Give God the Glory

by Ron Hamilton, Conference Minister

Recent messages in church from the Book of Daniel have led me to go back and reread the book. In reading Daniel 2, I came across Daniel’s response when God revealed to him the meaning of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;

wisdom and power are his.

He changes times and seasons;

he deposes kings and raises up others.

He gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what lies in darkness,

and light dwells with him.

I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:

You have given me wisdom and power,

you have made known to me what we asked of you,

you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

These verses remind me of Daniel’s humble response to God’s work in His life. We know from the scripture that Daniel was young, handsome, smart and well-informed. He was capable on many fronts and must have been tempted to be proud. But the key to his successful role in God’s kingdom work was his humility. He was about to gain favor with the king by interpreting the dream. But before all of that, he praised God and thanked Him for His faithful work in his life.

The leadership of our Conference has been active in seeking God’s will and way for our fellowship in the coming days. We are excited that God has revealed His will to us clearly, and we are working to articulate this to all of you. We are about to introduce a new focus on pastoral development that will impact our churches and their communities in ways that go beyond what we can ask or imagine. I feel a bit like Daniel. Mysteries of God’s will have been revealed to us, and we are fully committed to moving forward with these plans.

The teaching of Daniel 2 reminds us never to get ahead of God and take ownership of things that are not ours. Let us humbly praise God for His work in our lives, our churches, and our Conference and devote ourselves to continually and humbly praising Him as we carry out His work.