Links for today’s readings:
Read: Daniel 10 Listen: (4:39)
Read: Hebrews 8 Listen: (2:58)
Links for Thursday’s readings:
Read: Daniel 11 Listen: (4:39), Read: Hebrews 9 Listen: (2:58)
Scripture Focus: Daniel 10:15-17
15 While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. 16 Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. 17 How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”
Reflection: Is the Future Rendering Us Speechless?
By Erin Newton
Battles and cosmic warfare! A spiritual delay and enigmatic excuses! This chapter presents more questions than answers. The details of the identity of Michael and what exactly is going on are beyond the space we have here.
Daniel is an apocalyptic text. The word apocalypse has become associated with catastrophic end times. Movies in post-apocalyptic settings are often filled with scenes of cities razed to the ground, nature and agriculture ruined, and sometimes warring factions of people (or in speculative fiction—robots and AI).
Apocalypse within the context of the Bible is similar but not quite the same. The term has a broad use and encompasses biblical texts such as Revelation and books excluded from the Protestant canon such as 1 Enoch. The general concept is that these texts are simply divine “revelations” (a basic definition of the Greek word from which we get our English apocalypse).
Daniel’s visions are revelations from God and apocalyptic in nature. They include imagery that extends beyond the scope of what is easily explained. The creatures and events defy explanation. The future vision looks chaotic. The battles between Michael and princes of Persia and Greece echo this typical apocalyptic imagery.
Despite the “out of this world” imagery depicted here, we see the same tried-and-true reality that speaking truth is scary. The forecasted future—whether the picture is presented to us on social media, the news, or through discernment of the times—needs truth more now than ever.
Daniel saw a vision of a “great war.” Many “great wars” have occurred since this vision. Wars continue to escalate even now. Like Daniel, how do we find the strength to speak? We might find the future (and the present) so foreboding that we are rendered speechless.
Praise God that we do not speak alone. The angelic being touched Daniel and bestowed strength to him. Likewise, we are given strength through the Spirit.
But like Daniel, our fear and our weakness does not excuse us from the call to speak. God did not find another prophet when Daniel was afraid. God did not find another leader when Moses stuttered. God did not find another woman when Esther faced the threat of the king’s rage.
Look at the world around us. What can we do? What can we say? As God places the words on your heart, know that he will give you the strength to utter them.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
I will bear witness that the Lord is righteous; I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. — Psalm 7.18
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more about Hate Conflict? Love Truth
Quelling conflict must never come at the cost of the truth. The person the Lord hates is the villain, not the victim.
Read more about Apocalypse, How?
When we read an “apocalyptic” passage in the Bible, we need to remember that something is being revealed or exposed.