Well today's reading assignment was pretty hefty! And I'm not even going to try to delve into any of the deeper meanings or content of Daniel 10-12. The last time I looked in depth at Daniel 11 was probably in high school when we had to write a paper on it. To be honest, it's always seemed above my head... however I will be the first to admit that "it seeming over my head" is no excuse to ignore deeper study. I need to understand these chapters better. In fact, one of my desires and goals in the coming days is to study Daniel and Revelation together in more depth... but it's not going to happen at the moment when I'm on a marathon race through the Bible.
However, even in my superficial reading of these chapters this morning, I was really blessed. As I was reading Daniel 10 today, I was struck by the fact that Daniel prayed 21 days, and when Gabriel finally arrived at Daniel's side the angel told him the following about what had been taking place behind the scenes:
"Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days; but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia." (Daniel 10:12-13)
Sometimes we feel like it takes awhile for God to hear our prayers... there is a delay and we just don't know what is happening... we wonder if He is hearing. But in Daniel's story we see that God heard immediately... from the time Daniel set his heart to understand....before he even spoke the words, God heard. However, there is a supernatural battle going on behind the scenes. It's a real battle. We can't see it, but it's still real... and there was a wrestle between Gabriel and the kingdom of Persia (powers of Satan) before Michael (Christ) came to assist in the battle and before they broke through in victory...
So this story gives me great courage and hope when I'm praying for the salvation of loved ones or about the gospel going forward. There may be a delay in our receiving the answer to our prayers, but it's not because God's has not heard. He has heard and He is working now, behind the scenes even in ways that we cannot see. But there's a battle going on. That's why we should not give up until we see the answer come.
In Christ Object Lessons, Ellen White writes the following: "There is no danger that the Lord will neglect the prayers of His people. The danger is that in temptation and trial they will become discouraged, and fail to persevere in prayer." (p. 175)
Tomorrow's Reading: Hosea 1-2 and Jude
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