Don’t panic!
Daniel 2.1-23
There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks!
Prepare
Have you ever been in a real, blind panic? Where you see a serious problem yawning open before you like a chasm? How did you react?
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We saw a hint of it yesterday, but today we start to see how powerful, arrogant, and terrifying Nebuchadnezzar was. Suspicious of his magicians, he demanded, ‘If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces’ (v 5).
Picture the scene: if this were a TV show it would open with outright panic in the court – people wailing and running about, wide-eyed astrologers desperately looking for the answer to an impossible question...
And there, quietly working, we see Daniel. He alone did not panic, even when the executioner turned up to put him to death (v 14). How might you have responded?
Is there a situation in your church where, instead of escalating the panic, you could diffuse it by being a ‘non-anxious presence’ like Daniel? Your church leader will thank you for it if you can!
Daniel: 1) stayed calm, 2) discerned the reality, 3) involved his friends, 4) prayed (pleaded!) for mercy, and then 5) praised God – notice, before he knew what the outcome would be. This was Daniel’s way of dealing with panic – what’s yours?
Respond
Bring to mind a situation that makes you panic or feel anxious. How can Daniel’s five steps help you? Who are the friends you can pray with?