Get Sick And Tired

“And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” (Da 8:27 AV)

Daniel had just received the vision and interpretation of the Medes and Persians, Alexander the Great and Greece, and the Roman Empire/AntiChrist.  This vision was for the purpose of revealing to Daniel the three remaining kingdoms that would influence and control the land of Palestine.  What is coming in the remaining chapters is details concerning the years prior to the first coming of Christ and just prior to the later coming of Christ.  Its focus will again be the political and military influence over the land of Palestine by the Gentile nations surrounding her.  What is of interest here is Daniel’s reaction to these visions.  His made physically ill.  Not momentarily.  He was sick for several days.  What he saw continued to astonish him for many days.  One wonders why.  If the visions ended with the coming of Christ to set up His kingdom and honor covenants made with Israel, what made him so ill?  If he knows the end from the beginning, why is he moved to such depths?  We can learn a lesson here.

Recently, I have been watching documentary series on different wars.  The first was the American Civil war.  Now I am working my way through the second world war.  I am struck by different emotions that course through my mind and heart.  I am struck with the ridiculousness of war.  I understand the bonds which war creates of those who fight them.  But I often wonder why.  I understand the need to defend one’s self, property, and liberty.  Absolutely.  However, what I am struck with is the evil in which the aggressor will exercise for no other reason than to be aggressive.  In the current series, a Veteran remarks as to the origins of war.  He doesn’t know how or why war starts.  James gives us that answer.  “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” (Ja 4:1)  What struck me even more was a quote from Adolf Hitler himself.  Although I cannot remember the exact quote, he was remarking as to the threat of the United States entering into the war.  He had no respect for us at all.  He saw us as a rag-tag group of amateurs who wouldn’t know how to march, let alone kill.  The remark was a bit more involved than that.  But what really shook me was the callousness of the soul of that man translated into utter destruction for the sake of dominance, control, and thievery.  It truly disturbed my soul.

This is what troubled Daniel so.  The depths of man’s wickedness is hard to behold.  The utter callousness which men can express as they make victims out of other for mere pleasure.  Again, we are seeing this unfold before our eyes.  More and more we see random acts of violence by the most naïve of our nation.  People who should be growing and maturing into productive citizens of our great nation are cruising about for no other reason than to express depraved indifference to others as they beat their victims nearly to death.  If we are unmoved by the condition of our world, then there is no hope.  If we see these images and are not move to a greater depth of compassion to share the only message that can free a man’s soul from the violence which reside within, then there is no hope.  These things must bother us.  They must make us sick.  Sick enough to do something about it.