King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and wanted his advisors to interpret it without knowing what the dream was. The advisors couldn’t do it. Daniel 2:12 The king was furious when he heard this, and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon be executed. 13 And because of the king’s decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends.
14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. 15 He asked Arioch, “Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” So, Arioch told him all that had happened. 16 Daniel went at once to see the king and requested more time to tell the king what the dream meant.[1]
Daniel demonstrated great conflict resolution in this story. He had a relationship with the King as we learned in Daniel chapter one. He was respectful and polite unlike the other advisors who didn’t seem to have much respect for the king. Proverbs 15:1Respond gently when you are confronted, and you’ll defuse the rage of another. Responding with sharp, cutting words will only make it worse. Don’t you know that being angry can ruin the testimony of even the wisest of men? 2 When wisdom speaks, understanding becomes attractive. But the words of the fool make their ignorance look laughable.
3 The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, and he takes note of everything that happens. He watches over his lovers, and he also sees the wickedness of the wicked. 4 When you speak healing words, you offer others fruit from the tree of life. But unhealthy, negative words do nothing but crush their hopes.[2]
Daniel accomplished what the other advisors couldn’t, he obtained a stay of execution. This would give him time to pray. In this time of pandemic, we are in our homes and make connections via social media. While this is certainly better than nothing, it isn’t the same as person to person contact. It is much easier to type things on a computer or phone that we would never say face to face. The advice from Proverbs 15 is something that we all should be applying as we communicate with others in person, but especially as we communicate via the internet. Let’s offer healing words to others during this stressful time.
To hear more about the story of Daniel, listen here: https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/series/daniel-a-man-of-character/giving-credit-to-god
[1]Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
[2] The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017 by BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC. thePassionTranslation.com