Thriving In Babylon By Larry OsborneSample

The Beginning of Wisdom

Daniel’s wisdom was rooted in the fear of the Lord. He knew that God was not to be messed with. Only a fool spits into the wind. Only a fool takes God’s commands lightly.

That’s why Daniel and his friends always chose the path of obedience even if it seemed certain to cost them their lives. They feared God more than a fiery furnace, a lions’ den, or anything else their captors could throw at them.

Yet at the same time, Daniel knew that not everything was worth dying for. He knew the difference between sin and the things he found personally offensive and distasteful. And he never confused the two. He picked his battles wisely.

It’s here that many of us can miss the mark. We tend to confuse what we don’t like with what God forbids. So we get worked up and go to battle over things that would have caused Daniel to shrug his shoulders.

For instance, as we’ve seen, when Nebuchadnezzar changed Daniel’s name to Belteshazzar (translated “Bel’s Prince”), he sloughed it off. His friends did the same.

Daniel showed the same calm sense of indifference when he was forced to study astrology and occult for three years. If it had been an elective, he would have skipped the course. But he had no choice.

While God forbids us to practice astrology or the occult, the Scriptures say nothing about what we can study. So rather than putting his foot down and refusing to participate (as he did with the king’s table and nonkosher diet), he took the course. And he didn’t sit in the back rolling his eyes and subtly expressing his displeasure. He sat in the front, studied hard, and graduated at the top of his class.

Doing so gave him the platform and credibility he needed once he entered the king’s service to debunk Nebuchadnezzar’s trust in these things. It even gave him the opportunity to introduce the king to the God Most High.

Daniel also had the wisdom to understand that godless people live godless lives. He never forced his righteous lifestyle on others. Even as he rose to positions of power, he didn’t try to impose his walk with God on those who didn’t know God.

*What “hills have you died on” when in reality they were merely personally distasteful or offensive?