Daily Devotional For Monday, September 7, 2026
Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional reading for today comes from Daniel 8. We are not going to look at this whole chapter but select one of the strange visions Daniel has recorded in this chapter. Have you ever had one of those terrible days where you thought, “I should have never got out of bed!”? Maybe you can relate to a little boy named Alexander. He had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day:
“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there is gum in my hair when I got up this morning. I tripped on the skateboard and dropped my sweater in the sink when the water was running, and I could tell it was going to be a horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day. In the carpool, Mr. Gibson let Becky have the seat by the window and Audrey and Elliot got seats by the window too. I said I was scrunched. I said I was smushed. I said, “If I don’t get a seat by the window I am going to get carsick.” Nobody even answered me. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. There were two cupcakes in Phillip Barker’s lunch bag and Howard got a Hershey bar with almonds, and Paul’s mother gave him a jelly roll-up that had little coconut sprinkles in the top, and guess whose mother forgot to put dessert in his lunch. It was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. There were lima beans for dinner. I hate lima beans. There was kissing on TV. I hate kissing. My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad pajamas. I hate my railroad pajamas. And when I went to bed, Nick took back the pillow he said I could keep, and my Mickey Mouse night-light burned out and I bit my tongue. The cat wants to sleep with Anthony and not me. It has been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day” (Source: Judith Viorst, Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” pp.1, 4, 10-11, 23, 25).
For the visions that Daniel has, it will be so disturbing that he even faints from receiving them and it takes the Archangel Gabriel to wake him up. All of Daniel 8 is less about the visions and their meanings and more on trusting God when times get very difficult because He is in control. When Daniel has his first vision, he is standing beside the Ulai Canal (Dan. 8:2). This was a man-made canal later called Eulaeus. In this vision, Daniel saw a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day coming for God’s people but with hope. This vision is about the rise of two future empires: the Persian Empire and the Greek Empire under Alexander The Great.
With the rise of the Persian Empire in 539 BC, all the major wrath by God on HIs people is going to come to an end. In 537 BC, the King of Persia allowed the Jews to return to their homeland in Palestine under Nehemiah and Ezra. They have been living in captivity for 70 years, so by this time, these are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those forced to walk across the desert and live as slaves in Babylon in 606 BC, 598 BC, and 586 BC. They have never seen the homeland. Some of them will not want to leave because where they were living, they had jobs, a home and community. They are more comfortable staying with what they know than risking traveling into something they do not know. If you have ever had to move for example from one state to another or from the USA to another country (ex. military), you understand the stress and hardship that is even if you desire to move.
The challenge in reading Daniel 8 is to read into this text what it does not say. Some read for example Daniel 8:18-19 and when they see the words “the end of time,” they assume it is referring to the Second Coming. It is not. This “the end of time” refers to two historical events: the Persian Empire allowing in 537 BC the Jews the opportunity to return home and second, the end of time of Antiochus Epiphanes (215 BC – 164 BC), who slaughtered a pig on the altar in the Temple in the Holy of Holies.
This so angered the Jews that a pair of brothers called the Maccabean brothers led a revolt and defeated the Seleucid Empire under Antiochus. And for the next 100 years, Israel was a free and independent nation (164 BC – 64/63 BC). In 63 BC, Rome conquered Israel. To read anything else into these visions is to miss the point of Gabriel’s interpretation to Daniel and it will confuse others with its actual meaning. The four horns refer to the Persian Empire,the Greek Empire, The Seleucid Empire and Roman Empire. They do not refer to Russia, China, Iran, and USA today as some claim. Daniel’s visions here have to do more with God working to get His people back to Israel so that in the future, the Messiah, Jesus could and would be born.
God told Daniel how long this would take and many times, when we are having a bad day or year, God does not tell us how long it will last. We are prone to ask God, “How long will I be unemployed?” Or, “How long will I be in this horrible, no good, very bad marriage?” Or, “How long God do I have to live with this sickness or disease?” God told Daniel when the Temple would be restored: in 2,300 evenings (Dan. 8:13-14). This happened in 516 BC under Zeurrubbabel. This same sanctuary or Temple that was restored in 516 BC was there when Jesus came. How does all of this relate to us today?
First, those who lived past Daniel would know that one day the Messiah was coming. God had not abandoned them totally. This means as we read the Scriptures we are reminded that one day Christ’s Second Coming will take place. God will bring all His children home for good. Second, until then, we must trust that God is in control when we are in one of those “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.” Third, Antiochus Epiphanes called himself a god and just like God ended Antiochus Epiphanes’ mockery of the Holies of Holy with a sacrificial pig, God is going to end evil, death and sin forever (Rev. 20-22). There has been and is only one God. His name is Jesus Christ.
Reflection Assignment: What is it you keep asking God concerning how long you must be in a certain situation? Why do you not want to trust God and leave it with Him? What do you think is the hardest part in waiting on God in situations like this?
Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. (6) Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, help me to trust You when I am waiting in one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad citations. I do not want to whine, complain or take matters into my own hands. I just need You to tell me what to do while I am waiting. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly