Give God the Credit So People Look to Him
By Rick Warren
“There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can reveal the king’s secret. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed” (Daniel 2:27-28 NLT).
Over the last few days in these devotionals, I’ve shown you what Daniel did when facing an impossible situation in Daniel 2. The king had asked him to interpret a tough dream. It almost got the king’s wise men killed because they couldn’t explain what the dream meant.
The stakes were high! But Daniel followed a terrific process that can help us, too: Don’t panic, and then get the facts. Ask for more time. Gather prayer partners. Ask God for supernatural help. Worship God. And, use what you’ve learned to save others.
We also see that when God showed up, Daniel used the opportunity to point others to God.
The Bible says Daniel told the king, “There are no wise men, enchanters, magicians, or fortune-tellers who can reveal the king’s secret. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you your dream and the visions you saw as you lay on your bed” (Daniel 2:27-28 NLT).
Daniel didn’t take credit for the amazing answer to the king’s dream. He knew God had given him the answer. So he was honest about that.
I don’t know about you, but if I were a 17-year-old boy and I did something to make the king happy, I’d be tempted to take a bit of the credit. Daniel did the praying. He did the listening. He did the obeying.
Couldn’t he have taken some credit? He could have, but he didn’t. Instead he pointed people to God.
Do that, and God will bless you. God will do great things through a person who doesn’t care who gets the credit.
God wants you to do that in every situation of your life—whether you’re in a coffee shop, in a meeting, or at home parenting a 3-year-old. He wants you to point others to him.
The Bible says the pagan king told Daniel, “Truly, your God is the greatest of gods, the Lord over kings, a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this secret” (Daniel 2:47 NLT).
How about that? A pagan leader acknowledged the true Creator of the universe.
When you spend your life pointing people to God, miracles happen.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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