He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end.” – Daniel 12:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 8, 2017): Daniel 12

Probably one of the most common questions that we get asked is the simple – what time is it. So much of our lives revolve around the message we read in the hands of a clock. We govern when we get up and when we go to bed according to time. We watch T.V. according to the time. I know what time my favorite T.V. shows air where I live, and I make decisions according to that knowledge. We are governed by time. There is even a website (deathclock.com) that will tell you the day that you will die. (Just so you know – my death will occur on March 11, 2034, so keep that week clear.) It is all about time.

Daniel has received a vision that concerns what is going to happen, and the question that he wants to ask at the end is this, when does all this happen? What time is it? And he receives a few different answers – but probably the most helpful response (the one that makes the most sense) is found in this verse. Daniel, do what it is that you need to do. Go on and lead your life the way that you have always led it. You have been given a glimpse of the end – but that shouldn’t change what you are doing.

Of course, knowing what is coming does change us in the present. We begin to subconsciously watch for the circumstances that match what it is that we think that we know is coming. What is harder is to live your life with the same sense of expectation that you have always had in spite of the vision that you have seen. Know that your life has meaning – but leave the details in the hands of God.

Part of the depression about time is that we despair that our lives will pass without us having made a difference. Daniel had lived his whole life in exile, and he had always dreamed of the day when maybe he would return home. But that day never arrived. But God wanted to stress to Daniel that even though his circumstances weren’t the dream that he might have desired – his life still meant something.

I don’t know what is coming – but I want you to know that your life still has meaning.  And when time comes to an end – we will stand beside Daniel and worship the God that gave our lives meaning. (And maybe we will even get to hear Daniel say – ah, so that is what you meant by that vision.)

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezra 1 & 2