The men who were with me did not see it, but a great terror fell on them, and they ran and hid. I was left alone, looking at this great vision. No strength was left in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless. I heard the words he said, and when I heard them I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.

Suddenly, a hand touched me and raised me to my hands and knees. He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling.

“Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for 21 days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.”

While he was saying these words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and was speechless. Suddenly one with human likeness touched my lips. I opened my mouth and said to the one standing in front of me, “My lord, because of the vision, anguish overwhelms me and I am powerless. How can someone like me, your servant, speak with someone like you, my lord? Now I have no strength, and there is no breath in me.”

Then the one with human likeness touched me again and strengthened me. He said, “Don’t be afraid, you who are treasured by God. Peace to you; be very strong!”

As he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”

The book of Daniel can be quite confusing as it contains so much of the prophecy of the end times. But during my quiet time this morning as I was reading chapter 10 of Daniel, the following things resonated with me.

Daniel was a man treasured by God.

Three different times (the other is in chapter 9), the angel tells Daniel that he is treasured by God. Other translations say highly esteemed or favored. There was something about Daniel's unwavering desire to serve the Lord that actually caused God to consider him as a treasure. 

May we all have that kind of intimate relationship with the Lord. My desire is to continue to grow deeper in my walk with God.

The presence of God's representative caused Daniel to fall flat on his face.

As Daniel sees this vision of a man (v. 1-6) from God who is obviously an angel, he goes weak in the knees and falls on his face before the man. 

If this was only a representative of the Lord, can you imagine what it will be like to stand in the presence of God? The holiness of God should cause us to bow in worship. 

Daniel is strengthened through his interaction with this man.

The man raises Daniel first to his hands and knees and then to his feet. He touches Daniel's lips so Daniel can speak. He encourages him with the words, "Be very strong." Daniel tells him, "You have strengthened me." And the angel was then able to tell Daniel the words he came to deliver. 

God gives us strength to hear the words He needs to communicate to us. In our own strength we are weak, but God will lift us up so we can receive His message and continue to follow Him. 

We must persevere in prayer because we do not know the battle going on in the heavenly realms.

The angel tells Daniel that he has come because of Daniel's prayers. He tried to come to him earlier, but was prevented from doing so for twenty-one days. There was a battle going on in the heavenly realms that Daniel knew nothing about. If he had not been continuously praying and fasting, would this angel have been permanently thwarted from coming?

This is a reminder to me that our prayers are critical because there are battles going on that we may not see. How often to we pray for loved ones or situations and then just give up when we don't see results. Who knows if our perseverance in prayer is winning a spiritual battle we can't see.

Those are some of my observations this morning from what can be a very confusing book of the Bible. I'm thankful that I was able to glean some encouragement from these verses this morning.

You are treasured.
God is to be worshipped.
You are strengthened, 
We are fighting a spiritual battle.