What do people see?

Once upon a time I was 23 years old and the year was 1986. I had purposed to either join an investment bank or a management consulting company. I had interviews with both types of organizations and miraculously, despite a tough recession year, I was hired to be a management consultant. That year 21 deposit taking cooperatives were put into receivership (or "administration") because they became insolvent with the economic downturn. My firm was made responsible for 2 of them, and guess who had the main working role of reviewing their loan portfolios and leading the process of creating a computerized database of all depositors. I had to learn fast and I was working day and night. There was a stretch of 3 days that I worked without going home. You can say that I earned quite a reputation in the firm, especially among the leadership that included some very prominent people in Malaysia today. Daniel had a similar experience but on a much bigger platform and scale.

Daniel 4:8-9

But at last Daniel came before me (his name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god; in him is the Spirit of the Holy God), and I told the dream before him, saying: Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation.

What a move of God. Babylon experienced God big time. A 2nd dream and Nebuchadnezzar knew who to call. He called Daniel, "Chief of the Magicians". He mentions that the spirit of the Holy God was in him. Even with all this achievement the king had great pride and probably did not honor God. Hence the Lord touched one of the biggest man on earth, if not the greatest, with a debilitating situation and made him go crazy because his head got too big. But the big learning here is that Daniel's God is acknowledged.

What do people see? A life that is godless and without power. Or, a life that has great strength and able to be a positive influence on others. Many people around us may hate our faith, mock and persecute us, but deep inside they are either admiring our countenance or confused by our reactions. That happened with me at my first job. I had an incredible ride in my career and I would attribute it to the Lord, and my leaders knew that.

Father, let my words and actions always reflect God and lead people to the Lord like the way Daniel led Nebuchadnezzar to God.

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