TRUST AND OBEY THERE IS NO OTHER WAY
Daniel 2:34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. (44-47) In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands - a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
For those people that say the Bible is just a book written by men and has no real significance, I would point them to this prophecy. This prophecy that God gave Nebuchadnezzar and was interpreted by Daniel has to be one of the greatest undeniable standards for the inspiration of God’s word. This prophecy not just told of the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar's empire, but that there would be three great empires that would follow with each increasing from the previous one. These would come about hundreds of years following the great Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar’s. These four empires would be the Babylonian, Medes and Persians, Greeks and the Roman empires. It even pointed out that the last empire (Roman) would be made up of two parts with one being weaker. The split occurred with the Ottoman Empire breaking off of the Roman Empire. As incredible as all of this is was the rock that was not man made came and destroyed the preceding empires. This kingdom would never be destroyed and would endure forever! This rock was of course Jesus Christ. Christianity not only changed the Roman empire, but also the Ottoman empire as well. To this day neither empire exists. While other people have tried to set up their own empires none lasted forever as Jesus’ kingdom.
Kings Nebuchadnezzar was right when he said, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.” The truth regarding the trustworthiness of is undeniable at least for those that want to believe. There will always be people that will call white black and black white, but that doesn’t change the reality of the truth. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t have the privilege of looking back in time to see how his dream would be so accurate, but he believed and trusted in what Daniel told him. Just as Romans 2:3 tells us, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteous,” I believe Nebuchadnezzar's believe and trust in what Daniel told him and was credited as righteousness.
Doubt will rob us of faith. There is nothing wrong to test the spirits as I John 4:1 tells us, but once tested to see if what is said lines up with the rest of the Bible and the nature of God, we should stop doubting and believe just like Nebuchadnezzar. We can never please God by doubting him. This is one of the reasons why he gave us prophecy. God wants to help us to believe and in giving us prophecy he has given us good reason. Our hope is not based on wishful thinking, but rather the trustworthiness of God and his word.
Are you struggling to trust in God’s word? Well, until you make up you mind that the Bible is worthy to be trusted in, you will never have faith to put what it says into action in your life. Until you do trust in God’s word you will never be able to receive God’s blessing from it. God has given us plenty of reason to believe and trust in his word. Weather or not we do trust in in it is strictly up to us. Nebuchadnezzar could not have believed probably easier than to believe what Daniel told him, yet he believed. Are you going to let go of your doubts today, and start trusting in God’s word to be your standard for allowing God to direct your life? If you don’t trust what God has to tell us, you will trust in something else. What makes you think that it has better credentials than the geat fulfilled prophecies in the Bible? Sometimes it is as simple as the old song tells us, “Trust and obey, there is no other way!”
Prayer: Holy Spirit, please help us to trust and obey what you have given us in the Bible. Please help us to have a correct belief and the faith to put it into action for our lives. Thank you Lord. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
