Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
daniel 11:32 NKJV
I heard this scripture ringing over and over again in my spirit as I was sitting in a prayer service recently. It was not the first time I had heard or read this scripture. It happened to be the theme one year for my old church in Atlanta.
Can I be honest? I have been really grieved over the state of the Church and the body of Christ recently. Every time I turn around, I am reading about someone in the public eye who is making a mockery of Christianity (or literally booty shaking in the church. I saw it with my own two eyes sis!). Scrolling online, I keep seeing or hearing about one brother/sister in the faith tearing down another brother or sister on YouTube or social media because they didn’t like or agree with something the person said. When you couple that with several well known Christians who have come out and made recent statements that would indicate that they are struggling in their faith or have a crisis of faith, it has really become disheartening.
Yet, when I read the scripture above, I am encouraged for several reasons, which is why this is our focus scripture for the month.
We are smack in the middle of the angel of the Lord coming to finally deliver a message to Daniel after being held up for 21 days by the prince of Persia. He is answering Daniel’s prayer and now explaining what will happen to Daniel’s people in the future, based on Daniel’s vision. (Daniel 10).
A lot of what the angel is revealing to Daniel doesn’t sound good–a lot of war, fighting, corruption, persecution and abuse of power–(sound familiar?). Then, he pivots in the texts with verse 32 and the phrase that stood out to me was:
…the people who know their God
Do you know your God?
I mean really know Him?
The word know here, in Hebrew, means yada, often used when a man or a woman knew their spouse through sexual intercourse. Do we know God that intimately? Have we taken time to become one with Him, to get to know, to discover, to know Him by experience, be acquainted with, be or become known (Reference: The Blue Letter Bible) by Him?
To know God like this means you won’t be violators of the covenant you have with Him nor will you be won over by flattery. When we yada Him, we will be strong, stand firm and take action, or resist the evil one. This is what we need right now in this season, especially among the body of believers in Jesus Christ.
May this be your heart’s desire this month…to know your God and be known by Him. It will most certainly help you while you are waiting, but will also prepare you for the difficult days ahead.
Then the Lord God made a woman
Genesis 2:22, NLT
Scripture references: The Holy Bible (NKJV), Blueletterbible.com
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LET’S STAY CONNECTED:
Lady In Waiting 222 