Christian Devotional – July 18, 2026

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 43

Messages in the midst of darkness. Read Daniel 7:1-8.

Starting Daniel chapter 7, we understand that we are not moving directly through time. This chapter happens chronologically, before Daniel ends up in the lions den. It even happens before the handwriting on the wall that we saw earlier in Daniel chapter 5. This chapter takes place during the reign of the king who ultimately saw the hand writing on the wall. That’s an important fact to keep in mind because as we were reading that chapter, we saw just how godless the people had become at that time. That king had no interest in following God or in recognizing who he is, or what he had done.

That must have felt like a dark time for Daniel. As a follower of Christ, seeing times when there is nothing happening that would be glorifying can be very challenging. Looking at Daniel’s situation, he was advisor to someone who had no desire to be advised. We can find ourselves in really difficult situations where we just don’t feel needed. We don’t feel wanted. We don’t feel understood. We don’t think anyone agrees with us. We feel alone.

Being in a position of leadership can be tremendously lonely at times. Being the one person who can see the truth of situations and yet, not having anyone around who believes or understands, is one of the most challenging situations that leaders face. Daniel continued to turn to God and God continued to speak to Daniel. We can’t lose sight of the fact that it doesn’t matter our circumstances, we need to continue to do what God has us to do, be faithful to him, and not worry about any of the other circumstances around us.

Daniel was continuing to receive a messages from the Lord and we will too. We need to continue to be listening for them and to be focusing on God, even through the dark times.

Watch the video devotional here: https://youtu.be/oU4LSu9SDlA