“As for me, Daniel, my spirit was deeply distressed within me.” —Daniel 7:15
My friend Colleen Chao is battling stage 4 cancer. In an email sent to friends and family after a recent prognosis, she reflected on the book of Daniel: “I’m so grateful that a mighty man of God like Daniel” could be “wrecked by bad news, even while fully convinced of God’s abundant compassion.”
This was the heart of the matter for Daniel. And it’s the heart of the matter for anyone whose life is enveloped in the certainty that Heaven rules.
Life on this earth will always be a battle, and we humans will always be vulnerable to the pain of fighting it. But being wrecked by the battle is not the same as losing it.
We are ruled too well and loved too much to ever believe we’re alone in our pain. And let’s not forget that whatever “wrecking” we experience in the here and now isn’t the end, that it won’t last forever. We’re helped to endure this present pain with the assurance that all that is now wrecked will one day be redeemed.
------------------
Heaven Rules: Take courage. Take comfort. Our God is in control. ©2022 Revived Hearts Foundation
Scripture taken from The CSB
Make it Personal
What might it look like to be “wrecked by bad news” while still “fully convinced of God’s abundant compassion”?