A NONSITUATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

A NON-SITUATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Generalizations from the Book of Daniel

PART I

By J. Michael Strawn

This study based on the book of Daniel is a reaction to perhaps a prevalent thought about the nature of human intelligence. The statement that I want to focus on, the one that I would like to displace by a larger and more biblical truth is that all intelligence is situational. What that statement purports to mean is that we can judge intelligence only by the way it responds within a certain context, within a certain situation, whatever that situation is. We might say that there are some responses to given circumstances that are not very "smart." And so we would judge the intelligence taking those actions accordingly. Or, on the other hand, we might say of somebody’s actions, or the manifestation of his intelligence within a certain context, that it was "very brilliant." And again we are trying to gauge or give a range to the nature of that intelligence within that particular situation. I never really liked the sound of that for one particular reason. That is, when we think of intelligence, my mind always turns to the Lord..

But what does it mean for the Lord to have intelligence, what is his intelligence like, and how do we see it depicted, knowing that his intelligence is not situated at all? He stands completely outside of all circumstances and all situations. He is not governed by anything within a context. He is completely external to all of that. I want to call that a non-situational intelligence as opposed to a situated intelligence, which would be the human mind, the human intelligence, framed down here in the temporal sphere. All the things with which we have to deal are going to make claims on that intelligence. Now in terms of how faith is depicted, we know that it is another form of intelligence, not native to human intelligence, to the range of human activity. This is something that is created in us by God; and it is favored in us and fostered in us by the revelation. Therefore, it seems reasonable to think that faith is another form of non-situational intelligence. While I was thinking about these concepts, my mind turned to the book of Daniel. I want us to look at several passages to develop the concept of a non-situational intelligence.

In Daniel 1:17, we know that some terrible things have happened to the Israelite nation. They have been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Many captives have been brought back to the homeland of Babylon. Among them are these four Jewish young men, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These young men are outstanding in the way in which they comport themselves. In 1:17 it says of these young men that "God had given them knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds." The blessings from God had ended up affecting them within their context. But that intelligence that was given to them—this knowledge and this understanding, and along with it visions and dreams—was not something framed within their particular context. It came to them from outside the situation.

Now there is a lot of difference between this kind of intelligence that is given to us by God and what we might call aptitude. If we have natural aptitudes, we would still have to assume that those have been given to us by the Lord himself. However, this different kind of knowledge that is mentioned in Daniel 1:17 is of a very different rank. In 1:5, the statement about these young men is that they have a great deal of ability. In fact, 1:3-5 describes these young men as people who have learning, are informed, are quick-witted. They were thought to be qualified to serve in this extensive bureaucracy of the kingdom of Babylon and they were young and good-looking. All of the things that at least on the surface, people might think of as very desirable characteristics.

In Daniel 1:20, after these men refused to be contaminated by the table of the king, and began eating only vegetables, they were tested and their appearance was found better than those who ate other food. They were tested in their knowledge. In 1:20, it says "In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom." We have a qualitative difference here. When they were tested against situated intelligence, that is the intelligence of the enchanters and men of eminence in the kingdom, these guys were found to be 10 times better. The question is why were they found to be 10 times better? Just in the first chapter, it becomes obvious that they are found superior, vastly superior, because of the presence of God; because God has given them this intelligence.

In 1:17, Daniel is given the ability to understand visions and dreams. We know that the visions and dreams that are taking place either in Daniel or in somebody else’s life are induced by the Lord. When he brings interpretation of these things, he is provided a meaning outside of the vision, the image, the dream itself. These were symbols and these symbols that had been given to him by God, coming to bear upon these visions and these dreams. Therefore, it was a particular way of symbolizing and giving meaning to these things. And it was a unique thing. Nebuchadnezzar had the dream; but he did not have the intelligence to understand the dream.

