Growing up I used to sing a Sunday School chorus that went something like
"Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone..." To me the story
of Daniel was about his willingness to take a stand even if that stand meant a
trip to the lion's den.
But I have been reading Daniel again as of late. And I am seeing a bit different side of this young man.
I am seeing a man who had all his dreams and hopes dashed by a conquering army. He had all the plans for his life, all the dreams for his future, the normal kinds of hopes and expectations that we all have, shattered, taken out of his control, crushed. He would never see his home again. He would never speak his own language in public again. He would never worship in a familiar language or style. He would spend his life in the service of a foreign king.
As I read Chapter one of Daniel, I was impressed by the reality that those verses contain a world of hurt and disappointment for Daniel and his friends. Yet, in the middle of all that hurt, they decide to take a stand and decide to be faithful to a God who, by all rights, seems to have let them down, abandoned them, and deserted them in a faraway place.
The interesting reality of Daniel is that as much as he must have felt all of that, he made a very tough decision to believe in God in spite of how it looked and felt for him personally. At some point it seems, God sends us all to Babylon. We will all end up as some point wondering if God is still in control, if God is still listening, if God even cares.
I must commit in my heart to be a Daniel - to believe and act with the faith that God is still in control, still alive and well, and He really does care about me and my life.
That, I am coming to believe, is what it means to “Dare to be a Daniel!”
But I have been reading Daniel again as of late. And I am seeing a bit different side of this young man.
I am seeing a man who had all his dreams and hopes dashed by a conquering army. He had all the plans for his life, all the dreams for his future, the normal kinds of hopes and expectations that we all have, shattered, taken out of his control, crushed. He would never see his home again. He would never speak his own language in public again. He would never worship in a familiar language or style. He would spend his life in the service of a foreign king.
As I read Chapter one of Daniel, I was impressed by the reality that those verses contain a world of hurt and disappointment for Daniel and his friends. Yet, in the middle of all that hurt, they decide to take a stand and decide to be faithful to a God who, by all rights, seems to have let them down, abandoned them, and deserted them in a faraway place.
The interesting reality of Daniel is that as much as he must have felt all of that, he made a very tough decision to believe in God in spite of how it looked and felt for him personally. At some point it seems, God sends us all to Babylon. We will all end up as some point wondering if God is still in control, if God is still listening, if God even cares.
I must commit in my heart to be a Daniel - to believe and act with the faith that God is still in control, still alive and well, and He really does care about me and my life.
That, I am coming to believe, is what it means to “Dare to be a Daniel!”
