Daniel 2 "Lord bless---What?"

Hey all! Did anyone wonder what happened to me? I wondered what happened to me! I have been unbelievably slammed the last few weeks. So many things going on all at once and during this time God has really been stretching me and challenging me on some things. Maybe when I get that all sorted out I can write about it or I may write about it before I get it sorted out in my mind and we can sort it out together. But for now let's pick back up with Daniel. I believe we were at the beginning of the second chapter of Daniel.
King Neb had a dream. It really had him shook up for some reason. So shook up in fact that he wanted to make sure that his "wise" men did not take advantage of him and sell him a bill-of-goods. He needed to know the true answer, not some fabricated 'truth' told by a bunch of slick, fast-talking gurus with their own agendas. King Neb was no idiot. Sometimes we tend to think that those who do not know or trust in God and God alone are total idiots. While they may not be making the smartest decision in the world when they choose to reject God, they are not all idiots. Neb was pretty smart and he knew that if these guys could tell him what the dream was without him telling them first then they would know the truth. Haven't you ever wanted to do that to a psychic hotline? Call them and when they ask for your name and credit card number say, "Don't you already know?" or "You tell me!" Well, that is exactly what King Neb did here. Must have been an awesome dream to go through this much trouble. I am sure he never grilled these guys like this before, he just always took their word. I am sure it shocked these dudes to the core and they responded with more accuracy then they realized. They said, "Only the gods" can do this, and they said that no man alive could tell him the dream. They were right, only they were trying to lie and stall for time and they mentioned the wrong god. Yes, only God could do what the king was asking, and no man alive could do it without God's help. But there was a man alive who knew the right God and who was smart enough to ask for His help. When Daniel was faced with a seemingly impossible situation, the first thing he did was turn to God. Notice that Daniel did not arrogantly say, "I can do this! Take me the king right now," and then ask God to save him on the way to the king. No, he first ask for more time, he then got his friends and they went straight to God and said hey, "God, we got this situation here and we need to know what you want us to do? We know you can handle it and we want to be available for you to use to handle it, but we need you to tell us what to do before we do anything." Then an amazing thing happened, not what Daniel did with the king, we will get to that next week, the amazing thing was that God revealed the plan! What a novel idea! Asking God what He wants us to do before just go and do it. To top it all off, God will actually tell us if we ask.
I know it has been said in SS class after SS class that if you have a problem take it to God. But lets stop and think, "How often do I really do that?" Typically we try to go take care of it ourselves and if we even talk to God, it is more like, "Hey God, I got this problem, here is what I am going to do to fix it. Please make my plan work." or "Bless what I am doing." And then if it doesn't work we ask God, "Why didn't you help me on that?" The real question is why didn't we confide in God and ask His plan before we devised our own? If we believe that God is faithful, just and can do anything, then why don't we trust Him to send us a plan for our troubles and to send a plan that will work? And why do we only seek God's counsel and blessing when we are in troublesome situations? Why say, "Hey God, things are going great, you are awesome. What do you want me/us to do next?" Maybe we are afraid He will want to change what we are doing and we want to hold on to the good as long as possible. But what He tells us to do, even if it is different, will work out for good in the end! Maybe though, He might just say, "Keep doing what you are doing, but keep asking me, because I have something else in mind for you later. Thanks for asking!"
So my question for you this week is, when was the last time you really ask God to tell you what to do rather then just asking Him to bless what you are already doing or going to do? When was the last time you waited for the Lord's direction instead of rushing to your own decision and trying to force God to deal with it? Most of the time God will let you try your own plan, but He will not bless it because He already has a pre-blessed plan ready for you, you just need to ask for it and trust in.
Talk to me about this. Answer the questions here on the blog and share with us your thoughts, struggles, needs, and even commitments to do better.
Love you,
Dave