April 25 | Daniel 7: 1-10

---

DAILY READING

Daniel 7: 1-10

---

REFLECTION

When the Beasts Are Loud, The Throne is Louder

By Michael Guastella

It’s not uncommon for me to run through a mini checklist as I lay my head down to sleep: Did I let the dog out? Did I lock the front door? Did I close the garage? Or maybe I unwillingly start to cycle through a list of the things I had left undone from work that day or what I will face tomorrow.  Some or all of this happens most nights for me, as I am sure it does for many people. Kind of annoying, but not the end of the world.  You want to know what doesn’t happen?  Vivid nightmares of a lopsided bear with ribs in its teeth, or a four-headed leopard, or some dreadful creature with a series of ten horns, and one of the little horns pops out and starts talking to me.  That doesn’t happen.  So I suppose, all things considered, my little checklist isn’t so bad after all.

Daniel was not so lucky, as he tells us that this is precisely what came to him in a dream. The beasts were loose in his vision. Arrogant, boastful, ruthless.  They are meant to give us an image of earthy empires and the feeling that the power in the world belongs only to those that are the most brash, loud, unrelenting, and most willing to devour.

Most of us know someone or something that can fit that description and we see it all too often.  We watch the news, we receive a diagnosis, a relationship falls apart – and we feel the shadow of the beast.  Sometimes, it really does feel like that the world belongs to forces larger than us, and those forces have only our failure in mind.

But Daniel’s vision doesn’t end with the beasts.

Suddenly, without any transition, the setting shifts. Verses 9 and 10 paint the picture:

Thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.

Notice here that the beasts didn’t stop raging when the throne appeared. They were still back there, doing what beasts do. But we zoom out, and behind it all, is a throne. Occupied and unbothered.

The Ancient of Days was not in emergency mode. He was not pacing. He had not been caught off guard by anything the beasts had done or said. He was seated — the posture of a king who has already won. This is the vision Daniel needed. And it is the vision we need.

We are not wrong to feel the weight of hard things. Daniel himself was troubled by what he saw. Fear is an honest response to a fearful world. But fear is not the final word. The final word belongs to the One on the throne — the One before whom every boastful horn eventually falls silent.

So, when the beasts in your life are loud today: remember... the throne is louder.

---

PRAYER

Lord, when the beasts are raging at our door, remind us to look past them to the throne. Give us the wisdom to always know that you are in control and that you are the one that has our best interest in mind. Help us remember that you are already seated on the throne and remind us to live in the promise of that, and not of our fear. Amen.

---

---

About the Author

MICHAEL GUASTELLA

I have been a Hilliard resident since 2022, and have lived in Columbus about 11 years. I am originally from the Cleveland area. I work in downtown Columbus as a government affairs consultant. My wife, Rachael, and I have been attending UALC since early 2024.