As I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, I’ve been struck by the struggles Daniel has and doesn’t have.

He doesn’t seem to struggle with confidence and courage in following God’s call on his life. When faced with praying to God or worshiping a false god (the king), he chooses God. Was it difficult for him? Maybe, but we aren’t told.

In the second half of Daniel, we encounter a switch in our Daniel writes. The first half is a narrative, the story of Daniel’s life, but the second half is apocalyptic. Apocalyptic means “revelation” so it is a revealing of something.

Many times, apocalyptic carries with it a sense of doom, but also a promise of God’s presence and power. It is two sides of the same coin so to speak.

Daniel comes to God in Daniel 7 with a question: why does evil prosper? Why are there mighty kings who are against God and His people?

We have the same question.

Why is my life so hard when I’m only trying to please God? Why do I have cancer? Why do I suffer when those around me who want nothing to do with God have an easy go of it?

Why am I not progressing the way I want to in my career, marriage or parenting? Why can’t my finances come together, but that person at work who cuts corners gets promoted and things his way?

God’s answer though to Daniel is simple: Yes, evil exists and prospers but not forever.

This is comforting and hard all at the same time.

God gives Daniel a dream of 4 beasts, a throne engulfed in flames which the Ancient of Days sits on and the son of man (which we know from the gospels is Jesus).

Many historians debate who the beasts are and which kingdoms they represent. What we know is that they are kings and that they prosper in wealth, destroy people and nations, but they also eventually disappear, and someone else takes their place.

This is the reality and comfort God gives Daniel.

For us, when we come to God, asking why things are difficult or struggling to trust Him with today, tomorrow and the day after that, He often doesn’t provide us the answer we want.

He gives us Himself.

That’s what He did for Daniel.

What I found most interesting and is easy to overlook is verse 2 where we are told the beasts come out of the sea after the winds of heavens stir the sea.

God tells Daniel in multiple places of chapter 7, yes evil exists, yes it is difficult and hard.

But I am there. I am here.

That is the power and hope of God’s presence.

I want you to think for a minute about the things that you do every day. More than likely, you spend a lot of time on these things.

It could be sitting in meetings, working on creative projects if that’s your job or hobby, cleaning up after kids, taking care of an aging parent, keeping a house clean, running family and friends from place to place like you are an unpaid uber driver.

Think of the places you go to often: the coffee shop, the gym, the school, work, that restaurant.

Many of us struggle to see how what we do every day can glorify God, yet all throughout Scripture, we are told to glorify God in all that we do. 1 Corinthians 10 says: Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Here’s the problem for us though, we don’t think the things we do every day can glorify God. we don’t think they are that important, but we spend a lot of time on them. So they have to matter.

If you’re like me, you think, but they are too ordinary, too normal, too small, too everyday kind of things.

Where does this come from?

Some of it is cultural and our desire to do great things, be great, be remembered.

Some of it is a Christian culture that says if you don’t do something great and big for God, it doesn’t count.

That’s a lie.

One author said, “My concern is that the activist impulse at the heart of evangelicalism can put an enormous burden on people to do great things when what we need most right now is to do the ordinary things better. We can miss God in the daily stuff, looking for the extraordinary Moment. If we were more serious about these ordinary means of grace, I’m convinced the church would have a much stronger witness in the world today.”

Daniel 4 is a great reminder that everything in our world and in our lives falls under the rule and reign of Jesus, which gives us a great picture of how important all the ordinary, every day things are.

… to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Daniel 4:17

… till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:25

… that you know that Heaven rules. -Daniel 4:26

… until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:32

… for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ -Daniel 4:34 – 35

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven. -Daniel 4:37

One of the interesting things about Daniel 4 is that Daniel is now middle age.

You start to ask different questions in your 40’s compared to your 20’s.

Many times in our teens and 20’s and even into our 30’s, the questions and struggles of life and faith are often around doing great things, big things. Experiencing the power of God.

As we move into our 30’s, 40’s 50’s and beyond, the questions start to center around: Is God still with me? Does God still have good plans for me? Am I doing the right things? Did I miss it? Am I making the most of my opportunities?

In Daniel 4, we find Daniel interpreting another dream for the king.

While this seems extraordinary for us, this was Daniel’s job.

But to Daniel, this was something God gifted him in, a talent God gave to him. This was normal for him. This is important; because we struggle to see how the things we do or are gifted at, fall under the authority and rule of Jesus.

I love the message version of Romans 12:1: So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.

This means when you are singing to your kids, cleaning up after someone, driving someone to work, paying for lunch, going to the gym. The ordinary, everyday things you do all the time. They are an act of worship to your Father in Heaven who has placed you in that place at that moment and given you the talents needed for that place, whatever it is. No matter how big or small it is.

In her fantastic book, Theology of the Ordinary, Julie Canlis said, The Spirit’s primary and most difficult work is to persuade believers to act like children, to pray like children, to help them delight in the Fatherhood of God, to be gentle with themselves and to be, long before they do. Our identity as children of God is not something of which we can convince ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit, who without, we cannot experience the Fatherly favor of God or the benefits of Jesus.

God may call you to do great things that change the world. He may also call you to do small, ordinary, everyday things that change your corner of the world.

Be faithful in both.