This is the fourteenth reflection on a mere two chapters of the Book of Daniel.
Before we move into chapter 3, it is stunning to consider how the vast range of issues which are front and center in Daniel’s day, are present in our own daily reality.
We, like Daniel, live in a world where humans have made remarkable strides in knowledge. In some parts of the world, that knowledge has yielded impressive results in certain fields such as science, medicine, and engineering. A few civilizations are materially benefiting from all of this progress.
Yet we, like Daniel, also live in a world where these fields of success have in many ways become the idols of our day, complete with their own priests and rulers. And, our day, like Daniel’s, is full of injustice and oppression.
There is a fairly simple dynamic, a simple choice, that each individual must make.
Choice #1 is to put our ultimate trust in humanity and all our human progress. It is to believe that human beings, in and by ourselves, can not only solve the global issues of poverty, slavery, injustice and more—no it is to believe that humans, in and by ourselves, can order the human heart. And not just one heart of one human. No, it is to believe that through education and our own self-enlightenment, that all humans can become decent people who love one another.
Choice #2 is to put our ultimate trust in God. This is not to abandon human progress. It is not to abandon education or pursuing science. Instead it is to submit our efforts to a higher authority—an authority outside ourselves. It is to believe that this outside authority is what can penetrate and convert the human heart. It is to believe that the human heart is Ground Zero for the battle to create a just society.
For those who make Choice #2, there is irony in what is presented to us as reality. To be blunt, from a Biblical perspective, it is sheer fantasy.
Choice #1:
· Has determined that man, not God, is in charge. The result then is to effectively deny the reality of God.
· Has, in its self-proclaimed magnanimity, allowed room for a “higher power”, yet not so much room that this power, this God, would act in and through our world, our history.
· Has taken and twisted what was science, and shutdown any true paths of scientific inquiry into the areas of historical faith.
· Has turned the idea of tolerance into a rigid, unbending dogma.
· Has put forth false ideas so forcefully, that most people seem to accept the logically inconsistent absolute statement that everything, every idea, every belief—is relative.
For those who make Choice #2, the Book of Daniel blows in with gale-force hope.
As we come to the close of chapter 2, we have just read an episode where a king who has largely followed Choice #1 has collided with a twenty-something who believes in Choice #2. Reality has collided with fantasy.
You might object and assert that the king believes in gods, has temples and priests and more. True to a point. The king believes that he can manipulate and appease the gods. That he is in control. If he fails, it is because he needs more knowledge about how to control and appease the gods. It is his way of practicing what we today call science. In fact, the Babylonians made tremendous gains in knowledge. They simply allowed room for a spiritual dimension.
The question then is which of the two is living in reality?
Nebuchadnezzar concludes it is Daniel. He literally falls on his face and worships Daniel.
When you think of yourself, which reality are you living in?