2007 picture of Ray Sparre

Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67


October 8, 2013

Hello, dear people.

The day is past. Now it’s time to spend a few hours of unconsciousness before another day rolls in.

Have a good night.

Love, Dad/Ray.

8, October
Passage: Daniel 6
Focus: "Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.” Daniel 6:3-4.

Please pay attention to the role-modeling of Daniel. This little description given right here is enough to prod us and amaze us. Why?—because his example goes way beyond normal human behavior. But, of course, he was not a normal human. How so? Like David (probably one of Daniel’s own role-models), he made serving his Maker his number-one priority and passion which enabled him to compute life with a completely different operating system than all the normal computers around him. And I can’t seem to come up with any one personality across the entire spread of human history who more convincingly proves to me the superiority of that operating system than this conscripted slave from Israel named Daniel. What a guy!

And please do not allow the notion to linger in your head that governmental deceit and corruption are new. Whereas all governmental officials live with a NATURAL SIN NATURE, or the residue thereof, just like the rest of us, corruption in high places is just as automatic and expected as corruption in low places. I realize we seem to keep plunking this same string over and over—and here we are, encountering still another reason to draw attention to God’s diagnosis of the non-refurbished human heart as recorded in Jeremiah 17:9. Beholding so much evidence to support this principle down through human history, I hereby put forth this exclamation and question: WHAT PART OF “THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS AND DESPERATELY WICKED” DO WE NOT UNDERSTAND?!?! Most people want to argue the diagnosis and say, “No it’s not! God couldn’t have said that! And if He did, He doesn’t know what He’s talking about!”—then proceed to live their lives in opposition to God and ultimately prove that He did know what He was talking about.

The story of Daniel being maligned and wrongly sentenced by the deceitful jealousy of the local elite reminds me of anti-semitic scheming of Haman in the Book of Ruth. In both cases, the plot backfires upon the schemers—offering more evidence that it’s not very smart for the most “low” to hate and attack what the Most High loves and protects.

King Darius was much like King Nebuchadnezzar in the sense that they were both smart enough to learn respect for the Sovereign LORD, but they were still foolish enough to think they could force their people to do the same by making a decree to that affect. Following the supernatural deliverance of Daniel from the lions, Darius issued this executive order: “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel” (6:26). Wouldn’t it be nice if loving God and revering Him could be legislated? But even the Sovereign LORD doesn’t rule that way—yet. For now, the Kingdom of God is still more of an invitation than a decree. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13).


“It isn’t our position, but our disposition, that makes us happy.”