Section I.
Passage: Daniel 1:1-7
Application: Life is full of change.
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family[a] and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
Now, a lot just happened in these seven verses. We got introduced to a few kings and a couple of important events. In seven verse we’re told that one nation, named Babylon ruled by a man named Nebuchadnezzar has conquered a land named Judah which was ruled by a man named Jehoiakim. We’re told that a young man named Daniel is taken with many other young men to be trained to become servants in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. He’s given a new name, a new place to live and new food to eat. On the surface that doesn’t sound too bad. But think for a moment about what these verses are describing. What just happened is an entire country was destroyed. Imagine aliens coming to earth and destroying all the things that were important to you. Your house, your school, your church, your family, your friends, your iphone are all of a sudden gone. Try and think of yourself as Daniel and think about how you’d be reacting right now. I know we all go through some rough times but I don’t think anyone here has had to deal with anything like what Daniel is going through at this time. To make it even worse, Daniel didn’t even do anything wrong. Look at the description of Daniel in verse 4. “ 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.” He didn’t ask for this. He wasn’t out causing trouble. He was a kind, smart, respectable young man and his life literally burns to ashes around him. Think about the tough stuff in your life compared to the tough stuff in his life. I know I can get mad about the silliest things. A few nights ago I was lying in bed, falling asleep and I hear this buzz, buzz buzz noise. So I spend the next ten minutes trying to kill this house fly that just wanted to hang out with me. The little bugger just wouldn’t die. God was teaching me patience or something. I never even got him. I ended up turning on a light in the other room and when the fly left I closed the door. I went back to bed angry, at this fly, at myself, at the whole situation. Stupid stuff, but we do let the silly things destroy our peace and make us grumpy. I just imagine myself in Daniel’s shoes. I know I’d be having a really hard time being thankful if I were him.
The point here is that life happens and it’s hard. It’s not always our fault. You’ll get flat tires, your feelings will be hurt by people you love, teachers won't always be fair. These things happen, they are hard, and that’s ok. So your application for these seven verses is just this. “life is a big mystery, a lot happens that we don’t understand or like which is why we can be glad that God is in charge and we are not.” We can waste our energy thinking about a lot of things that really don’t matter. God is big enough to handle all the situations life has. Whether it’s as small as a fly buzzing in my bedroom or as huge as a nation conquering another nation Each of us are in the middle of some transitions. Probably none are as drastic as what Daniel is going through but we each have our own difficult things we’re dealing with. I was reminded of this scripture from I Peter when I was writing this. Peter says, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” God knows when we are suffering. He also knows the fastest way out of suffering is to keep doing good and trust the things we don’t understand to him.
Daniel is certainly suffering and we’ll see how in the next verse he entrusts himself to God and continues to do good.
Section II.
Passage: Daniel 1:8
Application: Obey God especially in the small things.
8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank.
You have Daniel in the middle of an unfair really hard situation. He’s living in a new place, having to learn a new language, he’s grieving the death or loss of all his family and friends. Now a new challenge is added. He’s told to do something against God’s law. The Old Testament commanded Jews not to eat certain types of meat. You learn who a person really is when they are told to do something they know is wrong. Daniel is in a really rough place and he has to decide am I going to do what I know God wants me to do or am I going to skip and let God forgive me later. It’s not even that big of a deal. It’s just an issue of food. God has told his people in the Old Testament don’t eat certain foods. And now Daniel is being offered these foods. Can you imagine all the excuses Daniel can come up with so that He can eat the food? “I’m not in Israel anymore, so I don’t have to follow Israeli law.” “These cooks aren’t jews, how am I supposed to expect them to cook jewish food?” “It’s just a piece of meat, God created all meat so it must be ok?” “I don’t want to be judgmental of the people eating the meat so I’ll just eat it with them to make them comfortable.” It’s easy to come up with excuses to do what we know is wrong.
Daniel doesn’t listen though to any of the excuses that are there. He just does what He knows is the right thing. The scripture says he resolved to not defile himself with the king's food. He resolved even though he didn’t know what would happen. He just knew what the right thing was. Even though he was tired because life had become so hard I’m sure he was confused by all the new things he had to deal with. In the middle of all this sin came up to him and said, just have a little, you’ll feel better. I know sin does that to me alot. It comes up all quiet and unassuming saying things like, “just relax,” “it’s not a big deal,” “you deserve a break” Sin is not very bossy, it’s usually just sneaky. It convinces us to ignore God in the little things. This is the toughest and simplest lessons from Daniel’s life. Obey God in the small things. It’s not a complex idea, it’s just really hard. It’s not as difficult to say no to the really big sins. If someone walks by that you don’t like, you’re not going to just go and slap them. That would be ridiculous and we all know that. It’s harder though when we start talking about the little things. Like the things we do when nobody is watching. The thoughts we think that no one will ever see. I want you to know it’s these small battles that can create heroes or destroy people. It’s important for you and for me to eat well, to sleep right, to be clean and organized, to work hard, to discipline our thoughts and emotions so that they are tools for us to use instead of slave masters telling us what to think and what to feel Your feelings are one of the most amazing gifts God has given you. They are powerful and beautiful and motivate us to do great things. Most people, though spend their lives being controlled by emotions instead of being in control themselves. They feel like staying in bed so they stay in bed, the don’t feel like praying so they don’t pray. Do you think Jesus felt like dieing for us on the cross? Did He enjoy the pain of suffering for our sin? Absolutely not but in Hebrews 12 we’re told “for the joy set before him, He endured the cross.” He didn’t feel like suffering but He knew that it was worth it. He knew that you and me were worth it. So He suffered for me and He suffered for you and He set an example that we might follow in His steps. Do you follow in His steps or do you just thank Him for forgiving you and go right on doing all those things you know He despises? Alot of people are always waiting to do something really big and important and forget about all the small and medium size stuff that happens everyday. They want to be a hero, they want to save the galaxy or kill the bad guy. They forget though about all the training that goes into being a hero. God made you, he gave you a life to live. He didn’t make you for one day, to do something really great. He made everyday of your life, and everyday is an opportunity for you to do great things for the one who made you. Would God be proud of your life as it is? Or if you gave someone a life and they lived it the way you live yours, would you be glad you gave it to them?. When God looks in your room, is He happy that He gave you all the stuff you have? Or does He see things piled all over the place, not being used. When God looks at your internet history, does he see you working hard to become a better person or does he see hours and hours of mindless youtube videos and pornography and intellect draining garbage? When God looks at your friendships, does He see you investing in people and building them up, encouraging them and loving them. Or does he see a bunch of social vampires, boy and girls just feeding off each other to make themselves feel better?
