Scripture to Read: Daniel 2:1–3
Daniel is about how to live for God in a pagan environment. Daniel and his three friends serve as role models. Daniel 2:1, “Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him.” This was about two years after the events of Daniel 1. Daniel took a stand for God in Daniel 1 as a 15-year-old, and in Daniel 2, God called him to take another stand as a 17-year-old. Now, the Babylonians never counted the first year a king came into power, so this would have officially been the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Nebuchadnezzar was troubled because his dreams came from God. Daniel 2:2–3 says, "Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 The king said to them, “I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.'” We see four groups here: 1) The “magicians.” The way the Aramaic reads it referred to scholars of some sort in Babylonian history and law. 2) The “conjurers” claimed they could contact the dead, but conjurers could also mean astrologers or stargazers. 3) The “sorcerers” were involved in sorcery or spells. 4) The “Chaldeans” were astrologers who believed they could map the future by looking at the patterns of the stars. All were known as wise men. However, true wisdom only comes from God (James 1:5, James 3:17), and God was about to prove it through Daniel.
Challenge & Application
• How do you think you’d do, having to take a stand for our Lord in a pagan environment where you were a slave?
• God gives us wisdom through our Lord Jesus; so, how do you walk in God’s wisdom each day?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!