Now in 2:14, some terrible things begin to happen. When Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about this great image; and he calls for his wise men to interpret it and give him the meaning, he also makes an additional requirement and that is that they have to tell him what the dream was without benefit of him telling them about it. And they have to give him the meaning. If they can’t do that, he is going to have them put to death. Well they fail in that attempt; and so Arioch, the commander of the guard, is sent out to kill all of these people. So it is going to be a massive slaughter. Now, in 2:14, when Arioch, the commander, comes to Daniel, it says "Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact." Here we have a very tense situation. We have a man in a difficult circumstance, who is keeping his head; who is speaking circumspectly, who is using wisdom and tact to deal with this situation. He asks what the problem is and Arioch explains the situation to him. Daniel then asks to be given some time and then he will get back to Arioch with the resolution of this particular problem. Well, he immediately goes back home and talks to his three friends and in 2:18, he says that we need to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

It is interesting to see what he meant by pleading for mercy. What he needed was an answer to this experience that King Nebuchadnezzar had had. So he goes back and he prays to God. He doesn’t throw himself at the feet of Nebuchadnezzar, begging for mercy. He begs for mercy from God, from a non-situational intelligence. So Daniel and his three friends make what we can refer to here as a non-situational reaction to the situation. That is prayer. Prayer, as it is used by Daniel in every instance, is a non-situational reaction. Prayer is not situated. Now I suppose it is true that we could pray in such a way that it is situated. If we are praying like the double-minded man in James 1, we could suggest that that is situated prayer; and that is not heard by God. Or if we pray half-heartedly about things, such as going through the motions of saying, "Oh Lord, heal our loved ones; but yet we really believe that the weight of the solution devolves upon physics and physiology. I would say that that is situational prayer. Situational prayer is not respected by the Lord.

These men come in a unique way, however. They are praying non-situationally about a particular situation. Now we have the prayer listed here in verse 2:20 and following. Let us dissect this a little bit and pull some of the key ingredients out of it. Vs. 20, "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his." It sounds like the locus of intelligence is God and not man. He is praising God who is the locus of wisdom and power. Now shall we say that human intelligence, since it is going to have to be dependent upon the intelligence of God, would sort of act as a "footprint?" Let’s think about this image in our minds. For example, there is an individual walking across the wet sand of the beach. Behind him, he leaves a trail of footprints. The footprint is a symbol. It points to an external reality and greater reality that walked by and left these imprints on the sand. The footprint isn’t the thing itself. It simply is a shadow, or as I suggest, a footprint of the real thing. Well, in the same way as Daniel depends upon God, his intelligence is nothing but a footprint of the intelligence of God. It is not the thing itself. It is a symbol of the presence of God’s intelligence on the earth.

The intelligence that is demonstrated in this man and in these other three Jewish young men, is a footprint. It is a manifestation of the intelligence of God as he has "walked by." So really if we become footprints, we have no claim on this intelligence. It’s not originated within us. It is something that comes from God himself, because he and he alone is the locus of this non-situational intelligence. But the footprint is there because of the non-situational intelligence. Therefore, the footprint itself may be located within a certain situation, but that is not the thing itself; and it didn’t get there because of a context. It was made by something or someone outside of the context. And that would be by the Lord himself.

In verse 21, it says "He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." When he talks about those who have been given this wisdom and who are going to be favored by this discernment, this is what I mean by "footprints" or "tracks." The tracks are not absolute intelligence. They are created by an absolute intelligence. And we are those footprints given this unique relationship to God. Now that is what Nebuchadnezzar needed, but it is also exactly and precisely what Daniel and the other three Jewish men, as well, stood in need of in the situation—absolute intelligence. They don’t have it, but God does. So they pray for mercy. Now let’s suggest that this intelligence is a "pushed" intelligence. Daniel is saying here, "I can’t get this on my own. This has to be pushed at me. This has to be pushed into my mind." The revelation is like that. All revelation is a "pushed" knowledge, a "pushed" wisdom. But the world has decidedly reacted negatively against any kind of pushed intelligence.

We see that all through the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 1:18 and following, the foolish reacted to the wisdom of God precisely because it did not agree with them, but also because it was "pushed" at them. Romans Chapter 1 would tell us the same thing. There is a kind of knowledge pushed at us that we could not have on our own living within a certain material context. We would not be able to derive those same conclusions by rationalization or the workings of human intelligence. God has to push it our way. He gives wisdom. In Daniel 1: 17, which is where we started, the text says, "God gave these men..." Here is an ultimate non-situational intelligence pushing knowledge and understanding at people. Not everybody gets it, but only those who will yield to its will.

