"DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT!"

Daniel 8:24-27                              (ESV)
"24 His power shall be great-but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints.
25 BY HIS CUNNING HE SHALL MAKE DECEIT PROSPER UNDER HIS HAND, AND IN HIS MIND HE SHALL BECOME GREAT.  WITHOUT WARNING HE SHALL DESTROY MANY. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken-but by no human hand.
26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up and the vision, FOR IT REFERS TO MANY DAYS FROM NOW."
27 And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and "DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT"."



Like a few of us today, Daniel was a child of GOD who was blessed by obeying whatever he was commanded to do by the LORD.  Daniel was not perfect, but he communed with the LORD with his life, and his Spirit was troubled when he could not grip what he was being told.  Most of us remember that Daniel was even cast into the lions den for refusing to pray to the King at that time.  But Daniel wasn't just obedient in the face of being sentenced to the lions den, he remained obedient even when he "DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT"!

Daniel was born about 600-625 BC, over 2,500 years ago.  He had the dream written about in the scriptures above, and even had the Angel Gabriel interpret it for him (Daniel 8:16)!  However, Daniel could make no sense out of the dream, even with Gabriel interpreting it.  And that delay in interpretation may be better understood when we read in verse 26 that "IT REFERS TO MANY DAYS FROM NOW".  Could MANY DAYS from now be upon us?  Could the DECEIT that makes people prosper be at hand.  Does the portion of the verse that says "AND IN HIS MIND HE SHALL BECOME GREAT.  WITHOUT WARNING HE SHALL DESTROY MANY" sound familiar?

The same GOD WHO gave the vision to Daniel still speaks today.  Could it be the MANY DAYS FROM NOW is upon us and the deceit from the PRINCE OF THIS WORLD has become so rampant and vicious that some cannot believe it.  Maybe HE is telling us that UNLESS we SLOW DOWN, and know that HE is GOD, we will continue being taken advantage of by the devil and his minions?  It could be that we are in the last of the LAST DAYS, and like water going down a drain, the vortex will take much of us with it?

In Daniel 8:25 it says "His power shall be great-but not by his own power;".  Might it be that mankind has become so caught up with the busyness of "this world" that GOD has withdrawn enough of HIS protection from us that we are experiencing a glimpse of what life without HIM will be like?  When the HOLY BIBLE continually tells us to "trust in the LORD", it isn't just a suggestion to keep us under HIS thumb, rather a loving GOD WHO desires to protect us even when we "DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT"!!!