The Mysteries of Life
- Shelly Joylyn
- Feb 25
- 8 min read
I was recently reading through the book of Daniel when I stopped and had to read a verse again. I guess I've missed it all these years I've read the story of Daniel or maybe my mind would just jump back to the story of David being a little shepherd boy. Whatever it was before, the Holy Spirit highlighted to me the first couple verses in Daniel 1 this time. Maybe you've always known this part of Daniel's life, so if you do just bear with me.
Daniel 1:3-4 says, "Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans."
Daniel was from a royal bloodline. Daniel wasn't a poor shepherd boy. Daniel along with his friends were handpicked to enter the palace. They got the full scholarship; the education, the food, and the wine. They got the same daily portion as the king. Royalty.
This would be a really long blog post if I typed out all of chapters 1 and 2 of Daniel so to briefly remind you Daniel decided that in order to honor God he would not defile his body with the king's food and wine and instead he and his friends requested that they only be given vegetables and water. God gave Daniel favor and compassion before the king and they were allowed to try it out for ten days. Because these four youth chose to honor God with their bodies God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and on top of that Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. (Daniel 1:17) Not only were they found better than the rest of the youth after ten days, but there was none found like Daniel and his friends and in every matter of wisdom and understanding they were found ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in the kingdom. (Daniel 1:18-20)
Chapter 2 goes on to tell us about a dream the king had. No one was able to interpret the king's dream and this made him incredibly angry to the point that he wanted all the wise men of Babylon destroyed. (Daniel 2:12) Daniel and his friends along with all the other wise men were about to be killed when Daniel steps up. He went to the king's captain and asked, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Once Daniel was briefed on the matter he asked for a meeting with the king so that he could interpret the dream for him. As Daniel waited for the meeting he made known the situation to his friends and told them to "seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery" so that Daniel, his friends, and all of the wise men of Babylon would not be destroyed.
"Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter." -Daniel 2:19-23
Daniel then goes in to his meeting with the king. The king of course still angry wanted to know if Daniel could interpret his dream and Daniel's response was "No wise man, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has ask, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind." (Daniel 2:27-30)
This past week the Lord brought me back to the same apartment I lived in seven years ago. As I prepared for this move it felt like a really strategic placement from the Lord for the current God assignments I'm currently on. Life was certainly different when I was here last. A beautiful newborn baby, zero sleep, a whirlwind of disappointing, painful circumstances, and unanswered prayers were what rested here yet those weren't the memories I held in my heart from this place. This place held memories where I deeply met Jesus in the darkest valley. It was a place He marked me. I actually wrote about this place in Day Seventeen: The Beauty Of Tears in "When God Says Wait".
You can download a free copy of this chapter here...
So as I unpacked into this apartment for the second time seven years later now realizing that the Lord placed me in this apartment specifically to intercede on specific things, I got out my sticky notes and wrote down the prayers and hung them on the same wall I sat at seven years ago as I cried out to the Lord night after night. A few minutes had gone by and each one of my sticky notes fell to the floor one by one. I was getting up to find the tape to hang them back up when I had this nudge from the Holy Spirit to just let them sit there. A day or so went by and all these sticky notes were still sitting on the floor. It was the perfect picture of what was happening seven years ago and the defeat I had felt for all those years. Another day went by and as I was out for a walk I heard the Holy Spirit say, "Now it's time to pick them up again."
I came back and found the tape and hung up the sticky notes of prayers once again. What I came to realize is that the prayers I was hanging to the wall today were the exact same prayers that I was crying out to the Lord for seven years ago. My circumstances have changed drastically. My life and heart has been completely refined and realigned. Even still those prayers that the Lord asked me to partner with Him in back then are still the same exact prayers He's once again asking me to partner with Him in now because what He's doing in my life isn't just about my life, but about what He's doing in the earth. All those mysteries that didn't make sense back then were not just things I imagined or hopes and dreams that never came to fruition, but instead were the very heart of God inviting me to stand with Him and intercede for what He's doing in the nations through His church.
When we surrender our lives to Jesus we become royalty because we're now sons and daughters of the One True God through the blood of Jesus. Just like Daniel and his friends walked through, there is a process that is different than the world's process that doesn't make sense to non-believers. Let's face it sometimes it doesn't even make sense to us. It leaves us, even as believers, in this place of questioning the mysteries of God because we want to know all the details right now without the process or the preparation.
Seven years of journaling what the Holy Spirit was telling me and it was all mysteries. None of it made sense until the Lord started revealing those mysteries to me. Seven years of prayers falling to the floor. Guess what... There are still mysteries that I don't understand, but now I see the invitation to partner with heaven and pray and intercede those same prayers in a different way.
It makes me laugh a little, because in the part of the story where the king is angry and furious and wants to kill everyone because he doesn't understand the mystery of what God is doing in his life Daniel appears so calmly and basically says, "Hold up. Why is this so urgent? Why does the king want to kill everyone?" And then his response is simply to make a meeting after first seeking mercy from God concerning the mystery.
We, as the body of Christ, are in a new season where God is inviting us once again to pick up the prayers that we've laid down. The prayers that have fallen to the floor. The prayers that we gave up on because we didn't see the answers in our own timing. He's pruned. He's refined. He's realigned. Now He's standing us up with an invitation to partner with Him once again to pray for His will and His purposes to be established in the earth.
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." -Galatians 6:9
All those mysteries in your life that you've been begging for answers for...now is the time to make the meeting with Jesus. Now is the time to pick them back up and bring them to His feet. Now is the time to surrender every desire of your heart and exchange it for His heart. Now is the time to honor God in the preparation so that when the day comes you are already armed up and ready for battle. Who knows how many lives you will save because you said yes to seeking the Lord concerning those mysteries of life.
Life may never go as we plan, but when we stay with our eyes locked on Jesus, and our hearts pursue His will the testimony will always be like that of the kings, "Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery." (Daniel 2:47)
Get back into the secret place. Pick up those prayers once again. Stand in the King's victory. Then watch as the God of the impossible breaks through. Will you accept His invitation today? He's revealing mysteries in this hour as He prepares His bride for His glorious return.
The Hebrew word for wait in the Bible is "qavah" and means to hope for, to remain, to be bound together, or to be entwined together. It's like two ropes braided together so closely that it becomes one. When we wait on the Lord not only do we regain the strength we need to stand once again, but our lives proclaim the glory of God through our hearts being bound to Him. His desires become our desires. His will becomes our will. Rest in His arms tonight as you seek mercy for the mysteries of life. May you be encouraged to know that nothing is impossible with God as you accept His invitation to stand back up.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall walk and not faint." -Isaiah 40:28-31
Comments