God's Word makes me sick - Daniel 7-12

As we read these famous six chapters of Daniel we can find ourselves in the midst of murky prophesy and lost in the sea of the unknown. These are heavy words, hard to understand and match the Book of the Revelation toe to toe for difficulty. As we read them we might easily become distracted, bored, confused, or even frustrated. But, when you heard the words of Daniel (and, actually the visions from God) did you get sick to your stomach, pale and so depressed you needed a mighty angel to come to minister to you? That is exactly what happened to Daniel. When Daniel saw the vision of God and heard the explanation he became physically sick and psychologically disturbed. Read again 7:28 and 8:27. In 9:3-5 he throws himself to the ground in confession and supplication. In 9:20 he is lost in the sea of confession for sin as a result of these visions. In 10:8 he is said to be depleted of all strength. In 10:9 he actually falls into a deep sleep. Now these are unusual responses to the hearing of God's Word. Can you imagine someone coming up to the Pastor after a Sunday morning message has been delivered and telling him that the Word of the Lord delivered that day made them diseased, depleted, depressed and in a state of despair? I think most preachers would take that as an insult. But, when God delivered this vision to Daniel that is how he felt. God's Word has that affect on us when we see the entirety of His plans. Even, like Daniel, when we don't actually know the details and understanding of the plan, we can get sick. Are we really seeing God's Word and the Plans of God to get the real feelings of what God is trying to say? If every time you leave an encounter with God's Word in a happy state you might not be fully seeing God's Word.