Daniel: Does God Reign? Does God Care? - Reading PlanSample

Start with prayer, then watch the video and read Daniel 1.

Daniel 1 is a chapter of both challenge and encouragement. Often in life we face the same challenge that Daniel and his friends faced in Babylon. Things are difficult, we face struggles and sufferings we don’t understand, and faith is hard. Will we choose God and follow him even so? Take a moment to think and pray about that, and what your answer is.

If we follow God, even in life’s struggles and difficulties, then Daniel 1 is also full of encouragement. Even in the details of our lives God is here with us, even when we don’t see it.

That doesn’t mean things will always be simple or easy to work out though. One thing that strikes me when I read Daniel 1 is the ways in which they say “yes” to life and work in a difficult and compromised situation. They decide to work in the pagan and challenging context of the Babylonian civil service, and they don’t take a stand against being given pagan names.

I think I would have agonised over those decisions. Should I say ‘no’ and refuse? Is it OK to work somewhere God and his ways are ignored? What about all the wrong things going on around me? Most of us live and work in ‘secular’ contexts, where those sorts of questions are very real for us.

Sometimes we do need to say “no” to the world and culture around us – and in Daniel 1 we see that too. The four friends refuse to eat and drink the King’s food and wine, which is the first of many moments they do take a stand in this book.

Even there though, the four friends act in a way that honours and looks out for their bosses. They act privately and behind the scenes. Even when their boss at first refuses (v10), they suggest a plan that responds to his concerns, and safeguards his position (v12-13).

Life and work can often be complicated and difficult to work out. This passage reminds me that God knows that, and yet calls us into those difficult places even so, working for the good and flourishing of those around us. We may not always find it easy to work out how, but we can look and pray to God for help and grace as we do.