When I went to Bible study last night, I certainly was not expecting to find something from the apocalyptic writings of Daniel that would be relevant to my everyday life. And yet there were a couple of things that stood out to me in a very real way. First, in Daniel 11:35
Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end…
The hardships that we endure, the efforts with which we work so hard to accomplish something meaningful that flops in our face, the mistakes we make when in moments of weakness we rely on ourselves rather than on God, all these and more are a refining… a purification that is preparing us for something greater yet to come. Tying that in with what I see as the second great point of the lesson from chapter 12:11
Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
Those who are wise will understand. I’m reading a book by Phillip Yancey called Rumors in which he discusses the great advances scientists have made in learning more about the vastness of the universe, solar galaxies, black holes, etc, as well as the opposite end of the spectrum with research on DNA, molecules, atoms, neutrons, and genetics. It seems that no matter how far our technology takes us it always leads to a greater quest for understanding how such complexity and preciseness came to exist. And none of this begins to explain how we experience love, compassion, or joy. Our understanding of our physical world points to “rumors” of a seemingly unseen spiritual world. This spiritual world possesses powers that few have come to understand. But those who are truly wise will understand.
1 comments:
The passages you referenced reminds me of Jesus' statement at the end of John 9 -- the blind will see and those who see will be made blind.
To me, it speaks of a deep-seated humility that compels us to keep yearning for God to work within us.
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