We see an illustration of this in Chapter 10. Daniel has a vision. Gabriel comes in response to this vision to explain its meaning to Daniel. In 10:12, the scripture says, "Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them." Here is a man who years before had made a decision to know God. He wanted this pushed intelligence. He wanted to know what the Lord had to say. He knew for him to have that, it had to be pushed upon him. This is not something gained within the framework of human experience. He wanted to become a footprint of this unique and non-situational intelligence. So he is the beneficiary of this discernment, of this wisdom, of this knowledge.

In Chapter 2:22 it says, "He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him." Here we have an unbounded intelligence. Any non-situational intelligence would consequently be unbounded. It is also a way of grading kinds of intelligence. Daniel knows that he doesn’t understand deep and hidden things. He doesn’t know what lies in darkness beyond his own senses, beyond his ability to sense what is out there. But God does. He doesn’t have the light dwelling within him, but God does. So he is immediately in verse 22 grading the kinds of intelligence. And he knows God’s intelligence is unbounded. God knows everything on the part where light shines and on the part where no one knows anything except Him. But we are bounded. We are situated intelligences. That is a problem.

What would be most important for us to have? What transformation would be most indicated for us? Suppose it is this. We become footprints of the unbounded, of the non-situational intelligence. To do that, it requires us to walk away from the kind of intelligence that we have depended upon routinely. We need to grade intelligences and know which one is greater and know why we ought to cling to the greater. This intelligence of God is not analogous to human intelligence. He is not like us. So you are not going to find this in bookstores, in libraries, or in ways of relating to the external world. This has to come from an unbounded source.

In verse 2:23, he says, "I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers; you have given me wisdom and power." It is interesting that he says this: "you have given me wisdom and power." Daniel understands that this has been shared with him, that it has been pushed upon him. He continues, "you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king." So his prayer is a non-situational action, and the response that God makes to it is clearly non-situational. Now in verse 2:27, by this time Daniel has contacted Arioch, commander of the king, and he lets him know that he has the answer and is ready for an appointment with the king. So Arioch does this. Now Arioch is not nearly as honest as Daniel is. In verse 2:25, Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and says, "I have found a man from among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means." So he ingratiates himself. Tasteless thing to do, but understandable under the circumstances given the fact that he is a pagan. Now, verse 2:26 says that the king has one question. He is not interested in small talk, and he doesn’t want any foot tapping. He has one question and he wants it answered. It says, "The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), ‘Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?’"

So what is the response that this man is going to make in this very sensitive situation. We are going to see the demonstration of a non-situational intelligence in the middle of a situation. We are going to see the footprint of the non-situational intelligence, which is God, in Daniel. Daniel is going to indicate without saying so exactly that all he is is a footprint. He replied in verse 2:27 "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about"(this is not possible, this is beyond man; it is beyond any situated intelligence—that had already been proven). But he says in verse 2:28, "There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these."

Then he begins to explain the dream. Daniel takes no credit for this whatsoever. He would say, "I am nothing but a footprint. The God of heaven who has given me this knowledge is the one that you owe this too. I am just a servant, a footprint. And as a symbol, I point you to the one who has walked across the wet sand." I have always thought heretofore, that the book of Daniel had to do with prophecies. I no longer can hold that opinion. I believe that the book of Daniel is about intelligence, and about a conflict of intelligence. It’s as if the intelligence of God is always on trial. God is speaking and people are not listening. God has revealed certain things; people don’t think they are important. God has decreed certain things; people will not conform because they think that their intelligence is superior. Certainly Nebuchadnezzar thought he was superior. These young men were picked out because they were intelligent types. All through the book, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and discernment show up as key qualities and we see this demonstrated directly and indirectly all the way through the book of Daniel. I believe it is about the intelligence that comes from God and the conflict, or at least the contrast, that sets itself up against this kind of intelligence.

