Some
people have the almost magical ability to turn their bad day into everybody’s
bad day.
King
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was one of those people.
In
Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar had a recurring nightmare. The
dreams were so bad that he started staying
awake all night. On top of that, he
either couldn’t remember what happened in the dreams or he didn’t want to tell
anybody. Either way, anxiety and sleep
deprivation accumulated until the head of the Babylonian empire just sorta
snapped.
He called
for all of the the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans. These were the Ivy Leaguers and think tank
fellows of the day.
Nebuchadnezzar
assembled them as an imperial task force an said, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.”
(Daniel 2:2, 3)
They
replied, “Tell your servants the dream,
and we will give the interpretation.” (Daniel 2:4)
King
Nebuchadnezzer said, “No. You tell ME the dream and what the dream means or I’m
gonna chop you up into little pieces, kill your family, burn your house to the
ground, and use the pile of smoldering ash as a garbage dump.” (Daniel 2:5, paraphrased)
Well
now EVERYBODY’S having a bad day.
The
academics were shocked. They explained that
his request was unreasonable and impossible to comply with. (They would’ve said
“with which to comply.”)
The
king accused them of stalling. “I know
for certain that you would gain time.” (verse 8)
They
were stalling so they could stay
and explain very calmly and rationally that it was highly irregular to threaten
the leading minds of the nation with death under those conditions.
“There is not a man on earth
who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any
magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.” (Daniel 2: 10)
And
that’s where the “wise men” messed up. You
don’t tell crazy people that they’re acting crazy. That just makes them act crazier.
Jesus
said, “Do not give what is holy to the
dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their
feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” (Matthew 7:6)
They
called King Nebuchadnezzar unreasonable and he responded by having them killed
and ordering the deaths of all their colleagues, co-workers, and
employees.
When
you’re dealing with crazy, like everybody’s-about-to-have-a-bad-day crazy, you
don’t stall to stay. You stall
to leave.
A
young Jewish academic named Daniel worked in the magicians, astrologers,
sorcerers, and Chaldeans industry. When Arioch,
the head of the king’s hit squad, came to kill him, Daniel stalled.
“Why is the decree from the
king so urgent?” Daniel asked (verse 15)
Daniel
talked his way into an audience with the king.
The king who hadn’t slept in days except to doze off into a nightmare he
couldn’t remember, and these guys he pays to know stuff don’t know anything,
but, yeah, they paid for that, they’re all gonna pay, bwahahaha, who are you---
that king.
Daniel
did NOT tell Nebuchadnezzar to calm down.
He did NOT appeal to Nebuchadnezzar’s sense of mercy or reason. Daniel
stalled so he could leave.
Daniel went in and asked the
king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. (verse 16)
Basically,
Daniel said, “Sure I’ll tell you what you dreamed that you don’t even
remember. Sure, but first I need to run
home real quick.”
Sometimes,
you have to put some distance between you and the crazy, so you can draw closer
to God. Otherwise, you’ll get drawn into
their crazy. Why do you think Jesus kept
wandering off from the disciples? (Luke
5: 16)
"Wait
here while I go there and pray."
Stall…….
to leave.
If
you can’t physically get away from
crazy, you can create mental and spiritual distance.
In
August 2013, a mentally troubled man with an AK-47 charged into an Atlanta
elementary school and pointed the gun at school clerk Antoinette Tuff. Physically, she had nowhere to go, but she
still managed to stall and leave.
In
her mind, Miss Tuff went back to her pastor’s last sermon when he’d talked
about showing compassion for people in grief.
She took the gunman away from his
problems and plans by talking about her family and her past struggles with
suicide. In that office, Miss Tuff prayed
with the crazy man who had come to kill her.
She responded to the threat in the most Divinely insane way. She called the man with the gun, “baby,” and
she loved him.
The
gunman surrendered. No children were
hurt. (Read more about Antoinette
Tuff here.)
Daniel
left the king’s audience, went home, and called his friends. Together they prayed
until God gave Daniel the impossible answer to the king’s insane request.
Then
Daniel went back to minister to crazy King Nebuchadnezzar (cause crazy needs
Jesus, too).
Daniel
went to Nebuchadnezzar and said, “There
is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King
Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of
your head upon your bed, were these…” (Daniel 2: 27, 28)
In
the end, the king rewarded Daniel, rescinded the execution order, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of
kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” (Daniel
2:47)
You
can’t reason with crazy, but God can. But
it takes time, God’s time. So
stall. Move yourself and the conversation away from crazy to what God wants to say. Then leave the rest up to God.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Subscribe
to my personal blog www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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P O
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Al 35064
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