If you have ever prayed for something and never saw any results, if you have prayed for miracles that have never happened, or for help that has yet to come, you are not alone. We have all been in those situations and many of us are there right now. This week I have been praying for a situation that personally has just kind of broken my heart and the truth is that I will never fully know the result of that prayer. If this is where you are today, then I hope you will hear something that will give you hope and encouragement. We are in a series called STAND and today we are going to look at how Daniel was able to stand in faith when he didn’t see God moving.
Daniel is now in his 80’s which means that for over 6 decades Daniel had been living in exile. He was forced out of Israel as a teenager when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, and he had risen to power and leadership under the Babylonians and now the Persians. We have seen how Daniel stood out to follow God, how he stood up for what was right and how he stood strong when people tried to tear him down. For more than 60 years, Daniel has been praying for one thing - the restoration of Israel.
For decades, Daniel prayed for the deliverance of his people, and it had not happened. He prayed that he and his people would be able to return to the land of Israel, and it had not happened. He prayed for the restoration of the Temple and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and it did not happen. While God honored and blessed Daniel in so many ways, his prayers and dreams had not been fulfilled and it was in a vision that Daniel was being asked by God to now Stand In Faith.
When Daniel prayed for his people, all he saw was ongoing conflict and destruction so he decided to fast and pray for 21 days. Once again he knelt in prayer in order to stand strong, and at the end of those 3 weeks, Daniel had a vision of a heavenly being that was so full of God’s glory that it drove him to his face.
I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Daniel 10:7-11
There are two things we see happening here that helps Daniel stand up and these are the same things that can help us stand in faith when we think God is not listening or acting. The first is that a hand reached out and touched Daniel. A hand reached out to Daniel in his prayer to remind him he was not alone. When we are struggling to make sense out of what God is doing, or what we think God is not doing, God’s hand reaches out to us. We may not see it, we may not feel it like Daniel did, but God’s hand is always reaching out to us - and God is reminding us we are not alone. God’s hand is offering us strength, grace, peace, and power. Whenever we feel that God is not working or that God is not present, we need to know that His hand is reaching out to us.
The second thing we see is why God’s hand was reaching out to Daniel, it was because God loved him. The messenger said that Daniel was highly esteemed by God. He was loved by God. What helps us stand in faith is knowing beyond any doubt that God loves us. God loves us more than we can possibly imagine. God’s love reaches out to us when we are in need, and God’s voice tells us we are loved if we will take the time to listen. Experiencing the love of God’s hand and hearing affirmation from God’s word helps us stand in faith when we are uncertain and filled with doubts.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible says the same thing. One of the reasons I love this passage is because at a point in my own life when I felt like everything was lost, God reached out to me, and a few weeks later I came upon these words of affirmation. As I read them, it was the first time the Bible was not a collection of ancient words, these were now my words. This was my story, it was my heart, and from that moment on I read and heard scripture differently. Psalm 18:1-19
I love the images here. We cry out to God and God hears us. Our cry is not only heard but it moves the heart of God so much that He reaches out and lifts us up out of deep waters. God’s hand and love moves us to a safe place. God doesn't do this because we deserve it, or because we have been good, but because God delights in us. He loves us. This doesn’t mean everything we pray for will happen the way we want it to and at the time we want it to. It doesn’t mean all our problems will be solved by the end of our time in worship, or by the end of the week, or the end of the year. It just means we can stand in faith because we are not standing alone, we are standing with one who comes to be with us and to love us.
Daniel stood in faith because he knew that God was with him and that God loved him, but he heard something else that helped him keep standing in faith. Daniel 10:12
Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”
Let’s set aside our questions about this prince of Persia and the spiritual battle that is talked about and focus on what the messenger said first. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.
The first day Daniel prayed for his people, God heard him. That could mean 21 days earlier, but it could also mean 60 years earlier, but the first time he prayed - God heard him. If you have been praying for a long time and are not seeing any results, or if you are wondering if God hears you, or if God cares about you and your situation, then hear this: God heard you the first time you prayed.
