Daniel- 1st STS study of 2013

Daniel- A Great Picture of God Orchestrating the Continued Visibility of His Name

          Working through the study of Daniel 1 with our STS team and I’m excited and encouraged to continue to see how God is bringing forward His own name to people everywhere- even though His own people have not stayed obedient and loyal to His name.

          Why would a conquering king bring nobility from a conquered nation into his own palace to become his own advisers??  Maybe a strategy to keep exiled Israelites from become restless?  Maybe the exiles would follow their own who were part of the Babylonian government?

          Nevertheless… the result of this decision by the king  brings Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the service of the king.  As a result, God is made visible not only to the King- but to everyone in the nation as well as the Babylonian kings order their people to recognize and follow the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

          There are so many things to take away from studying Daniel.... one of them: seeing how God orchestrates and works to the benefit of His people and His own Name at the Micro-level (with us and our own interpersonal interactions) but also at a Macro-level.  (creating visibility and recognition of His name through the city of Babylon, the Babylonian Empire, and the world)

          Daniel and his friends must have been through quite an ordeal to be conquered and taken away into exile and also to be 'educated' in the Chaldean culture and wisdom.  Yet throughout all this... we do NOT see Daniel or his friends wavering in the commitment and loyalty to God nor do we see them losing ground to bitterness.  If we are to continue forward with God and continue with boldness, conviction, while also managing to counter the effects that bitterness can have on our lives- it will be through the recognition and understanding that God is in control AND does have the best in mind for us.

Prov 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Rom 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

  

The Sovereignty of God and My Response to it

One of the things that Cecil Bean and I talked about as we were down in Savannah GA visiting them was how a 'true-er' understanding of the Sovereignty of God is crucial in helping us continuing to grow and advance in our pursuit of Christ.
One of the major things that cuts down many of us as Christians is bitterness. In our particular ministry and the style of how we do ministry- we are attempting to do things as Christ did in 'picking' our 12 and our core 3 and even our 1 and focusing on them and training them. So.... what happens when I am not one of the 1 picked?? Or even one of the 3.... or even one of the 12 or 70 for that matter? As I see it- we have 2 choices. We can get angry and bitter.... Either at God or at the particular person who did not 'pick' us. But, if we believe that God is in control of everything- meaning that He is SOVEREIGN and that He is orchestrating everything- then I can't get angry with people- ultimately I MUST get angry with God. It doesn't make any sense to... but the 'correct' place to direct my anger and frustration is toward God- not toward people- because God is 'using' people to do a work in my life and to refine me as well. And the 'me not getting picked' experience may be an issue of refinement that God is insisting that I need to go through so that the pride in my heart and mind can begin to melt away. David has a great picture of understanding this...

2 Sam 16:9-10 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head." But the king said, "What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, 'Curse David,' who can ask, 'Why do you do this?'"

As David and his entourage are fleeing the kingdom because of Absalom coming to possibly kill them all- Shimei comes out to curse David and pelt them with stones. David's right hand man, Abishai tells David- let me go over there and take care of this 'dead dog'.... But David says- He may be doing it because God is making him do it- so how can I get mad at the guy- when it may be God's doing?

So the question we need to be asking ourselves is.... "God, what are you trying to teach me through this incident with this person?" Rather than simply playing the highschool game of 'that person just doesn't like me that's why they are doing this or that'. It would make things alot easier on us to go with the latter- but God is expecting and demanding more of us- He is demanding maturity and we cannot mature if we continue to play highschool and excuse ourselves from allowing God to point out issues in our lives that need refining.