Daniel 2:26

Daniel 2:26 says, The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?  Nebuchadnezzar asks Daniel plainly if he was able to make the dream known.  Since Daniel's Babylonian name is pointed out, that is likely how the king addressed him.  We can assume that by this time the king expected the captives to have become assimilated into Babylonian culture.  When people see followers of Christ today, they may assume that we are just like everyone else, but as Nebuchadnezzar was to find out, just like there was with Daniel there is something different about us.  Daniel was an obedient servant of God, just as we should be.  This could have been Daniel's opportunity to really make life easy for his friends and himself, but he chose to keep the emphasis on God.  Anytime we are doing something good in the world, we need to make sure that God receives the glory.  Verse twenty-seven adds, Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;  I believe that Daniel was simply pointing out the inability of any person to answer Nebuchadnezzar's demands by their own ability, and this even included Daniel.  Instead of claiming glory for himself, Daniel was to give the glory to God, as it should have been.  By our own abilities as followers of Christ, we are no better than any other person, but because of our relationship to Him we are.  Still, we are not to use this relationship with Christ for our own benefit, but like Daniel are to give God the glory.   Verse twenty-eight continues, But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;  Daniel had said that those who claimed a special ability to interpret dreams were helpless, but there is a God in heaven that revealth secrets. This should be our declaration in all things, especially situations in which there seems to be no answer: But there is a God in heaven.  God has not gone away since Daniel's day.  Then, after giving God the glory, Daniel begins to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream.  Verse twenty-nine states, As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.  Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that when he dreamed was what was to come to pass, and that God was revealing it to him.  We should not be surprised that if God reveals something to those who do not believe in Him that they would fail to understand it.  Verse thirty adds, But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.  Once more, Daniel did not take credit for interpreting the dream, but said it was revealed to him by God for the sake of those who were to be destroyed and that the king might know what was in his heart. This is what the gospel does.  The gospel is given for our sakes, not through any ability that we have, but by the power of God.  It reveals to us what is in our heart.