Title: Live as a person of faith
Contents
Title: Live as a person of faith
Bible: Daniel 1:1~10
Daniel is a 20-year-old dreamy youth who is taken captive to the Babylonian Empire for the sins of the nation's sin against God. However, Daniel becomes prime minister in the kingdom of Babylon, where he was taken captive. Not just once, but also prime minister in a new kingdom. He was appointed prime minister of the Medo kingdom. How, then, was Daniel able to fulfill his dream as a captive? In short, he was a man of faith.
1:6 "Daniel is determined not to defile himself."
Daniel was a man of God by his own choosing.
It is an honor to stand before the king as a captive, but to eat the king's delicacies is to receive the highest treatment. But instead of refusing it once or twice, he decides not to eat it at all. It is a difficult decision. Moreover, if the chosen one at the royal palace rejects the king's delicacies, many difficulties will follow. If you do not eat the food given by the king, you are breaking the king's orders. This is because the king himself appointed food and drink.
1:10 "He has appointed your food and your drink."
Also, if he refused this food, his superior, the eunuch, was to be punished. Other officials are punished because of him, not just one himself. And if the king's delicacies were not eaten and his face became haggard, everyone could lose their lives. Daniel's rejection of the king's delicacies was a food sacrificed to idols, one of the things God hated the most, so he had to make a difficult decision to keep his faith. So he said to the chief of the eunuch 12-13, "I beg you, test your servants for ten days, and after giving them food to eat and water to drink, compare our faces in front of you with the faces of the boys eating the king's delicacies, and see what you see. Dispose of it to your servants." So, if there is a difference, I will follow the owner's command. And Daniel left the results to God. Those who please God believed that God would surely lead them in the right way.
In the text, the word “set the will” means to place the mind. You have to put your mind in the right place. It should be placed in the right place in the eyes of God, not in the eyes of the king or the eunuchs. Why did the nation have to become prisoners of war? It was because I couldn't put it in the right place. He became a prisoner of faith because he mistrusted God. So Daniel tried to trust God well. To do that, you have to do it right from the start. That is why, even after going into captivity, he thoroughly studied food and religious life. so that it may be in the eyes of God.
Daniel's meaning is "God is my judge." In the heathen lands, the changed name was Belteshazzar ("The Giver of Baal's Grace"). Because Israel lived independently of God, Daniel lived before God. I thought that the king was not my master, but that God was my master. He considered God's judgment more important than anyone else's judgment. He feared the judgment of God more than the judgment of men. So, I tried to live before God. That's why I was able to determine the difficult meaning. Let us also set our will before God. No matter what others say, shouldn't God be justified in judgment?
Verse 4 says, "He was faithful, and found no wrongdoing, and found no fault."
Daniel was faithful in his work.
The enemies could not accuse Daniel of anything other than believing in God. So I put a snare on him. We see people who say they believe in God while messing around with their work. It is neither hardship nor persecution for us to be reviled for neglecting our own work. It is only the result of one's own faults. It is hardship when you do your job well and work hard, but you are unfairly or ambiguous. It must be tolerated. It is with God. But if not, you should fix it quickly. If we are faithful in our work, God will reward us.
In 1947, Dr. Chendriska, a scientist and astrophysicist working at the Astrophysical Research Institute in Wiskansin, near Chicago, USA, gladly accepted a request from the University of Chicago to teach advanced physics in the winter semester. However, a few weeks later, when the university said that the lecture was canceled because there were only two students enrolled, he said, "It doesn't matter that the class is small, so I decided to proceed with the lecture.
Winters in Chicago are exceptionally cold. A blizzard, a cold, ferocious wind, two hours away from the school, two days a week, taught two students without exception. Ten years later, Dr. Chenneng Yang and Dr. Li Chung, who had been lectured by Dr. Chendriska, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics together. At the ceremony, they said, "We won this award because of Dr. Chendriska's lecture, which was just the two of us in front." In other words, this one person's sincere lecture in front of two people was able to manifest as beautiful fruit. Good fruits are produced by those who faithfully do their work.
Verse 10 says, “When Daniel knew that this decree had been signed, he went back to his house and looked at the window that was opened toward Jerusalem in the room and knelt three times a day in prayer and giving thanks to God, just as he had done before.”
Daniel was a man who was faithful to God.
Even in the face of danger to his life, Daniel did not stop praying to his God. Even though he was in a situation where he had no choice but to go into the lions' den if he prayed to God as a snare of the enemies, his prayer life did not change at all. Even knowing that the fish seal was stamped, I prayed through the open window three times a day. Eventually, Daniel enters the lion's den. Nevertheless, there was no change. People change when they are tested. I hope you don't pass the exam. There is a secret to not falling into temptation while living your life of faith.
A young prime minister came to the king and asked him how he could do his job well without falling into temptation. The king gave him a cup full of oil and told him to return to the indicated distance within an hour. If you spill oil or be late, you will be punished severely, and a soldier with a sword follows you. The young prime minister arrived on time, sweating and spilling no oil. The king smiled contentedly and praised him. Then he said, "Did you see the corner shoe store?" "I didn't see it." "Then what about the rice shop?" "I didn't see it." “Then what about the furniture store?” “I couldn’t see anything because I was so focused on not spilling oil.”
Daniel did not change even in the lions' den because he looked only at God. He looked at the blue sky of hope in the midst of darkness and despair. Is the night sky black or blue? It is painted black in the picture, but it is said that it is actually blue. According to professional photographers, the night sky is blue. In fact, it is said that when you take a picture of the night sky, if you hold down the camera shutter for 20 seconds, the night sky comes out blue. Usually, when taking pictures, the shutter speed is a few tenths of a second or a few hundredths of a second. With this in mind, holding the shutter down for 20 seconds is quite a long time. But compared to the time we live, 20 seconds is not a long time.
Yes. There are times in life when we face dark things. At such times, we can easily despair or give up on life. Because the sky is black. But slow your thinking down a bit. Normally I thought of it as 1/60 of a second or 1/250 of a second, but when you look at the night sky of your life, take a little time and think at the speed of 20 seconds. If you only think about 20 seconds, can you think of God? If you only think about God, the color of the sky will change. It will turn to blue sky. because? It looks black to the eye, but in reality the sky is blue. Let's look to God who has become the blue sky today. And let's live in anticipation of the God who gave Daniel the dream