Daniel 12:9-13 – “Go your way”
Recently I read about a man who had watched a disturbing horror movie almost a year earlier and had been struggling ever since. He (barely) slept with the light on and even within his own house he was tormented by the notion of danger around every corner. Other than “don’t watch scary films”, I have little advice to give. Yet if ever there was a man who had a right to curl into a ball, it was probably Daniel. How can he keep functioning when he has seen and heard the things he has? How can he go back to everyday life when he has witnessed the horrors of things to come?
One of the reasons I find this final chapter so encouraging is because of the simple command that Christ gives his faithful servant. In both v9 and v13, the instruction is clear: “Go your way”.
Daniel is not to curl up into a ball – he is to “go his way”. He is, simply, to get on with it. Yet the command is also a liberating one; Daniel is not to fret about taking the battle to the antichrist or to anguish over how he can change the course of history. He is simply to get on with what he’s been doing for over 70 years – he’s to put one foot in front of the other in faith.
In some ways, this is an anticlimax. We might expect Daniel to conclude with a stirring call to arms or a command to live in a revolutionary way. But it doesn’t. Christ simply calls us to plod along in faithfulness to him.
As we’ll see over the next few days, Christ gives us reasons to keep on “going our way”. But for now, let us consider the challenge. Christ could say this to Daniel because Daniel had been living faithfully already. Am I doing the same? Do I need to simply keep “going my way” or do I need the Spirit’s help to change the direction of my life?
Questions
- If I was to keep on “going my way”, where would my life end up?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks for faithful believers who have been plodding along in faithfulness to Christ for many years.
- Pray that God would help you to stick with this simple command.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.