He is going to explain to the king what this whole thing is about. God has revealed it. He is saying, "This knowledge has been pushed at me and I am giving it to you. So you can consider the knowledge, O king, being pushed at you. I am the intermediary of this." Later he will state this to another king in yet another way. What is going to happen here is this: He will describe for the king (we won’t take the time to read Daniel’s exposition of what this great visage, but it is about unfolding kingdoms through history). Now let us draw a unity. On once side of the page, let’s write "non-situational intelligence." That, of course, is the Lord. This is the God in heaven. Now draw a line at the other end of the line and write "non-situational explanation." There is an extra-situational explanation being given. That is the meaning of the phrase in vs. 28, "there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries." What does he reveal? He reveals meaning that is non-situational or an extra-situational explanation into the situation. Therefore, when we pray, when we ask for guidance, what we are asking for is a non-situational explanation. It has to come to us from God.

Nebuchadnezzar, as we have mentioned before, had the dream, but he did not have the intelligence to understand it. He is concerned about all of this. In verse 2:29, Daniel tells him, "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come (he is told about things after his own time, after his own kingdom) and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen." So he had this, but he did not know how to understand it. In 2:30, Daniel expresses specifically to the king the nature of what he is about to hear. He says, "As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men…" He would deny that he had the intelligence to understand the dream. If you looked at his aptitude, he might score higher on some kinds of tests they set up. But human intelligence is human intelligence. He says that all of the stuff I am about to tell you is beyond anybody’s intelligence, it wouldn’t matter how smart he or she was. He says that he has not been given it because he has greater wisdom than other living men do. He does not claim to be smarter than his enchanters are in that sense. "But so that you, O king, may understand what went through your mind." So this wisdom of man is not greater in an unaided state. Human intelligence is all on the same plane. Without the pushed intelligence of God, which is non-situational, no one is any different than anyone else. In other words, we would all be in the same mess of ignorance without pushed knowledge, pushed intelligence; there is no way to get out. We are closed in, locked down and there is no possibility of escape.

What is wisdom? In Chapter 4, after this incident with the great image, Nebuchadnezzar has another dream. It is the dream of a great tree, and the birds of the air nest in it, and it provides nourishment and protection. But the dream that Nebuchadnezzar has reveals that the tree’s branches will be removed, and it will be cut down at the trunk. Daniel was called in to give the interpretation. He says, "I wish I didn’t have to tell you what this is about. But I do. It’s about you and you have been evil." Then in 4:27, Daniel speaking to the man who at least on the surface ostensibly has control over life and death says to him, "Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue." So this might have been a provisional thing. Perhaps Daniel didn’t know, but the Lord could have turned from his wrath.

A year passes, and Nebuchadnezzar has not repented, has not changed his ways, and the Lord of course then drives him insane. Wisdom, from Daniel’s point of view is acknowledgment of God. That is what wisdom is—acknowledging that we have been pushed upon, or we have been acted upon by the Lord’s intelligence. In verse 4:34-37, the meaning of this vision is fulfilled in Nebuchadnezzar’s life. It says, "At the end of that time, I Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. (A certain kind of intelligence is taking shape again, which he had lost before.) Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever." And then he makes these remarkable statements about the nature of God in contrast to the nature of human dominion. "His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. (Nebuchadnezzar could say mine won’t but his will.) All peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. (And I am nothing in the sight of this God.)

He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’" He is not to be questioned; his intelligence is above all.

In verse 4:36 through the end of the chapter, he makes these other remarkable statements, equally potent about the nature of the Lord that he has come to recognize. "At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble." Wisdom is acknowledging one’s dependence on this unseen God, yielding to the pushed intelligence of God, which is what he was given access to in an indirect way through Daniel, but failed to apprehend.

In Chapter 5, his son, Belshazzar, comes upon the throne. They are involved one night in a drunken party, they bring the goblets from the temple, and they drink out of them and toast their false gods. Then a human hand appears and writes a message on the plaster of the wall. In one version it is translated that the hand writes, "counted" "weighed" "divided." Belshazzar wants to know what this means. Daniel is brought in and he is going to explain this. There is an interesting set of statements in this context.

