When I read about Daniel, I’m intrigued. When our children leave home for college, they usually attend a college of their choice and often have a course of study in mind.
When Daniel left home, it wasn’t to attend college in the sense we know it, but there are similarities. He didn’t get to choose the college of his choice, he was taken by the Babylonians from his home. He and others were taken to new surroundings, in a new land, away from everything they’d grown up and known.
He and the other ‘new’ students, were expected to learn a new language, culture, the literature of the area, different curriculum than he would have chosen and thus a new educational major and/or minor over the next three years! He and others were even given new names! These ‘students’ were expected to completely transform from what they were accustomed to and accept their new station in life.
Daniel, who was considered a quick learner, did well. He didn’t, however, forget where he came from or about the God he believed in! Regardless of the struggles facing him, he was dedicated to a positive attitude and considered this event to be an opportunity to gain insight in ways he could use the new found information, to serve his Lord. He believed God had a plan; a good plan!
His belief and faith in God drove him to set personal goals and resist those temptations Satan would hurl at him in this new environment. He gently made a case for eating the correct food rather than being coerced into eating foods he believed would defile him before God. He made commitments and decisions that were hard and went against the grain, yet kept the ‘powers that be’ at bay.
There were those, however, who set out to ‘bring Daniel down’! They convinced the king to make a decree that everyone would only bow before him (the king) and to no other God. Daniel, prayed about this, and decided he wouldn’t change a thing regarding his devotion to the one and only Living God.
Ultimately he was thrown into the lion’s den, but the lions mouths were shut and did not harm him. Daniel knew the consequences of disobedience to the king. He had studied the culture and understood that hearts were not turned to his God, but knew God would take care of the matter.
In the years before this, what I would have considered a 'harrowing event’, Daniel prepared to serve his God regardless of the circumstances. His preparation and confidence in God, got him through because God had a plan. He used this event to show us ‘nothing is impossible with God’. Realistically Daniel should have immediately been viciously devoured by the lions, but wasn’t.
Do we study God’s Word so intently that we know it and have faith like Daniel had; that God is all powerful? It’s so much easier to cower under the pressure. Our world is upside down and inside out with evil lurking in every corner! I want faith like Daniel had!
To have this kind of faith, however, I need to be dedicated to study—- to the study of God’s word! I heard a pastor say once we aren’t only accountable for what we know in the Bible——but also for what we don’t know! I want to be prepared for whatever comes my way. Will you join me in study, as we prepare to serve?
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