I'm on God's Time

Daniel 2:1–3 (NIV)

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep.

So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king,

he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.”

Introduction

Church, I have a confession to make… I don’t like driving in a caravan.

I know, some of you love going on road trips and getting into vans with groups of people and with several cars in tow, but I do not like it, and I borderline HATE IT.

Last Friday, I was reminded of that.

I went on a leadership retreat and headed to the retreat I went down solo, with no restraint and we made it to the camp site without issue. On the way home they insisted that we drive in a caravan and the whole way home I was slowly dying inside. I know, it’s the weirdest thing, but I am trying to be open and transparent with my church, because clearly I have issues.

If I think about the reason for that, I believe it is because I view time as something that is very precious. I don’t like to waste time. When I am in the proverbial drivers seat of my time I am most content. When I have surrendered my control over time, it’s a slow death for me.

Why am I so dramatic about time? I cannot tell you why!

Because truthfully, I am never in control of time. Time cannot be controlled and my perception of being in control is just a farce that I am in control of time.

But I know who is in control in time. REPEAT.

And in this story I want to show you something pretty amazing, and how it relates to how we treat time, and how our families can treat time as well.

Text

When we pick up with Daniel, and as we read in Daniel 2, we have an interesting situation going on. King Nebuchadnezzer is having crazy dreams and he needs an answer to his dreams. He asks his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers to come and help him interpret the dream. The only condition was this - he was not going to tell them the dream. They needed to tap into their sorcery, determine first what the dream was, and then tell the King the dream followed by the meaning. And if they could not do it, he was going to kill them all and all of their families and he was going to burn their houses down.

Talk about pressure.

Just so you know that I am not making this stuff up, let’s read it together.

Daniel 2:5 (NIV)

The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble.

So the sorcerers went back to their homes, temples or wherever it is that sorcerers go, and they try first determine what the dream was, and follow that up by interpreting the meaning of the dream. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do it. So they come back to the King once more and ask, “Can you pretty please tell us what the dream was, AND THEN we will interpret it?”

Daniel 2:12–13 (NIV)

This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.

Daniel is in Trouble

Somebody say Daniel is in trouble.

Let’s catch up with Daniel and see how this goes for him...

Daniel 2:14–16 (NIV)

When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.

He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel.

At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.

Church, you’ve got to understand the weight of this situation.

The King is already done with the wise men, the sorcerers, the astrologers, and the magicians because he felt like they were stalling. He was already in literal kill mode.

And do you want to know what Daniel’s response was?

I need more time.

Say that with me… say I need more time.

Once again Daniel sees the pace at which the King is moving and he refuses to move at the pace of the King.

Here’s the application that I need for you to get from this, God’s pace is not this world’s pace.

The more that I have studied the life of Jesus I have come to realize this truth, Jesus was always busy, but he was never in a hurry.

There is a pace that culture is moving in and it robs people of the quiet and the stillness that we were created for.

We live in a microwave, Doordash, Instacart, Amazon Prime, get it when I need it society, and for all of the benefits that it has, it also robs us of this one thing that is a fruit of the spirit, and it is called PATIENCE.

Let me talk to everyone in the tent this morning when I say this, if you do not take control of the pace of your life, the pace of life will take control of you.

If you have not figured out how to slow down the pace of your life you will find yourself making decisions on empty.

Have you all heard that analogy that you shouldn’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry? Why? Because you’ll make irrational decisions and make unnecessary purchases.

Now that’s funny, but it’s true.

The same way it is in life - we should not make important decisions when we are on empty because we have allowed this world to hurry our life.

Now, let me talk to the parents in the room for a minute...

You need to program some margin into your family calendar so that you aren’t running your family ragged… and then wonder why there’s no peace in your home.

There needs to be margin… everyone say margin…

Margin can be created by pulling away from too many commitments, setting some guard rails for your time as a family, and then being really intentional about your time.

Are you tracking with me Dad & Mom?

You set the pace of your home, and you teach your children the importance of rest, the importance of sabbath and the importance of just being.

Pastor Josh, did you really get all that from Daniel’s request?

I did.

And do you know why I see that in this story? Because I see it throughout the Bible.

Here’s what Daniel did after that request…

Daniel’s 3 P’s...

Here’s what Daniel did with his time, that I think that there’s so much application for each of us as well.

He’s faced with a big challenge, and right after he decides that he’s going to move at a slower pace, he does the following.

Daniel 2:17 (NIV)

Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

Daniel went and found his people.

You need people in your life.

You need people in your life that are headed in the same direction as you. People that when you are facing a difficult situation are going to pray with you, believe with you, and hope with you.

I think the enemy struggles to pick off people who run in packs. When you run in a pack, you’ve got people who are looking after you and want the best for you.

You’ve got people who aren’t going to let you get far from where they know God has called you.

You need people!

Daniel 2:18 (NIV)

He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

You need prayer in your life.

Once Daniel got together with his friends, he let them know what he needed was for all of them to flood heaven with prayer. They were going to plead with God for their friends.

Church, when you are up against a life or death situation, you don’t need good thoughts and good vibes. You need people who know how to pray. You need an intercessor in your life that will flood heaven and cry together with you. You need people who have a prayer language that can begin to pray with words, and in the spirit.

How of you know what I am talking about?

Some of your situations don’t need popcorn prayer and a message of hope. But you need to get into your prayer closet, shut the door, and the God who hears in private is going to answer you in public.

Are you with me?

I remember sometimes getting to upset with what I was seeing that I didn’t just get to my prayer closet and have a talk with God, but I also had some words with the devil. I began to call out his tricks and rebuke them. I called out his lies and I rebuked them. I quoted scriptures not for my benefit, but to remind the devil that the Lord rebukes him in his word, and I’m going to rebuke him here on earth.

I recently heard this on a show, the best way to keep your sword sharp is to use it.

We read in the scriptures that the word of God is our sword, and if you are going to keep your sword sharp you have to use your sword. So you better start reading, memorizing and quoting the scriptures. When the enemy comes to mess with you we use our sword by quoting scriptures to the enemy.

Here’s the last thing that we see the Daniel did...

Daniel 2:19 (NIV)

During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven

You need praise in your life.

Praise isn’t just songs we sing in church, but it is the posture of our heart.

Praise is what we do when we’ve surrendered our requests to God.

Praise is what we do when we trust that He is going to answer according to his will.

Praise is what we do, even when things don’t go our way.

Praise isn’t a response for what he does, as much as it is a response for who He is.

Dad & Mom, teach your children how to praise!

When you are standing on the mountains of life, teach your children to praise.

When you are in the valley, teach your children how to praise.

When things go your way, teach your children to praise.

When things don’t go your way, teach your children to praise.

Here is what I love about what we read… Daniel hasn’t even had the chance to talk to King Nebuchadnezzer and confirm that his download was correct. He didn’t have the chance to verify. But he didn’t need to either. He praise God in advance for what he believed God was going to do.

Conclusion

Daniel had the right pace, he had the right people, he leaned into prayer, and he had a praise.

Pace, people, prayer and praise.

Can you imagine parents if we handed these down to our children, and we taught them the importance of each of these?

How do we hand these down? You live it.

Teach your children these things by abiding in these things.

Pace, people, prayer and praise.

Pace, people, prayer and praise.

Pace, people, prayer and praise.

When Daniel put these things into practice, he made God known to the King.

Daniel 2:47 (NIV)

The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

Our lives should be telling a story that we aren’t like everyone else. Our lives aren’t like everyone else. Our pace is different. We have a different flow to our lives, and it should be attractive. It should make people want to lean in to what we are doing, even when it goes against the pace of our world.