In 5:20, Daniel reminds him of what happened to his father, Nebuchadnezzar saying, "But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; (there is another manifestation of intelligence—his intelligence was taken away from him) he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes. (This was a message that Belshazzar did not respect) But you, his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself though you knew all this. (He had seen all of these things that had happened to his father and still did not get it.) Instead you have set yourself up against he Lord of heaven. You have the goblets of his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand." There is another manifestation of intelligence. They were toasting entities that do not exist, things that do not have intelligence but are quite conversely, on reflections of the intelligence of man. So again the whole concept of intelligence shows up. Here are gods who do not understand.

In Chapter 6, a new king has come on to the throne: Darius the Mede. Darius has a great deal of respect for Daniel. He is planning to elevate him to a place of key prominence in the kingdom. The administrators and the satraps, the others, who may have been vying for this position, were not happy about that and so they come together in a conspiracy to try to ruin Daniel and get rid of him. But the problem was that they could find no fault with him whatsoever. In 6:4, it says, "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." (Professionally speaking, he is above reproach.) Finally, these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’"

Now there is his connection to God. This is the source of this man’s intelligence. They decide to strike him there. Then certain things start to unfold. They convince Darius to make a decree that no one will pray except to him for a thirty-day period. He falls prey to this kind of thinking. This is a reflection of his own intelligence; that he is being manipulated by these administrators--not for the benefit of the kingdom or the crown--but for their own personal benefit. This is very obvious, as we see how he falls into this trap. They had a peculiar law that once things were written down they could not be changed. So once these things were symbolized, written down, they became greater than the king himself. So they had this put into writing, knowing what Daniel will do—that he would always respond to his God as he had done repeatedly. There was not going to be any change in his behavior. So the decree goes out. Then, of course, they found Daniel praying. They come back (verse 6:13), "then they said to the king, ‘Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.’ When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him." But he could not, because it had been put in writing. He was bound by the restrictions of his legal code.

Darius as an intelligence is manipulated by the administrators and the satraps, by maneuvering him into a position where he puts this decree out which turns him into a god. He wants to believe it so perhaps they appeal to his vanity among other things. He believes this and falls prey to it. As a result of this, his dependence upon his own situational intelligence is going to get his friend in trouble. Once this thing is written, these men are now captive to the symbols that they have put down in writing. Even the king is subject to these things. They knew exactly what Daniel was going to do and what he was not going to do. They knew he would continue to pray to his God. In verse 6:12, "So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: "Did you publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?’ The king answered, ‘The decree stands—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed." So he is now subject to his own symbolism.

That is an interesting thing right there, where people who write these things down as masters over the symbols, then fall down and pray to their own symbols. That is a perfect picture of idolatry. We create the idol, we become the creators of the idol, set it up and then we bow down to it. We create the symbols that control life, that tell us what is right and wrong, what is meaning, and then we bow down to those things. It is an exact replica of idolatry. No wonder the Lord detests idolatry. This is a perfect picture of a people who worship its own set of symbols, its own meaning, the constructs of its own mind, and the constructs of its own intelligence which is purely situational. A great case of this is depicted here. This would certainly describe our country and a lot of other countries and a lot of history could be framed within that general category of people who have written symbols, developed symbols and then bowed down to them and have become subservient to these man-made symbols.

And so, he has to sacrifice his friend, Daniel, an able administrator and a godly man. In 6:16, "So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, "May your god, whom you serve continually rescue you!" (An apparent statement of sincerity, he is hoping for the best). It now becomes a non-conventional situation. The conventions within the kingdom are not going to help him. He cannot be saved by any situational means. Verse 6:17, "A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep."

So they sealed the entrance to the pit and then made certain that the circumstance was frozen, fixed in time. Daniel, of course, was expected to die. That is why they put him in there. In verse 6:19, "At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice (which may tell us something about his concern for Daniel). ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’ (Perhaps he wasn’t able to see into the darkness of the pit where Daniel had been placed, hoping perhaps that he will hear a response.) Daniel answered, ‘O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. (Then he throws it back in the king’s lap.) Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.’"

