Dare To Be a Daniel

We’ve all heard the phrase from the children’s song “Dare to be a Daniel”.  And Daniel certainly was daring or brave in the face of persecution. But while reading through this passage this morning, God brought my attention to another attribute Daniel shows us. Daniel was confident, not in himself or his own abilities, but in God. In the first chapter of Daniel, he finds himself in a dilemma. It’s the kind of dilemma that is not of his own making & one that could have dire consequences if he chooses the wrong action. But because Daniel trusts God, he confidently chooses to obey God in the face of this dilemma rather than man.

You see, Daniel is told what he must eat. And it’s not bad, undesirable food. In fact, it’s the best of land. But it’s from the worldly kings table, a king who does not honor the only true & living God, & Daniel wants to honor God. So, Daniel makes the decision to not partake of what the world around him offers, makes his stand known respectfully to the king’s servant who is now in charge of his daily life, & then confidently sticks to his decision. How often I wish I would have stuck with my God-honoring, right decisions after I have caved, either to my own flesh or to the pressure of the world around me.

When Daniel politely requested to be served simple foods instead of the delicacies ordered by the king, the eunich looked at the circumstances & was fearful. But Daniel invited him to try God & see. I love that! He wasn’t rude or obnoxious about it. He simply asked him to try God’s way & see the results. Daniel had confidence that if he was obedient to his true King’s commands that He would honor Daniel’s faithfulness to Him & that the non-believer would see the fruit. Daniel chose to quietly obey God & trusted Him with the outcome.

This speaks to me on so many levels. Right now it speaks to me about food. You see, I’m in the middle of living out a call to obedience regarding food. I’ve chosen to obey God, but at times I’ve faltered & made choices that went against the food plan God gave me. I’ve struggled with food addiction for many years. At times I’ve tried to make changes, but I have no will power to do it on my own for any sustainable amount of time. So, God finally told me to do it, or He was going to make me do it. Since I was pre-diabetic with my last pregnancy & my mother is diabetic, that got my attention. To be honest that scared me. I have to realize that He has a plan for my life, but it’s up to me to choose to follow it, to choose to be the healthiest version of myself so that He can do the work through me that He has planned. Henry  T. & Richard Blackaby say in their book “Experiencing God Day-by-Day, The Devotional and Journal” that Daniel “knew that to make his life useful to God he must be obedient in all things. Regardless of what the most powerful king in the world commanded, Daniel refused to compromise what he knew God required of him.” What a quiet reserve & strength Daniel possessed to be able to choose obedience to God rather than a powerful man in the face of possible tragic consequences. But it wasn’t because of awesomeness on Daniel’s part that made him able to take that stand & stick to it. It was because his confidence was in God & His ability to control the outcome to accomplish His will through Daniel’s obedience. So, in Daniel’s eyes it was a simple choice. Obey & honor God, & He will be glorified. He also took it one step further. He invited the non-believer to watch for the outcome too, watch & see what God will do. Not what God CAN do but what God WILL do.

So, I do want to be like Daniel. I want to dare to be confident like him, confident that God is in control & will work out His plan through my obedience.

Lord, help me to be obedient with a quiet but sure confidence in You. I want everyone around me to see what You will do! Be glorified!

In Jesus name, amen!