Most of our attention is given to what we experience in the immediate and when our focus is on this life we can quickly forget the necessary perspective of seeing reality through the life to come. All the glitz and glamour of the finite appears glorious until it is examined in light of the infinite at which point it pales in comparison. Xerxes I looked all-powerful to the casual observer, enthroned in the southern part of modern-day Iran, with a kingdom that stretched from Pakistan to Sudan on the African continent. His palace has been found by archeologists and even from what has survived we can tell that this was an opulent kingdom indeed. Yet, there is much fear and insecurity present, and we know from Daniel (and history) that this empire will be defeated by Greece in a sweeping, spectacular fashion. God is never mentioned in this book but his presence is felt everywhere, and it is the same for us today. May we indeed find courage in God as we live in the midst of his ever-present providence!

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