There are a lot of things in that statement, not the least of which is the fact that Daniel was operating on a non-situational, a non- or extra-legal definition and meaning of what is "right" and what is "wrong" from outside the legal system and outside the situation. This is a position based not on their legal code, but on his relationship to God. From Daniel’s point of view, it was "right" to pray to the living God he served. He did not hurt Darius the king. He did not impede the king’s wishes, nor did he limit any good thing that would be going on in the kingdom. Daniel was operating on an extra-legal, non-situational understanding of what is "right" and what is "wrong." He understood that being thrown in the pit was "wrong." Now legally, according to the Babylonian code, it was "right." That is the way it would have been defined by the men who had written the law. But not from the Lord’s point of view. "Right" and "wrong" are meant to be understood non-situationally, by the intelligence of God. We as Christians must operate on that basis. We don’t make decisions because it is "right" within the context or "right" within a given circumstance or "right" according to man’s symbolic representations. Daniel is saved from the pit based on God’s judgment of what is "right." Later, the situation turns foul for those who had set up this trap for Daniel.

Let us do a little drawing here. On the left-hand side of the page, let’s describe "non-situational intelligence;" and, of course, that is God—a manifestation of eternity. Then let’s draw a long line, maybe even a tube-looking structure that runs from the end of that phrase—"non-situational intelligence" to the right some distance. Let’s mark that tube "pushed" to indicate the movement of God’s action upon the word situation. Then let’s let that tube begin to branch out in two branches. This will serve as the index relationship between "non-situational intelligence" on the left-hand side of the page and what we’ll have on the right-hand side. There are two branches here. One let’s label "non-situational explanations." When Daniel was given wisdom and understanding and discretion to those people who asked of him the answer to certain questions, he was giving them "non-situational explanations." These explanations are purely passive. They were given to Daniel. He didn’t conjure them up. He could not have created them. He admitted earlier to Nebuchadnezzar that he was not the source of these non-situational explanations. The second branch will be labeled "non-situational outcome." Or we might frame that as "non-situational power." Either one of the terms is either synonymous. Now around those two branches let’s draw a big square that encompasses those two branches.

So here’s the picture: We have a non-situational intelligence, which is God, pushing non-situational explanations into the world situation; pushing non-situational outcomes into the world situation. Those non-situational explanations and non-situational outcomes become footprints. They become manifestations of the far greater reality that has created these things. They are not the things themselves; but they refer back to the God who has created them, and who has brought them about.

Here is Daniel in the middle of the world situation. What he has prayed for, what he has asked for is something to be pushed upon him. And what he gets, are non-situational explanations and non-situation outcomes. These are passive because they are not the generated by man. They are created by the Lord himself. Therefore, we say that like footprints, they are passive. Footprints don’t do anything. They just lay there. However, they do symbolize and point back to the one whom left those tracks in place. Non-situational explanations, non-situational outcomes, non-situational power are exactly those kinds of things. They shape our understanding of the world situation.

When Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, ‘I don’t have the wisdom nor does any man have the wisdom to tell you these things, but it was given to me so that you might know." It was given to him so that he might understand; so that he might have this footprint to know what God was doing with him and in the world in which he lived. This is a pushed kind of intelligence. It is going to shape the world of men. In verse 6:26-27, Darius finally comes to acknowledge the intelligence of God and he does so above the intelligence of man.

We must understand that the actions taken by situated intelligence are often referred to as social events. We say this because intelligence is a manifestation of society that we then instill that in our children. We reach conclusions within the world situation as guided by socialization, as guided by the wisdom of others. Therefore, our thinking becomes a manifestation of society in its aggregate form and therefore our thinking is often a social event. We think what everyone else thinks certain things for the same reason that we think those things. Thinking becomes analogous. We might say, "you are wise because you think like us. You are rational because you reach conclusions exactly as do we do." Non-situation intelligence that is pushed into us by God is not a social event. This is a non-situational circumstance because of the wisdom of God that has been pushed into men. It does not result in our thinking like the rest of the world does.

In verse 6:26, Darius makes a decree. "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end." So again, quite in agreement with Nebuchadnezzar, Darius could say that his kingdom would not have dominion forever, but the Lord’s will. "He rescues and saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." Now that is not exactly the whole truth. He might have said a little more than just that Daniel has been rescued from the mouths of the lions. That’s true, but another way of saying that is "that Daniel has been rescued from our clutches. Daniel has been rescued from the manipulations and the collusion and conspiracies of the administrators and the satraps, from our own limited intelligence, befouled as it is by sin. God has rescued him out of our hands and lifted him above all of this."

