SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/12/2013 9:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God’s
Special Blessing
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel 1:17-20
Message of the verses: “17 As
for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch
of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and
dreams. 18 Then at the end of the days which the king
had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented
them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all
not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered
the king’s personal service. 20 As for every matter of wisdom and understanding
about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all
the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.”
We have looked somewhat in what Daniel and his three
friends were studying in past SD’s and what we found out was that the teachers
of these men were actually trying to indoctrinate them into Babylonian culture
and learning. The Babylonians learned
many things; some of it was good and some not good when we compare it to
Christian teachings. The Babylonians
actually had some sort of air-condition working in their palaces. The hanging gardens that were in Babylon were
one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, so some of the teaching that
Daniel and his three friends received was good, but I am sure that some of it
was not good when it came to the teaching about their heathen religion. We must remember what we said earlier about
how false religion began in Babylon and that was why the Lord confused the
languages early on as written in the book of Genesis. There are Christians who in the past and
probably now believe that believers should stay away from the teachings of the
world, and there are others who say that that is okay. I can say that my two children were in a
Christian school from kindergarten to the time they graduated from
college. I believe that this was
something that was surely worthwhile as they both found their spouses during
their time at college and now they too are sending their children to the same
school that they graduated from. I want
to finish this portion of this SD with a quote that is found in Dr. Wiersbe’s
commentary by Robert Murray McCheyne, from a letter he wrote to a friend: “Beware of the atmosphere of the
classics. True, we ought to know them;
but only as chemists handle poison—to discover their qualities, not to infect
their blood with them.” It was God who
gave the intelligence to these four young men, but they were the ones who had
to use it when they were in the school they attended in Babylon, and they were
the ones who had to decipher as to whether it was something that was godly or
worldly and then stay away from the worldly.
We stated that there as many as 75 young men that were taken to Babylon
in 605 BC, but we never hear of any of them with the exception of Daniel and
his three friends, for the others must have assimilated into the culture of
Babylon not following the Lord.
We can divide the book of Daniel into two parts and that
begins to be understood with verse seventeen, for Daniel was gifted by God to
understand all kinds of dreams and visions.
We will see in the first part of the book that Daniel interprets and
understands dreams that others have, while in the second half we will see that
Daniel has visions of his own that will be interpreted by angels who told them
to him.
The king’s examination (Daniel 1:18-20): “18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. 20 As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.”
I truly believe that God had chosen Daniel and his three
friends to be a part of the kings counselors, and the reason was because God
cares for His people and even though Judah had sinned and was thus punished by
the Lord through the Babylonians. God
was surely not done with Israel, because of the unconditional covenant that He
made with Abraham in Genesis chapter fifteen.
So we can see the hand of God in all of this that is going on in these
verses, and God will continue to use Daniel and his three friends to accomplish
His will.
The king saw in Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
something that was not in the others who were in the school. What the king saw in these four young men he
liked and he even liked them better than those who now worked for the
king. Dr. Wiersbe states the following
about those who are in the king’s service:
“Magicians’ were men who dealt in the occult, while ‘enchanters’ used
incantations to accomplish their purposes.
‘Sorceress’ specialized in casting spells, ‘astrologers’ studied the
movements of the stars and their influence on events, and ‘diviners’ sought to
see the future by using various methods.
Of course, all of these were forbidden by the Law of Moses (Deut.
18:9-13).” We know that Daniel and his
friends had to work alongside these men who were extremely jealous of these
young men and tried to have them destroyed on different occasions as we will
see.
How does this affect people today? I wish to quote another portion from Dr.
Wiersbe’s commentary to help us out with this answer: “There’s no reason why Christians students on
secular campuses today shouldn’t be among the finest students who win some of
the highest awards to the glory of God.”
We must realize that God puts people in certain places for the glory of
God by using them to tell others about how they can be saved, by giving them
the gospel message. We will see later
that Daniel will do this with the king.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Hard work and
using the talents and gifts that God gives to me is something that I need to
strive for. I truly believe that God has
given me a ministry and that it is my desire to do what He has chosen for me to
do for the glory of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. Daniel is a wonderful example to me as there
is much more that dreams and visions found in this book of Daniel.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Do a better job in memorizing God’s Word, to
work on it harder, putting more study into it.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:1-6
1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is
the man in whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my
sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For Your hand was heavy upon me; my
vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my
iniquity I did not hide: I said “I will
confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my
sin. Selah. 6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray
to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they
will not reach him.
Turning Points Wisdom for
Today: “Nothing sets a person so much
out of the Devil’s reach as humility.”
(Jonathan Edwards) “Be clothed
with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the might
hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” (1Peter 5:5b-6)
We have looked at forty-seven “Turning Points Wisdoms” in
the last fifty or so days on these Spiritual Diaries. I was counting them up a couple of days ago
as I knew we were getting to the end of them and so this will be the last
one. However I want to add something new
to the end of each SD, and that will be a question from a “Bible Challenge”
game that I have. I will give the first
question in this SD, and then I will give the answer in the next SD along with
another question.
Question: “By what name did the Lord appear unto
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Answer
tomorrow.
3/12/2013 11:27 AM
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