Daniel’s Prayers
35
Scriptures or to wrestle with God in prayer for a clearer understanding
of Bible truth, know not what true sanctification is.
Daniel talked with God. Heaven was opened before him. But the
high honors granted him were the result of humiliation and earnest
seeking. All who believe with the heart the word of God will hunger
and thirst for a knowledge of His will. God is the author of truth. He
enlightens the darkened understanding and gives to the human mind
power to grasp and comprehend the truths which He has revealed.
Seeking Wisdom From God
Upon the occasion just described, the angel Gabriel imparted to
Daniel all the instruction which he was then able to receive. A few
years afterward, however, the prophet desired to learn more of subjects
not yet fully explained, and again set himself to seek light and wisdom
from God. “In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth,
neither did I anoint myself at all.... Then I lifted up mine eyes, and
looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were
girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the beryl, and
his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire,
and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice
of his words like the voice of a multitude” (
Daniel 10:2-6
).
This description is similar to that given by John when Christ was
revealed to him upon the Isle of Patmos. No less a personage than
[50]
the Son of God appeared to Daniel. Our Lord comes with another
heavenly messenger to teach Daniel what would take place in the latter
days.
The great truths revealed by the world’s Redeemer are for those
who search for truth as for hid treasures. Daniel was an aged man. His
life had been passed amid the fascinations of a heathen court, his mind
cumbered with the affairs of a great empire. Yet he turns aside from
all these to afflict his soul before God, and seek a knowledge of the
purposes of the Most High. And in response to his supplications, light
from the heavenly courts was communicated for those who should live
in the latter days. With what earnestness, then, should we seek God,
that He may open our understanding to comprehend the truths brought
to us from heaven.