“To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.” Daniel 2:23
Daniel continues his prayer of thanks- giving to God for answering the boys prayer. God has worked with others (Joseph for example) to
interpret dreams but there has never been a situation where one had to reconstruct a dream God gave to another person and then interpret it. Daniel’s heart is filled with praise not solely because God answered his prayer but because he sees anew the greatness of the God he serves.
Now as Daniel turns to the last half of his prayer, his thanks is to God for what he did for Daniel. It is recorded at the end of Daniel 1 that God gave Daniel a special gift of understanding dreams. Up until this circumstance we have no evidence Daniel ever used that gift. In fact it may not be until this event that Daniel realizes that God has given him this ability. Whatever the case, we see his heartfelt thanks to God for using him in this way.
To you, O God of my fathers Daniel recognizes God as the God of his fathers, the God of the covenant with Israel. Why is this important? Israel is in captivity yet Daniel acknowledges God keeps His promises to His people. Despite Israel’s rebellion against Him. Just as God keeps His promises to Israel, He also keeps them to the king’s slave, Daniel.
I give thanks and praise Daniel offers God his sacrifice of praise from his heart. He offers God thanksgiving. He is the recipient of God’s actions on his behalf and he is truly thankful for what God has done. Yet one can be thankful to another but not really respect or admire that person. Daniel makes it clear that is not the case. He offers his (personal) praise to God.
For you have given me wisdom and might Daniel thanks God for His gift. He entrusts his child with His very own attributes. Daniel may not have fathomed up to this point what God was doing but he can see God working in and through him. There is an important point here. Daniel praises God for showing him the kings dream before he shares it with the king. Daniel does not know if Nebuchadnezzar will say this is his dream or not. Thus we see Daniel’s great faith in God who told him the dream. Daniel needs no further verification. God said it, he believes it. So he immediately thanks God for the answer to his prayer.
And have now made known to me what we asked of you Daniel is experiencing what God did for his fathers. He answered their prayers and He is doing that for Daniel also. Daniel is learning the great truth that God loves him and will be faithful to him also. There comes a point where the faith of our parents must become our faith. The relationship with God is built on a personal relationship with Him. Daniel praises God that He is faithful to him (personal). God hears and answers Daniel’s prayers as He did Abraham’s, Moses’ or David’s.
For you have made known to us the king’s matter Daniel gives God the credit, the glory. He alone has the wisdom and power. He also can chose to reveal it to man. As Daniel thinks on what God has done, his heart is filled with praise. As he thinks about what God has done he probably begins to realize that God has constructed the entire
situation to place Daniel in the immediate presence of the king. He will learn, as the years go on, God’s major reason for doing this is so that an evil king might repent of his sin and believe in the living and true God. “God is not willing that ANY should perish.”