Daily Devotion – November 16, 2021 – Kwen Sanderson

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

As I watched, thrones were set in place, and an Ancient One took his throne, his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.

Devotion

Daniel is an apocalyptic book—literally, a book of “pulling back the veil” to see what is the real truth. It is noteworthy that the phrase “son of man” in these verses is also a favorite title used by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark—some fourteen times—to refer to himself. Simply put, the “son of man” is one who is a human being, but one who has God’s power backing him up. When God is present in our lives, everything is not what it appears to be, or, as 2 Corinthians 5:7, reminds us, “We walk by faith, and not by sight.” On Palm Sunday last year, as this pandemic was starting, my brother raised the question, “What is God doing in these pandemic times?” I don’t have an easy answer, but I know that faith invites us to look behind what we see. If God can bring a resurrection out of a crucifixion, what can we hope that God will bring out of a pandemic?

Prayer

O God, in these times we live, we believe. Help our unbelief. Amen.