But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.” – Daniel 2:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 8, 2014): Daniel 2

Nostradamus was born in December 1503 in France. He is probably the best known of the secular prophets. His prophecies, broken down into a series of quatrains, were published in three installments between 1555 and 1558. As was common for the day, no two editions of the prophecies were identical. Some have tried to describe the differences as a prophetic emphases, but there is no indication that this is true. Nostradamus is thought by believers to have accurately predicted many of the events that have happened since the time of the writing of the prophecies until the present day. Supporters maintain that Nostradamus correctly predicted the Great Fire of London, the rise of Adolph Hitler, and the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.   

But the thing about prophecy, any prophecy including the secular prophecies of Nostradamus, is that the prophecies always make more sense in reverse. After the events have already happened we can recognize patterns in the unexpected waves of time. But this is not really what readers of prophecies want. What they desire is predict the future, but even biblical prophecies seldom do that. A case in point would be the birth, life, and death of Jesus. While Jesus, the Messiah or Christ, is predicted throughout the Old Testament, and while Jesus fulfills that prophecy very well, no one really believed that the prophecies of the Christ would really turn out the way that they did. We see the Messianic prophecies much clearer looking back then the people would have seen them before the events had happened. And sometimes, while a prediction may seem to be accurate, critics will always question whether or not the correct prediction is any more than mere coincidence.

It would seem that Nebuchadnezzar was critic when it came to the subject of prophecy. So as Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that he needs interpreted, he fears that once his wise men know the dream that they will just make up the prophecy. He actively questions how he could trust a prophecy given in that manner. And so he comes up with a plan. If the wise men could tell him the dream, as well as tell him what the dream meant, maybe then he could trust the prophecy. So that is exactly what he does.

This was a new idea. It would seem that this was not the usual request of a king in regard to the interpretations of their dream. And the reality was that the request was impossible – and Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men knew that. But the presentation of an impossible situation left an opening for God. And God was ready to move through that opening.

God still moves in the impossible. If we will just trust him – and give him a chance to move.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Daniel 3