Daniel 2 begins with an impossible situation. King Nebuchadnezzar demands that his wise men not only interpret his dream, but tell him what he dreamed. When they explain that no human being can do this, the king orders them to be killed—including Daniel and his friends.
Daniel is facing something he cannot possibly accomplish on his own. But instead of becoming hopeless, Daniel turns to God. He asks his friends to pray, and God reveals the mystery.
Daniel knows something that changes everything: there is a God in heaven.
Daniel doesn't know how the situation will work out. He can't see the answer or explain what God is going to do. But he knows God, and therefore he has hope.
That's an important distinction between the culture of Babylon and the culture of God's people. The world tends to say, “If I can't see a way forward, there is no way forward.” When circumstances seem impossible, hopelessness can feel natural.
But hopelessness should be strange to the Christian.
That doesn't mean everything will work out the way we want. God doesn't promise that every sickness will be healed, every financial problem will disappear, or every family situation will resolve exactly as we hope.
Romans 8:28 says that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” And the next verse tells us what that “good” ultimately is: that we would be “conformed to the image of his Son.”
God's promise isn't that every circumstance will have a happy ending. His promise is that no circumstance is wasted in His hands.
He can use suffering to deepen our faith. He can use uncertainty to teach us dependence. He can use difficult relationships to grow our patience and love. He can use circumstances we would never choose to make us more like Jesus.
And that is our hope.
Our hope is not that everything in this world will turn out the way we want it to. Our hope is that through everything in this world, God is making us more like Christ.
So when the world says, “It's hopeless,” the Christian says, “I don't know how this will work out, but I know God.”
We may be confused. We may be hurting. We may be afraid. But we don't have to be hopeless.
Our hope isn't in our circumstances. Our hope is in God.
