Week 2 Daniel 1:5-16

Thanks for coming this week everyone: Katie H., Sarah (welcome to 3rd Night), Amy, Pastor D., Katie K., Luke, Justin, Kevin, Lydia, Maddie (my oldest daughter) and me. :o)

This week we continued in the book of Daniel and talked about faithfulness and obedience to God.

How can we be faithful when there are so many things that can draw our attention away from how God really wants us to live?

We read in this passage that after King Nebuchadnezzar had chosen these gifted young men, that he set aside for them a portion of the king’s food and wine to eat and drink.
(that would be like someone giving us a buffet of pizzas and burgers and pop and candy and chocolate and ice cream and everything we could possibly imagine.) But Daniel and his friends go and do something that most of us probably wouldn’t consider doing. Instead of eating all this food given to them by the king, Daniel and his friends insisted they only be given vegetables and water. Everyone else can have the king’s food.

Daniel and his friends were able to confidently and respectfully make their request to the king to test them, because they knew that God would be faithful.

Katie H. pointed out that so many times we feel like we immediately have to get defensive when someone does or says something that we know or feel is completely wrong. Like when Amy said she went off on one of her friends when she thought that they were being rude to someone else.

How should we act? What’s the right thing to do? How do we find the right words? And then, how do we follow up our words with right actions?

There was something here in this passage that got my attention in regards to how Daniel responded to the king. It wasn’t that Daniel just told the king “No” and refused to eat the food. What stuck out in my mind was that Daniel wasn’t rude or rebellious about any of it. He was respectful and humble when he declined the king’s offering.

How do we know how God wants us to live our lives, and how do we live the way He intended us to live? In the New Testament, if we read John 13:12, it says that after washing the disciples feet, Jesus asks them if they understand what He has done for them?” Then He says, blessed are you if you do this.

What Jesus is saying here is that it’s good to know the truth, but you will be blessed if you live in truth.

I don’t think that it’s a matter of just KNOWING how to be a Christian or knowing what the Bible says, but it’s knowing and DOING what the Bible says that matters when you’ve committed to living your life as a Christian.

You might see people all the time who say they are Christians and who say they believe that the Bible is God’s word, but do they act like it?

Sometimes situations can be so difficult to deal with when they’re happening right now. It’s like when I’m driving down the road and the guy in the car next to me swerves and cuts me off. It makes me so angry, but at the same time…I have this choice. I can either scream at him (which may make me feel better, but it does nothing to help the situation), or I can just let him get past and stay out of his way.

As we read our Bible, God gives us understanding that He is in control of what is happening. Jeremiah 27 says, “With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.”

God was in control of everything that happened to the Israelites. God is also in control of everything that happens in our own lives.

I was listing to something today that reminded me of the discussion we had last night. I was listening to a speaker named David Cook, a Scottish Apologist, and he was talking about the story of the rich young man who all his life had kept God’s commandments. He asked Jesus what he should do to gain eternal life, and Jesus tells him to sell everything he has, give to the poor and follow Him. Then the rich young man turned and sadly walked away. Even this man who spoke directly with Jesus felt free to say “no” to Him.

So remember, that if people felt free to say no to Jesus, they will also feel free to say no to me and to you. Jesus gives people the freedom to reject Him. God gives people the freedom to say no to Him. We too should understand that people have the freedom to reject what we say and what we do. That’s OK.

See you next week!