We see how Daniel places great emphasis on the omnipotence and kingship of the Lord in his prayer of thanks. This is a great comfort in times when the people of God seem so powerless. We may know that it is God who reigns supreme and we can say in New Testament terms that Christ reigns. World powers and rulers are subject to him and to his plan. The times, the hours, the rulers are all placed under his authority. He alone determines all things.
Daniel also honours the Lord in that he is the only God who sees everything. Nothing remains hidden from him. Daniel is now experiencing this. The Lord himself is light, there is no darkness in him, and there is no evil in his presence. With his divine light he sees through everything! See Psalm 139:1–14. The Lord, who has all wisdom and distributes it to whom he wills, deserves all honour, especially now as he answers Daniel’s prayer about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the explanation of it.
We do well to look more closely at Daniel’s prayer of thanksgiving in these verses. The fact that Daniel praises the Lord in the environment where he now lives is striking, since he lives where the heavenly bodies and the stars are worshipped as gods. The God of the heavens is not a celestial body. Any reading of the stars does not give true revelation. It is the Lord who created everything in creation by his command, and who determines the course of everything in this universe. He can change the course of any star and any celestial body as much as he wants, even though we have no explanation for it. This God now makes known to Daniel a part of his plan.
Why does Daniel bless the God of heaven? We note the following motives (continued in the next verses):
To him belong wisdom and might.
Wisdom and power are God’s property. He is the source of it and distributes it to whom he wills when he wills. Without God, no one gets the wisdom and power they need.
20 Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.