Humbled

Daniel is full of the Holy Spirit, so he is able to interpret the king's dreams. That's the only reason and Daniel knows it. He leads from a position of humility. It is humbling to read the Bible every day, to check in with God before you make a move.

In blogging Genesis, the number 7 came up a few times (7 years of plenty, 7 years of famine). According to numerology, 7 is the number of completeness, it's every direction/level of the world you can go (north, south, east, west, underworld, world, heavens). That's why 666 is the mark of the beast: the epitome of incompleteness.

King Neb needs to completely give himself and his kingdom over to God. At Faith, we are struggling with this very issue. Do we try to keep the church the way we like it...or give it (and ourselves) completely over to God?

If we really believe that all are welcome (as it says on our sign), all might show up and things would change. Are we ready for that?

"That's why I'm singing and praising the King of Heaven: 'Everything he does is right, and he does it the right way. He knows how to turn a proud person into a humble man or woman.'"

Do that work in us, God. We are your humble servants...or at the very least we'd like to be.

Remember Daniel's advice to the king: "Start living for others. Look after the needs of the down-and-out. Then you will continue to have a good life."

Daily, I need to repent of my selfish ways and turn around and give thanks to God. The quickest way to church from the parsonage involves a U turn, so I am reminded of this truth almost every day.