Red ISTOCK.COM/ECOPIC
By Ray Tetz
I
t’s not likely that reading the book of Jeremiah
In the first year of Belshazzar’s reign: “I, Daniel, was
would be something one would recommend for
troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through
a person confronting a discouraging realization
my mind disturbed me” (Daniel 7:15, NIV).
about life and a crisis of faith. But that’s exactly
In the third year of Belshazzar: “I, Daniel, was
what the ancient prophet Daniel did. The result was
worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then
nothing short of miraculous.
I got up and went about the king’s business.
Daniel was enslaved and in service to the imperial authority from his late adolescence through the end of his life. The book of Daniel takes us through his life,
I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding” (Daniel 8:27, NIV). From these verses, we can see that Daniel is
episode by thrilling episode. By the time he prays his
deeply troubled by what he has seen in his life. He is
prayer in chapter 9, he is well into his eighties. Earlier
exhausted by it. But despite this, he trudges back to
chapters give us some disquieting insights into the
work to serve the king. He keeps going—he is, after
way his life of enforced service to a conquering power
all, the man who stared down lions. He does what he
impacted his frame of mind.
is required to do, but he is not at peace.
8 Pacific Union Recorder