Daniel is someone who God is proud of. Daniel makes the right decision and let’s see how God responds.
Section III
Passage: Daniel 1:9
Application: Look for God to manifest himself as a result of your obedience
8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. 9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,
God, gave Daniel favor and compassion. This is God we’re talking about, the creator of the universe. He comes down, He gets involved in Daniel’s little life and says, “you obeyed me so I’m going to help you out.” It’s amazing. It’s absolutely wonderful. Have you ever had that happen to you? Have you seen God show up in your life and do things? He says that He will. He says in John 14:21. Whoever has my commands and keeps them, he it is who loves me and he loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. In this passage and in many others like it, God is promising that He will be involved in our lives if we obey him. He wants to be apart of things with us. He wants us to talk to Him about our concerns, or worries our doubts. He says in Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything but in all things by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving bring your requests to God” He doesn’t say, bring your requests when someone is sick or just when their is a war. He says, “all things” You’re work, your school, your family, your friends, your feelings. The God who is in heaven really does love you, He really does care and he really does know how life is meant to be lived. He created life, He wants to show you how to live. So he says obey me and I will help you.
One quick example of this. I was working at an eventing stable a few months ago. I got to live with this great english girl, super smart, very hard-working, and really kind but she wasn’t a Christian. From the first day I had been praying, God give me ways I can minister to her, give me ways to show her how awesome You are. Before work one day we were having our cup of tea and she said how nice it would be if it rained that day, so we could end work early. We had been working a couple twelve hour days in a row and she was just so tired. And in the moment, it just seemed like a good idea so I said, “look I know the weather says zero percent chance of rain but I’ll ask the man upstairs about it and we’ll see if He’ll let it rain for us.” She laughed and was like “sure sure you do that.” So we started our day and as I’m cleaning stalls and grooming horses I’m just talking to God. “Hey God, it’s me, I know I’m not the best person around, I definitely don’t deserve you doing anything special for me but I have this friend and she’d like it to rain. If you don’t mind, I know you can make it rain, I’d really like for you to do that. I know you’ll do what is best but I figured I’d ask and just let you decide. Thanks for listening, I’ll talk to you again later.” So a few hours go by and nothing is happening. Then I’m working out by the pony barns and I start to hear a pit patter and a pat pitter on the roof. Drip, drip, drip slowly the rain starts to pick up and it rains for the rest of the afternoon until we finish work. So we got to finish work a little early and it was nice. She didn’t become a Christian, nothing amazing happened it was just me and God talking, God did something really cool for me, I got to do something nice for this girl and who knows maybe later on she’ll think back to it and realize, “wow, that God that Caleb prayed to really does answer prayers, maybe I should try talking to Him sometime.”
The point is, God is here, He is not silent and He does reward those who earnestly seek Him. This is about you. You all are growing up, life is happening to you and God is asking you, “come to my school of life and let me teach how you thrive.” As I’ve gotten older and traveled a little most people I’ve met are just surviving. They live life just trying to be happy, not really understanding what’s going on, they are rarely really satisfied. God created us to thrive. Jesus says in John 10 that He came so that we might have life and have it abundantly.
The rest of the book of Daniel has several other stories which tell how Daniel continued to obey and God continued to provide. The books tells the story of over fifty years of abundant life Daniel was able to live because He obeyed God, even in the small things. Everyday God calls us to Him, everyday He says, come and drink of the water of life. Come follow me. Come and live the abundant life I have created for you. On the surface it will look different for each of us. For you obedience may mean fasting a meal once a week. For you it may mean apologizing to your parents for complaining so much. For you it may mean buying your sibling a gallon of ice cream. Obedience to God takes many forms but inside, in the heart it always looks the same. It begins with humility, we must come to God everyday and confess our sins and then listen for Him to tell us the things He wants us to do that day.
A great old hymn was written about Daniel. The refrain is,
Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known.
God has given us each a great life to live and power to change our world. When the old Christians used to come into cities the people would say,“watch out, here come the men who turned the world upside down. God used Daniel to turn his world upside down because of Daniel’s faithfulness and obedience. If you and I are faithful and will obey God will use us to bring His Kingdom, here to earth as it already is in heaven. If we will dare to be like Daniel God will provide you with everything you need to thrive, to live with peace and love in the middle of any and every transition life can throw your way. .
I so love you guys. Let’s pray.