Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good afternoon, dear ones.

And a beautiful fall afternoon it is. This morning was cold and clear—offering the first frost we’ve seen so far. So when Becki and I did our morning walk/jog, we did more bundling up than normal. Dandy dog wore his same outfit.

God bless you and yours.

Love, Dad/Ray.

If you have ever read a piece of ancient Biblical literature that describes realities of our present day, I think you have it here. This morning as I read this verse, and contemplated its contemporary parallel, I broke forth in laughter. There was some cynicism mixed in. My dog, Dandy, looked at me as if to ask what was the matter. I told him why I was laughing—but he didn’t get it—just like a lot of people who don’t get it. It struck me as a perfect disclosure of what really goes on in high places. I can imagine changing a few words and hearing essentially this same verse presented on the Evening News. It could go something like this: “At a special meeting of the United Nations Peace Negotiations Council today, President ______ and Prime Minister _______ sat together and lied to each other. But it really doesn’t matter much what they say, because, based on the record of the past, everything and anything they decide will go no where—rendering any hope of lasting peace as elusive as it ever was. Both will still insist on ways to do what they want to do. And it’s only a matter of time before both leaders and the nations they represent meet their end. And once that happens, it is expected that the same cycle of international power struggles and failed politics will carry on to repeat themselves for who-knows-how-long.” Do you think I could make it as a news caster?

While I do not subscribe to all of King Solomon’s cynical orations in the Book of Ecclesiastes, there is a profound measure of truth in those familiar lines—“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). After all, there is nothing new about the fact of man’s NATURAL SIN NATURE, even in high places, and his corresponding universal need for a Savior.

Everyone has a measure and type of passion. Let’s give some consideration to their quality and do a little comparing of the range of passions as represented in this reading—the passions of the kings and rulers of Daniel’s era, compared to the passion that defined Daniel. Of all the passions possessed, which passion prevails and proves to be worth possessing? Man!—it seems to me that selecting the superior one is a no-contest no-brainer. All those other guys operating with their rabid quest for power, control, vengeance, and wealth are pitiful passions alongside Daniel’s possession of a passionate HEART AFTER GOD. The predictive overview presentation given to Daniel by the Heavenly Messenger is almost like a joke—the king of the North comes against the king of the South—then the king of the South goes against the king of the North—then the king of the North gathers some other kings to go against the king of the South—and so on it goes. I’m visualizing a bar graph that represents the lives and passions of them all. All those high-minded king dudes have lines on that graph that zig zag up and down and all over the place—ending in a POOF!—“at the appointed time.” But look at Daniel’s line—a steady almost straight ascending line. Praise God! I’ll take Daniel’s purposeful powerful prevailing passion any day!—one that ends in unending GLORY!