Nothing that happened in the life of this man in these cases was analogous. These are non-situational explanations and they must remain explained that way and there are non-situational outcomes in his life. That is why when the three young men were thrown into the fiery furnace, they were not consumed. That is a non-situational outcome. That is what we pray for and that is what we ought to be expecting from the Lord. And that is because he is pushing this into the world situation. We are living within the world situation. But we can’t pray non-situationally if we are thinking analogous to the society. If our thinking is nothing but a manifestation of socialization to the culture, or is a social event because we reach conclusions because of the influences that surround us, then it is not a non-situated intelligence. It is not a footprint of God’s intelligence. Now the only way to make sure that that doesn’t happen is if we break the analogous relationship between ourselves and others and our thinking is no longer a social event; and it becomes the shaped by this non-situational pushed intelligence of God.

So when our thinking becomes non-situational, our intelligence becomes non-situational. I would suggest one of the primary problems, if not the primary problem, in local congregational life is that our thinking is a social event that it is framed analogously within what human beings generally consider to be wise. But this is not the case. Darius and Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and there will be others, had to learn that they don’t have control over events. If you take someone down to a fiery furnace, and you throw him in, and you ask what God could save you from my hand, you might get the impression you had control over the events. If you take some guy and bind him hand and foot and throw him into the lions’ den and decree that he is to be dealt with in this way, one might get the impression that he had control over events. Certainly, Nebuchadnezzar felt that he had control over events. Darius believed the same lie. But when you go down to the lions’ pit, and you pull a guy up out of it and he is not affected in any way, this tells us that we don’t have control over events. Or when you take a guy down and throw him into a super-heated furnace and he is not consumed that points to the fact that we don’t have control over events.

Now, in verse 6:21 and following, we get this impression. In 6:23, it says "The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, (and here is the statement of power) because he had trusted in his God." Because he had trusted in non-situational intelligence. He trusted in God for a non-situational explanation to the situation, and he trusted the Lord for a non-situational outcome and that is exactly what he got. We are told this repeatedly throughout the scripture. We are going to have to break the hand that analogous ways of thinking has on us. In Chapter 7, there is a dream that Daniel has. The first fourteen verses give us a vivid picture of something here. We won’t take the time to read all of that, but in this context the kingdom of God is not going to be moved because the God of heaven won’t let that happen.

In 7:13, it says, "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was the one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." You cannot move, you cannot displace the immovable.

In Chapter 8, we find yet another vision. We won’t take the time to read that, but I would like you to notice that Daniel has a particular reaction to this. This is intelligence pushed on him. It is too much for him. In 8:27, it says, "I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding." We can’t know it, Daniel says, unless it is pushed upon us. There are a lot of things that we might want to know, but we are only going to receive what the Lord wants us to know. And he is not going to push everything on us. But what we do need is that which he is willing to share with us. And in general, the things with which we deal are beyond human understanding, although man doesn’t understand that because he refuses to think outside of his social context. He refuses to embrace a non-situational intelligence. The exposure to this kind of non-situational intelligence can be very exhausting.

In verse 9:22, he has another dream. He says, "He instructed me and said to me, ‘Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding." (So Gabriel is going to give him insight and understanding.) Verse 23 is very interesting because it says, "As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision." Now that will show up more than once. He was highly esteemed by the Lord. I can understand why he was highly esteemed. In Chapter 10, the verse that we read earlier (verse 12), we find that he had set his mind to know this non-situational intelligence. He wanted wisdom to be pushed on him and he was willing to displace his own situated intelligence in order to operate on the framework of God. I suppose that this is the basic question. Do we want that connection to God’s intelligence?

