In a few short days and weeks, I will hit a milestone birthday: I will turn 40 years old. As this big event has been approaching, I have found myself inspired by a character from the Bible, like never before. I want to look at this individual with you; today will basically just be the introduction. Check out these words:
“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and
surrounded it with his army. This
happened during the third year that Jehoiakin was king of Judah. The Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to defeat
Jehoiakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar
took all the dishes and other things from God’s Temple and carried them to
Babylon. He put those things in the
temple of his gods. Then King
Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz, the man in charge of his officials, to bring
some of the boys into the palace to train them…he told Ashpenaz to teach these
young men the language and writings of the Chaldeans. King Nebuchadnezzar…wanted them to be trained
for three years. After that they would
be servants of the king of Babylon.
Among those young men were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from
the tribe of Judah” (Daniel 1:1-6; ERV).
Daniel and his friend’s lives were changed when
Nebuchadnezzar came in and defeated the king of Judah. They were taken from their familiar surroundings
and suddenly found themselves in a pagan nation. But did you notice that the text says: “The
Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Jehoiokim king of Judah” (verse 2)? Nothing happened to Daniel and his three
friends by accident or luck; surprisingly, it was all a part of God’s
plan.
How about you? Has
God allowed something into your life that you never would have expected? Of course we can all point to 2020 and the
covid-19 saga, but we all want to move forward from that. Furthermore, I continue to learn that there
always seems to be another crisis on the horizon. Perhaps a new crisis has entered your life
and it has disrupted your entire way of life.
Maybe you lost your health and physical strength. If you were to ask me, I can emphatically
state that God seems to consistently allow new challenges in my life. It keeps me off balance, but it is one
exciting ride!
For the next few blogs, I want to delve deeper into
Daniel chapter 1. But for today, let me
submit this important truth: God will allow events into our lives that leave us
perplexed. For Daniel and company, it
was being yanked out of their country and thrown into Babylon, a country that
wasn’t just foreign to them; the inhabitants worshipped pagan gods. Talk about a culture shock! What’s more, verse 5 tells us that they were
expected to enter into a three-year training program in Babylonian literature
and then ultimately serve the king.
Despite all this, Daniel knew something that I confess I
have to be continually reminded of myself: God’s will and plan for my life is
infinitely better than anything I could ever dream up on my own. But, as we will see, Daniel doesn’t just
survive in this new life, he thrives! The
fact is while Daniel was in Babylon,
he was not of Babylon. He never lost his faith and trust in God. As I said earlier, Daniel’s example inspires
me. As my 40th birthday approaches, I
want to trust in God, no matter what unexpected life circumstance occurs, just
as Daniel did.
Kevin
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