Reading
SAA Notes
This prophecy about Cyrus was about 230 years before the actual Cyrus was born. Its existence is one of the reasons why Cyrus gave such aid and support to the Jews in his day – after the exile, when Daniel was a very old man.
SJA Notes
* Faithful God, please show us Your faithfulness today from Your word.
“I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.”
God is speaking here to King Cyrus of the Medes and Persians, many years before Cyrus was born!
And this is a hard word.
God raised up Cyrus and the Medes and Persians, just as he raised up and pulled down Assyria and Babylon.
We read in Psalm 75,
“… but it is God who executes judgement, putting down one and lifting up another.”
God raises up and pulls down. For His purposes.
It is His purposes that we are to remember when reading these passages. We are to wrestle in our minds with the truth that,
“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
We are not to attribute human thinking onto this! It is not a childish tantrum, or an obstinate rebellion – God does not operate with our frail and broken motivations.
We need to remember that what God pleases is FOR GOOD, the RIGHT THING.
When we come up against a hard word in scripture, in God’s word, what can we do?
We trust that God is wiser than we are, and that He will choose to show us all that He wants for us to know.
* Mighty God,
Please teach us from Your word today.
Please humble our hearts, humble our spirits today.
Please write Your word upon our hearts, that we might not sin against You.
Please plant Your word deep within us and grow it, that we might be good soil and bear much fruit.
For Your sake and Your glory, that Your Name would be praised.
Amen.