Day 576 - January 12 - Daniel 10

The thought of writing on this subject originally came to me over a year ago, and the fact that the first title of this post was "Day 179" and was saved on December 10, 2008, tells you that it's been fermenting in my brain for a bit! I've come back to it now and again, but it never gelled the right way. So, having been referred to the passage again this week, I'm trying again...

Waiting. It seems we do a lot of that right now. It seems that's all we do; day in, day out, no matter the routine, we wait. I guess it's not entirely true - waiting isn't all we do. We also doubt, and pray, and cry, and question, and wonder where God is, and hope, and console each other, and try to be encouraged, and - well, you get the idea. It's been 576 days since our cry first went up to God for Connor's healing, and here we are, waiting.

Some people say that we should just accept our fate and deal with it. Their implication is that Connor will never be well again until Jesus returns.

Other people say that they personally are convinced by God - that they know - that they're going to see Connor walk, and run, and leap, again in this lifetime.

And in the middle of it is me, who has not been given any certainty about it, either way. It seems that I'm to be given the task of trusting God's word about this for an indefinable period of time. A period of time that, I can tell you, is a minimum of 576 days long, and which (if I believe the first group) will stretch months and years into the future, or (if I believe the second group) can end today.

Now, I can't explain any of God's reasons for working this work. All I know is that it's a good plan, since according to Psalm 25:10, "All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness". So what does it mean that we continue to wait?

Well, I'm convinced that God has some special purpose for Connor for which this time and situation are critical. I'm also convinced that His plan meets with disapproval from a certain common enemy, if you get my drift. Allow me to tell you a story -

Back in the day, the prophet Daniel was mourning, fasting and praying for three weeks. This story is told in Daniel 10, BTW. At the end of those three weeks, he was taking a walk by the Tigris river when a vision came on him (interestingly, the vision didn't appear to the people with Daniel - they were filled with a sense of dread and ran away, so they didn't see it). In the vision, an angel appeared to Daniel and said a very interesting thing. In Daniel 10:12-14, the angel tells Daniel that from the first day he began to pray, God heard him, and sent this angel to Daniel. But then he tells Daniel that he (the angel) was delayed by "the princes of Persia" for 21 days, until Michael the archangel came along and cleared the way for this other angel to make it to Daniel to convey his message.

So, if I've got this straight...

1 - Daniel starts praying and fasting.
2 - God hears Daniel's prayers immediately.
3 - God immediately dispatches an angel to take a message to Daniel in response to his prayer.
4 - A spiritual delaying tactic is employed against the angel by "the princes of Persia", which I take it means satanic forces in this context.
5 - After 21 days, the archangel Michael show up to help get the messenger past the enemy and to his objective.
6 - The angelic messenger arrives and delivers his message.

So, two things - first, there are greater things going on around us than we can see, sense, or even imagine. And second, what was Daniel thinking on day 20? Was he wondering if God even heard him? Was he oh-so-patiently waiting for God's response? Did he doubt how effective his prayer and fasting was?

I don't know. I know I've thought all those things, and more, over the last 576 days. But it turned out that God not only heard on Day 1, He answered on Day 1. Daniel was just waiting to see something that had already happened. He was waiting to receive a gift that had already been given. He was trusting that he had received a word from God 21 days ago.

Which reminds me of a different passage -

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you've received it, and it will be yours."
- Jesus, Mark 11:24.

Keep believing. Keep praying. He WILL answer.

E.

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