Stress

This week at church, I heard a really helpful message about dealing with change. Right now, we're going through a series called 'Everything Changes' and this week, we looked at Daniel chapter 2. In this chapter, we join Daniel and his friends, who are Hebrew nobles that are being held captive in Babylon and trained to be 'wise men'. Now, the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, has had a dream. He asks his wise men to tell him what his dream was and to interpret it for him or else they will be torn limb from limb and have their houses turned to rubble.

 The wisemen aren't very good at dealing with this stressful situation. First, they didn't really accept the situation they were in— they retorted with excuses and asked the King to tell them his dream in order for them to interpret it. Then, the wise men confronted the King in fear, claiming that noone could rad his mind and tell him his dream! Thirdly, they denied the existence of a God who could help them. They exclaimed that only the (Babylonian) gods could tell the King his dream, and they didn't live among men. Finally, they gave up and resigned themselves to death.

Now being trained as 'wise men' in Babylon, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are also sentenced to death. However, Daniel deals with this stressful situation very differently from his colleagues. First, he understood and accepted the situation. Then, he confronted the King not in fear, but with faith that God would help him out. Thirdly, Daniel went back to his rooms and shared the problem with his friends, asking them for prayer and support. He and his friends sought God together, asking for God's intervention, trusting in Him and asking for God's will to be done and not their own. Next, Daniel heard from God; he saw a vision revealing Nebuchadnezzar's dream and it's meaning. Finally, Daniel praised God. It is important to know here that God is worthy of praise in good times and in bad. I have no idea why I come up against some challenges, but I know there's a reason for everything.

The speaker mentioned a worship song that captures this idea of worshiping God in all circumstances, called 'Blessed be your Name'. Some of the lyrics go like this:

'Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name'  

Having recently been through a pretty stressful situation of my own, I have found how easy it is to forget God and focus on my own predicament. But having come through that challenge, I am thankful that it happened. Although my situation isn't really improved because of it, I can see that God is with me, helping me to understand my challenges.

Anyway, just some food for thought.