Daniel

This morning I finally began the book of Daniel. I so look forward to this short book each time I get to it. I want to slow down so I don't miss anything as I read it. What's often hard for me to do is to see not just the words on the page, but what isn't written. What is said also tells me more than I see sometimes. Maybe I am strange, but as I read the word of God I read the "white spaces" too looking for the things that are implied by what I read. Here's a few thoughts about chapter 1 of Daniel.

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Daniel 1:8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.

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Daniel, a good Jewish boy, in the midst of a horrible situation decided to please God if it were at all possible. He decided to obey the word of God, the food laws, and walk with God in a foreign land...as a captive slave of Babylon. In the darkest days he chose to follow God. There were a number of Jewish young men in this group, but out of them all only four decided to walk with God. Here's God's response-

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Daniel 1:15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

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By their obedience to God they found results they never asked for or planned for. They found God's favor and blessings. Because of their choice to follow God, even in the midst of God's judgment, they saw God's blessing and favor in their lives. When things are difficult, as I imagine they were for Daniel and his friends, it's easy to go along with the crowd, to abandon beliefs and faith, but for the few (and it's usually just a few) who walk with God they find that it's worth the price. God is watching. The bible says he watches our choices. It does make a difference how we live. God is not only watching, but he is working in the lives of his people to glorify his name by our choices. It's often hard to see how God could solve our problems. I'm sure Daniel wondered how God could work in the midst of what he was living through, but he does. He is alive and well on planet earth and working in the lives of his children.

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What's interesting to me is that the only men talked about in Daniel were the four who followed God. The other Jewish men in captivity with them quickly disappear into history, but those who follow God are never forgotten. Their stories live on. I wonder....what will God do in our lives as we follow him?

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