Week 9: Day 1

Intro: Hi and welcome to Orbit, a short daily reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life. My name's Iona and I'm a student in Liverpool. My two main passions are the persecuted church and seeing the next generation grow up unphased with pressures around health and body image. So, lets get started.

We're going to be digging into the book of Daniel, with chapters 1 and 2 this week.

To give you a bit of context, God's people are facing some of the hardest times they've been through. Their kingdom in Jerusalem was seized by the King of Babylon, and their people were taken captive to the kingdom of Babylon.. To come and submit to their culture, beliefs and rules. Daniel and some of his friends were some of those captives.

Bible: So we read from vs. 3…

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.

Thoughts: I'm a fairly young person but I'm definitely not up to date with all the lingo. That said, I know that Daniel in this book shows some pretty main character energy… for a start, the whole book is named after him.

But that's not what I mean: He is a pioneer. He is a leader. He is happy to break away from the crowds and even his friendship group to follow his convictions and change the culture as a result. Daniel makes choices here to distinguish himself and obey God.

Now, what strikes me about this… Is that Daniel is distinct, but he finds himself in the midst of a very strong group; they're all good looking, intelligent, strong and gifted…I'd be pretty intimidated if I were him. But Daniel doesn’t seem to be intimidated.

BUT even in that crowd, Daniel was distinct. Why? Because he obeyed God.

I heard someone say a few weeks ago: "Obey God and trust God with the outcome". I was so struck by this. How often do we wait till we've calculated what God might be doing or how we might benefit if we obey him before simply trusting him in the first place?

Daniel doesn’t know the results of his obedience but the reality is… is, if you read on.. Daniel is favoured as a result of his obedience. He and his friends who were distinct in their obedience to God became distinct in outcome:

"To these four young men God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom. Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams'.

'… in every matter of wisdom and understanding, the King found them TEN TIMES better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom"

They were so admired… that the king changed everyone's diet. The point is Daniel never strove for distinctness. He followed God.

Even within church, you can sometimes feel the need to try and stand out and be seen and be different; God is not asking you to be different - he has already made you utterly unique. But he is asking you to obey and he will use you distinctly and uniquely.

Challenge: Why don’t you take a moment today to journal the things God has put on your heart today? What are the things he's calling you into obedience with? You may not have a clue what the outcome will look like… But will you trust him?

Prayer: God I thank you that we can see your hand all over Daniel’s life and you are the same God today as you were for Daniel. Help us be bold enough to say yes and follow you no matter what. Whether we know what’s going to happen or we don’t. We trust you. Amen