God is Still in Control

The book of Daniel is written to people in exile. It’s written to people who ask, “Where is God?” in the midst of a culture that looks like it has beaten him. And Daniel tells them that despite their circumstances, God is still in control.

It’s not just these exiles in 605 BC that need to know God is still in control. Every Christian needs to know this. Every Christian is, in one sense, far from home. Every Christian experiences exile.

The apostle Paul said, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). The New Testament calls Old Testament saints like Daniel “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). They were seeking “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16). Heaven was their homeland. It’s our homeland, too.

Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). We’re exiles. We’re outsiders. This world isn’t our true home.

So the book of Daniel has a lot to say to us. And the first thing it says is that in the midst of terrible events, God is still in control.

Why did this catastrophe happen? Daniel 1:2 tells us: “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into [Nebuchadnezzar’s] hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God.” Who gave Jehoiakim into the hands of the Babylonian king? God.

There are three rulers described here: Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Lord. But only one of them was the sovereign. It looked like Nebuchadnezzar was in control, but Daniel tells us that Jehoiakim was placed in Nebuchadnezzar’s hand like a gift. The sovereign God handed one king over to another. The true sovereign, the Lord, was still in control.

God is in control, even in bad times. This message is meant to comfort God’s people. Regardless of what we experience, regardless of what circumstances tell us, God is still in control.

Daniel doesn’t say in these verses why God allowed this catastrophe. Later in the book, he says it’s because of Israel’s sin. But here he focuses on why his readers can have hope. God doesn’t always explain why certain things happen, but he tells us he’s still enthroned. The Lord hasn’t abandoned his people.

The book of Daniel shows how God cares for us even in our exile.

[Excerpts from] https://corechristianity.com/resources/articles/is-god-still-in-control