To Read
As they stood before the king, he said, “I have had a dream that deeply troubles me, and I must know what it means.”
“Praise the name of God forever and ever,
for he has all wisdom and power.
He controls the course of world events;
he removes kings and sets up other kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the scholars.
He reveals deep and mysterious things
and knows what lies hidden in darkness,
though he is surrounded by light.
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
for you have given me wisdom and strength.
You have told me what we asked of you
and revealed to us what the king demanded.”
And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart.
(Daniel 2: 2-3, 20-23, 30)
Daniel 2 – Eternity in the Heart
The Bible tells us that God has set eternity in the hearts of men (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Leaving aside, for the moment, the details and specific meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2, we can see it as an indication that even very broken people in the world have a glimpse of eternity in the depths of their heart. This story is therefore about how God used his servant to help a tyrannical world leader understand the sense of the eternal at work in his own heart and mind.
As we live as exiles in the world, there may well be times that we have to speak truth to power (as Daniel and his friends did). But we need not always adopt the posture of the critic toward leaders. Sometimes God wants us to help leaders, and people in general, to understand how their dreams, desires and hopes connect with the greater dream of God’s eternal kingdom. This is what Daniel did, and not only because God had gifted him in this specific way. It was because he had such a high view of the God of heaven on his eternal throne (see vv.20-23). People are messed up and broken and behave badly at times. Nebuchadnezzar is an extreme example of this as he uses his power to threaten all his advisers with death. Hopefully, we will never have to deal with something like that! But we will have opportunities to navigate difficult situations with broken people in this messy world and, in the middle of it all, help them to see how their dreams connect to God’s great dream we call the kingdom of God.
There are many things that we can learn from Daniel that will help position us for this. Most obvious from this chapter is his high view of God’s greatness and sovereignty (which simply means he is working all things together for his purpose). Also, his deep gratitude for all that God gives him, and his humility as he knows that he is only able to do what he does because of the grace of God. He is a fine example to follow.
To Discuss:
- How do you think the dreams that people have – and the way they are expressed in music, art, books and films etc. – reflect eternity in the heart?
- How can we have an honest view of people’s brokenness and yet still see how some of their dreams and desires point to God? How do we talk to people about this?
- Look at the qualities of Daniel mentioned above. How do these qualities help position him to be used in the way he is used? What other qualities do you see in him?
To Do:
Consider who God has placed you near – in your family, neighbourhood, workplace etc. – and how he might want to use you to speak to them about their dreams and desires. Think and pray about how you can help them to understand the dream that God has for them and for our world.
There is a PDF version of this study here.