And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves….Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. – Daniel 10:7, 12 The picture that is being painted by Daniel in this chapter is simple: he had images, dark blurry visions he didn’t quite understand. The biggest question he had was what he was supposed to do with those vague inclinations of things that he sees and fills his heart and mind. In verse 2, Daniel says he was so distraught over what he was supposed to be doing with these visions that he went into mourning. He continues on to say in verse 3 that the “mourning” caused him to stop eating– that is, he deprived himself of eating nothing except to keep himself alive so that he can inquire of God and spend time inquiring of God the meaning of the vision. I can probably guess or tell you right now that some of us are deeply distraught, to the point of mourning, about the vision of our own futures. There is so much thrown into the air and left up for grabs and we just don’t know with any amount of certainty or even confidence whether we’re jumping into loops of fire for the vision God puts into our hearts or if it’s some bad joke. The good news is that there is a way to get a moment of clarity. This moment of clarity only comes when you stand firm and hold the course of seeking God’s will through the uncertainty. We learn from Daniel 10:12 that God is listening from the very onset you humble yourself enough to seek God for an answer to the vision He has for you. In fact, not only does God hear your words, your pleas, your cries, He responds to them. He is sending you messages back. I know for many of us, we just can’t see it. We just don’t get it. We just don’t want to accept the message. That is not uncommon. Some of us have even received a moment of clarity from God and shirked back from it. I would even say that some of us even fled the scene of the vision and the place where God sends His answers and we wonder why we can’t find God’s favor where we are hiding. That is not acceptable! Daniel wasn’t blessed because he was more holy or pious than the rest of us. He was blessed and favored by God because he humbled himself and asked God for a moment of clarity and was brave enough to stand and wait for God’s answer. When everybody else fled the scene of God’s response, he was the only one left to be favored. This morning I want you to humble yourself and ask God for clarity. I pray that you and I are bold enough and brave enough to face God’s response because you will need His favor to live into God’s vision for your life.