In 12:9, at the end of the book, another vision comes and it is also equally difficult for Daniel to understand. "He replied, ‘Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed with the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.’" There is another appeal to the whole conception of intelligence and understanding. Again, it is something outside of the system. Those who want this connection to the non-situational intelligence will get it. That is why I believe that the book of Daniel is not about prophecy, but rather it is about the conflict that takes place between these two manifestations of intelligence. God’s intelligence is always on trial. There are always going to be people who will suffer because of that. Now it seems to me that this is the reason Christians suffer most of the time--because God’s intelligence is on trial. Therefore, since we are manifestations of it, since we are footprints of it, that is why we are being opposed. They are not necessarily persecuting us alone. The Lord has always made us conscious of that. We are suffering on behalf of the Lord. Since we are footprints of this intelligence and not the intelligence itself, certainly we are going to be in the "soup."

So in 1^st Peter, when they are describing the persecution there, the saints are just footprints, symbols of the Lord’s presence. So what it really looks like in the larger picture is that we are not the ones on trial. It is the Lord’s intelligence that is on trial. We are involved with him in proving this intelligence to be all that he claims for it to be. Of course, Jesus was the greatest footprint of all. Jeremiah was a footprint. And Joseph as a totality reacted in his situation as a footprint. What he did when he was in that situation in Egypt was to be pushed upon by God. He knew things and he had insights not because he was smarter than other man, although he had aptitude. God had given him this aptitude and given him this ability to have these dreams and to have this wisdom and understanding in a certain set of events. But that is all he was as a totality. He was a footprint. Now I would suggest that this is what the church is—a footprint. What are we symbolizing? Well we are symbolizing the intelligence of God not just a corporate structure with a certain doctrine, a certain soteriology and a certain ethic. We are looking beyond all of that.

Suppose someone is profoundly depressed? Might the answer be in becoming a footprint, and in reading behind the situation, seeking non-situational intelligence to understand the situation? There are lots of people in this world we know who beat their wives, who have foul tempers and who demonstrate a great deal of anxiety and a great deal of worry. Daniel, as a servant of God, manifested a way that a footprint handles a very touchy situation, where there is a lot at stake and where one does not always have the assurance of certain outcomes. He did that by becoming a footprint. This man, Daniel, is constantly seeing riding above the circumstances, riding above the limitation of others. I don’t know what he looked like in the flesh for sure, and exactly every detail of each of these events, but he gives the impression of a kind of serenity. He knew his God and he trusted in his God; and he had faced many "Maalox moments" in his time in Babylon. And yet he committed himself to becoming only one thing—a footprint and his God supplied the rest. God had protected him, God had assured him, and God had given him wisdom and understanding. He also did that to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Because of that the lives of these men was changed.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to contemplate an understanding of life built on this conceptualization? That our real purpose is just to become a footprint of God’s intelligence. We don’t have control over events. We are here to humble ourselves. In verse 10:12, the verse we have used to indicate Daniel’s motivations and why the Lord had responded to him the way he had, says, "Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them." He wanted a connection to the non-situational intelligence. Now there was only one response as far as Daniel was concerned apparently to the presence and the reality of a non-situational intelligence. That was humility as is stated here. "…you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself…"

That’s the only response—humility. But we don’t have control over events and we can see how these attitudes, these postures are intimately connected with the view of divine intelligence in the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar was a prideful man, and he paid the price for that. Darius was a prideful man and he was manipulated into thinking of himself as a god. Belshazzar was a prideful and arrogant man. These men did not humble themselves. Now when they had written the symbols down and become captive to those symbols. Then later when Belshazzar used the goblets of the temple to make toasts to the gods of silver, gold (symbols of wealth), bronze and iron (symbols of power) and wood and stone which cannot see or understand. He didn’t honor the God that they could not see because to do that one has to be pushed upon and they refused to be pushed upon. These things can be brought together because they are examples that depict this problem of a situational intelligence.

It is a situated intelligence that creates symbols that we end up worshiping; and they are dead and they are lifeless. These gods they had created had no life, had no answer, had no power over events, had no substance to lend to their followers. In the same way, the symbols that created them have no positive results to offer to those who bow to them. We must be careful in terms of the symbolic world that we construct. And the only way we can do that is by clinging to this non-situational intelligence, by becoming such footprints on the sand of this earth symbolizing the intelligence of the living God that runs the universe.