- And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. Daniel 1:19 – These four guys were taken from their homes and for three full years they we taught all sorts of learning and literature. All this was to prepare them to stand before the king to see if they would be of use to him in the future. What we see after all this prep time was they were found to be ten times better at helping the king than even the magicians and enchanters he had around him. While we may not like the situations we find ourselves in and the holding pattern is much longer than we want it to be, lean in deep to whatever you can learn even in these times. These four did and as a result they found their voices being heard by the king, able to speak into the life of the most powerful man in the world at that time. So take advantage of whatever you can be learning now, wherever you are at. It’s our prepping time for whatever is to come next. Who knows what God has in store for our future or who we will be able to speak into. Let’s not let these valuable, yet sometimes difficult, times pass without taking all we can from them to bring into our next chapter so we can do even greater things for God there. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1557
- And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. Daniel 1:19-20 – During the Babylon invasion of Judah, the king of Babylon took many of the young men into his service. He feed them, educated them, and trained them for three years, all to indoctrinate them into the Babylonian lifestyle so they could serve his kingdom well. The above four young men were a few of the ones chosen for such training. While they existed in Babylon for these years, under the training of Babylon, and being forced into the service of Babylon, they never compromised their faith. One commentary said it this way, “They were in Babylon, but not of Babylon.” We too are called to be in the world, but not of the world. While they excelled in their learnings and became greater in the kingdom than any of the other servants, their faith in God remained steadfast. How are we doing at this today? Are we separating from the world? Are we becoming like the world? Are we settling with less than excellence at what God has called us to? If yes is our answer to any of those questions, let us be willing to acknowledge that and ask why that is. We are called to be within the lost world yet living differently than the world does, and fulfilling our God given calling with excellence for Him. So maybe the takeaway from this chapter isn’t to just eat more vegetables. It’s to understand while on this side of Heaven we’re in “Babylon,” but we don’t have to live as Babylonians. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2739
Daily DEVO 