No Man Can

There are a lot of fun stories in the book of Daniel. You know, stuff like the classic Daniel in the lion's den, or the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego who went into the fire for God even if God wasn't going to stand for them. (He did.) Some really remarkable prophetic portions and some really remarkable stories.

One of the memorable ones takes place at the beginning of the book. Nebuchadnezzar has some of the young Jewish prisoners around to train them to be good Babylonians -- part of his advisor corps. One night he had a dream that made him crazy, so he called in his top advisors and asked them to tell him the meaning of the dream. "Sure thing," they told him, "as soon as you tell us the dream." "Oh, no," the king responded, "you will tell me both the dream and its meaning." "No one has ever asked for that," they responded, "because no one can do it." So, in all fairness, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that all his advisors and all their families be killed. Well, the four young Jews -- Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego -- didn't panic; they prayed. And God told Daniel the dream and its interpretation. So Daniel went in to tell the king. "Oh, king," Daniel said, "I can tell you the interpretation, but no one can tell you the dream." He went on to say, "However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed ..." (Dan 2:28). The dream was the famous statue with golden head, silver chest, bronze midsection, iron legs, and and feet of clay. And Daniel laid it all out -- dream and interpretation -- for the king.

It's a fun story -- Daniel getting both interpretation and dream -- but the most amazing part of that story to me is Daniel's response to the king who asked, "Can you make known to me the dream ...?" "Don't be silly," he essentially replied. "No man can do that. God did." Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Some take that to mean, "Without Me you can't produce fruit," but I think it's much broader than that. We are, for instance, commanded to "work out your salvation" because "it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do His good pleasure" (Php 2:12-13). So, we work, but only because God is at work. We get up in the morning only because He enables it. We feed and dress and house ourselves only because He is empowering us to do so. Brushing your teeth is an act of God's kindness to you. Scripture says, "From Him and through Him and to Him are all things" (Rom 11:36). All things. Daniel understood that he couldn't do what the king asked, but God did it, and God got the credit (Dan 2:47; cp Matt 5:16) while Daniel got rewarded (Dan 2:46, 48). That's a pretty good model for our lives as well. God should always get the credit. God always gives generously.