Yesterday, my husband preached in the stead of a pastor who was out of town.

His message came from Daniel 2-which is quite a familiar passage to most people who have “grown up in church”: King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream which troubled him, but he cannot remember it when he awakes. When none of the wise men of Babylon can give him the answers for which he seeks, the king decrees that ALL the wise men of the land be killed.

All of them.

Daniel and his companions are among these wise men, and this concerns Daniel.

With the upmost confidence Daniel tells the king that he will surely give the king his answer, with time. And then Daniel meets with his 3 closest friends, and they pray.

Something pointed out that I had never truly considered before was that they did not have some discussion about what the answer could be… they did not call on any other people to see if they had any ideas… they did not begin making plans for escape if no answer was found.

They prayed.

They prayed first.  {So important… but not my main point today.}

They had confidence in God to bring glory to Himself.

Did you get that? 

They had confidence in God to bring glory to Himself.  

And this brings me to the crux of what I took away from the message.

Daniel realized that his problem was not what was sitting right in front of him.

Daniel’s problem was NOT the king’s decree to kill him. 

Daniel saw THE Problem.

This problem that is actually THE problem at the crux of all difficulties that come our way.

How can God be glorified through this?

My problem is not that the bathroom needs cleaning.

The problem is that I do not think that the chore can glorify God.

My problem is not that I lost my temper… again.

The problem is that God wants to glorify Himself THROUGH my downfalls... and I don’t always humble myself before Him so that He can.

My problem is not ever that our vehicle does not start or has an issue with its engine.

The problem is ALWAYS: How can THIS bring glory to my God?

My problem is that I am not willing to take my hands OFF and just simply let God…    BE God.

Let me pray. But let me take my hands off the problem as I see it.

And let God.

Let God bring Himself glory.

His workings ALWAYS reveal Himself, bringing glory to Himself.

He is in every situation.

And through every “problem” He is working.