God heard you the first time you prayed for healing. God heard you the first time you prayed for a job, or for a relationship to be healed, for our nation to be healed. God heard you the first time you prayed for your children, or the children of our world. God hears us the first time we pray and while this doesn’t mean we stop praying (perseverance in prayer is important), we can’t question whether or not God hears us. He does.
Once again, Psalm 18 says that God hears our cry from his temple and He comes to save us. The process of salvation, the work that God might need to do to resolve the situation and deliver us might take some time, but God heard us the first time we prayed.
This vision of Daniel’s tells us that God reaches out to us because He loves us, and that He not only hears our prayer but that He is working for our good even if we see nothing happening. If you think about it, God’s hand often has to be at work behind the scenes before we see anything change. Have you ever gotten a note, phone call, or gift at just the right moment? Well, God had to be moving in those people days or weeks beforehand to plant the idea and work out the details.
In the life of the church there have been many moments when God came through for us at just the right time, but that was only because He had been moving months or years in advance. One area where we have all been able to see this is in our current live streaming of worship. A few years ago we upgraded all our lights and audio which has helped the look of our services, and then at the end of 2019 we hired Justin Maddox to be our technical director. We had no idea what 2020 was bringing us, but God did, so when we needed help a year ago, we already had in place what we needed. Just because we don’t see God moving doesn’t mean God is not at work. God is doing more than we can see or understand which means we can stand in faith..
The final thing we see from Daniel is that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. Daniel 10:15-19
While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. 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. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”
Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. “Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.”
When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.”
Daniel is at the end of his own strength. He has nothing left, even his breath is gone, and it is only then that the messenger says, Now be strong. None of us like getting to the place where we come to the end of our own strength, but many times that is the only place where we begin to experience God’s strength. Too often we want to be in control and we want to be able to rely upon ourselves alone, but there are times we can only stand in faith when faith is all we have left to stand on. As long as we are standing in our own wisdom, or our own cleverness, or our own understanding and ability, we aren’t really standing in faith. When we stand in our own strength we aren’t drawing upon the strength of God.
Getting to a place of true weakness is not comfortable and so we fight, but instead of fighting it we need to embrace it, and we embrace it through humility. That’s what Daniel was doing when he had the vision, he was humbling himself and seeking God’s power and strength in prayer. Humility in prayer is needed if we are going to hear God’s voice and see God’s hand at work. Fasting and prayer is one way we can stand in faith saying that we are not going to trust our own power but God’s power.
A simple children’s song makes this point for us. In Jesus loves me it says, we are weak, but He is strong. It doesn’t say when we are weak God will make us strong, it says that in our weakness God is there to be our strength. Instead of running away from weakness there are times we need to run toward it and humble ourselves trusting that God will meet us there and be our strength.
When we don’t see God, when we don’t hear God’s voice, when we question God’s actions or inactions, we can stand in faith because:
● God’s hand is reaching out to us.
● God loves us more than we know.
● God is doing more right now than we understand
● In our weakness, God is strong
Keep standing in faith.
Next Steps
Stand In Faith
When have you experienced God reaching out to you? How did that help you and the situation you were in?
When have you prayed for something and God answered quickly? When have you prayed and it seemed like God didn’t answer at all?
What are you praying for now and not sensing God’s presence or power?
Read Daniel 10.
What had Daniel been praying for during his life? How does this vision help Daniel stand (and pray) in faith?
Which of the following can help you stand in faith?
● God is reaching out to me.
● God loves me more than I can imagine
● God is doing more than I can see or understand
● God’s strength is made perfect in My weakness
Read Psalm 18. How do we see these same principles at work in this psalm?
How will you pray differently this week knowing that God loves you and is actively working in your life?
What does humility look like in your relationship with God?
