How often do you watch the news, read the paper, or listen to the radio, and despair at the state of the world and at how evil seems to win? How often are you annoyed that bad things always seem to happen to good people, or that so-called ‘evil-doers’ seem to get away with everything? Well, you and I are not the first to think like this and we are unlikely to be the last. Even in the Bible, people questioned why those with power or evil intent seemed to succeed.
The overarching theme of Daniel, as with the book of Revelation, is that God is ultimately in charge. Both texts have strange imagery of beasts with horns that do battle. In both cases they most likely represent the nations of this world that rise and fall, conquer, destroy and are ultimately replaced. In both, it is God who wins in the end. In Daniel, “one like a son of man” comes to the Ancient of Days and is given authority over a kingdom that will never end. We, as Christians, believe that this is Jesus, and that the coming kingdom of God will never end.
Whenever we feel that life seems unfair or that the world seems to be getting worse, it can be important to remind ourselves of the overall message of Daniel – that God is ultimately in control, and good will eventually triumph. We need to trust our God. There are many hymns that remind us to trust God, such as ‘When we walk with the Lord’ by John Sammis, with the chorus: “trust and obey, for there’s no other way”.
Gracious God,
it’s easy to trust you in the light,
when all is going well,
when everything is right with the world.
It’s much harder when things seem wrong,
when the world seems dark,
when everything seems to be going wrong.
It’s then that we need your help.
Help us to trust in you
in the good and the bad,
when all is well and when it isn’t.
Help us to trust that ultimately you will win the battle,
that we can trust you always.
Amen
You can download this Prayer for the Week here
Weekly prayers for September written by Revd Claire Rawlinson
Image by Liane Metzler on www.unsplash.com
