Since I was a teenager, I earnestly desired growing in my trust in God. The desire would come in from time to time. I wish it was consistent and continuous. Whenever I read the books of Godly men and women, I became aware that I never trusted God enough, occasionally I even doubted if I trusted God at all.
If I trusted God, would not I have lived life differently? Would I not have made different decisions? Would I have obeyed the commandments better? Even the occasional Bible reading made me aware of the trust in God of various faithful people in the Bible. I wish I had nurtured the moments of these thoughts into a continuous and sustained flow of desire to build a relationship with God.
I wonder why I am not having a life of trusting God like Abraham? The surrendered trust of Mary? The transformation of Paul from being Saul, the transformation of Jacob to Israel – is not this a result of their great trust in God? Are these not due to the extreme confidence and faith in God they had? I started wondering what made Daniel trust God so strongly? What made him so determined to follow through with his decisions in the matters of God? Could I ever step into having the wisdom of Daniel?
I often find myself not to be living as if I had trust in God, based on the faith I profess to have. I have been frustrated with this hypocrisy in me.
I have been wanting my faith in God to increase.I know this is important and so precious. The song, The more I seek you, the more I find you gave me hope and started building me up. You can watch the video prayerfully as many have done it. https://youtu.be/NI_1YliutzA
We can glean much from people who have lived a life trusting in God. In the Book of Daniel, I saw a great deal of trust in God he and his friends had. Their faith in God, the willingness to ‘walk the faith’ and ‘trust in God’ is just amazing. How did this happen? Can I start desiring this kind of trust in God, and can I ever reach that point?
Daniel was among the children taken from Judah to Babylon as King Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Judah.
The King wanted young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. (ref. Daniel 1:4)
And the King had given daily provision for the boys including Daniel for 3 years so that after the period they would stand before the King.
We read that Daniel, who was renamed Belteshazzar in Babylon, was determined in his heart that he would not defile himself of the king’s meat or wine. So he asked the eunuch. Daniel had favour and tender love from the chief of eunuchs. But the chief of eunuchs feared if the King would get upset if Daniel and his team were to look weak.
Daniel thus desired to please God in his eating. What you eat may not be a big deal. But we can see that Daniel decided to please God in this. One cue we have is seeking to please God in matters small and in matters big. Having a mind set of pleasing God matters. This is the most certain way I have heard from people who have lived their lives trusting God.
How do we please God? When we read the Word of God, our understanding of God’s will and God’s ways improves. We not only are reminded of God’s laws and commandments we get to know how we can please God.
What is the milestone after understanding God’s will? The next step is to see the fruits. Always when we make any changes, the results should appear. Thus, after understanding God’s will and living a life pleasing to God, the person will start bearing fruits. The fruits which a person starts bearing are the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Changes do not bring the results immediately. Just like the natural plants take time to bear fruits, the fruits of living a life pleasing God takes time to bear fruit. As we start living life pleasing to God, the fruit of the Holy Spirit starts developing eventually. As we keep trying, our success rate in bearing fruits increases. Let us see what are the fruits we start bearing if we lead a life pleasing God
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
As we please God, our lives start expressing love for God & God’s people become sincere as beautifully expressed in I Corinthians 13.
Coming back to Daniel, he asked for a diet of perhaps fruits and vegetables – essentially a diel without meat and wine, which was part of the king’s diet. In the eyes of the world, the diet which the King had looked the very best, would be greatly nutritious and great to taste. But since the food would probably also be offered to the gods of the King, Daniel was determined in his heart not to eat them. In the eyes of the world, it was an opportunity of a lifetime to feast on the highly valued food and wine of a King. It was a privilege that Daniel was given to, yet his trust in God was so very huge, that he determined in his heart that the most important matter – trusting God and obeying God – was way higher a requirement for him rather than anything else.
Did Daniel get a written instruction from any priest of the temple?This is not mentioned, hence not likely. The instruction he followed to perfect obedience was most probably based on a thought and an understanding he had because he was acquainted to the ways of God. Daniel would have known the ancient scriptures, and he would have paid great attention to what he heard in the temple. He would have an extremely strong prayer life, and he heard the gentle whispers and felt the nudges from the Lord. Like many of us after hearing these, and after knowing that these were from the Lord, he chose to obey the Lord.
What are you most certain that you are hearing from the Lord now? How do you make certain that you are hearing from the Lord? Are you a good steward of what the Lord is saying to you today?
Daniel did not get the diet of herbs easily. He had to seek special permission from the chief eunuch of the palace. And since God gave him favour with the chief eunuch, matters progressed. God will ordain matters step by step as you proceed on the perfect will of the Lord. Yet the chief eunuch feared the king, if he were to discover the lapse of not giving the king’s nutritious diet to Daniel. However, Daniel had a brainwave, and he sought a ten-day test. And after a ten-day diet of herbs, the countenance of Daniel and his friends were to be tested.
15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. 16 Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
17 As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. (Daniel 1:15-17 NKJV)
God is merciful, he is kind, he is patient. As we grow in our spiritual relationship with God, we will read the word of God more often. We will try to please God as we grow in our relationship with God. As a son and daughter to God, we will do all it takes to please God. In the journey we will not only bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, along with it, we see growth in trust in God more, we will see the growth in determination & wisdom.
As we are people in the New Testament, unlike the people of the Old Testament, we have the Holy Spirit abiding in us. We have Jesus Christ abiding in us. We are seated in Heavenly places by the side of Jesus Christ. We have the mind of Christ Jesus. All these additional blessings which the New Testament believers possess, we have greater potential and power to increase our trust in God, determination to do things for the Kingdom of God & be a channel of wisdom from God to solve not only the problems in the companies we serve, but also for the cities we live in and also for the Kings and Prime Ministers in the countries we live in.
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