I took a week off last week so I could catch up on my blog posts concerning my library projects in Kenya. Now I am ready to begin a new series that will become my next book, and the series will be titled Success in Babylon. Many years ago, I was part of a team that conducted seminars called The Lion's Den in prisons in the state of Florida. We focused on Daniel and portrayed him as the ideal inmate, for he was a prisoner in Babylon, but he prospered there. The inmates loved it, but then we taught it outside of prison and got the same response. Many people found themselves in a spiritually-hostile environment and did not see that God wanted them not just to survive there but rather thrive there.
While in Atlanta recently, a woman prayed for me and then said, "I think God is going to show you something new, and He will tell you what it is." Two days later, I was having a casual conversation with some friends when I mentioned The Lion's Den and they immediately said, "You need to write that!" I am not sure if this is the "something new" I was told to be looking for, but in faith, I am going to assume that it is and write about it until God shows me something else that's new. Let's get started.
BABYLON
in Daniel 1:1-2, we read,
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
The Bible has a way of telling us a lot in only a few words. If we are not careful, we don't linger long enough to absorb the details and implications of what we are being told. In those two verses, we learn that
- Jerusalem was under siege. That means the Babylonians surrounded the city and tried to starve the inhabitants out and into submission, which obviously happened.
- The Babylonians raided and pillaged the Temple, the epitome of Jewish life, worship, and culture. This must have been a traumatic experience involving the death and relocation to Babylon of thousands of people, including Daniel and his family.
- The Babylonians were a religious people with many gods and the king, Nebuchadnezzar, had his own god, for which he had built a temple and a house.
There is much more history that goes with this story, for Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Judah once before, but the Judeans had broken the terms of peace and surrender, so he came back again, only this time he destroyed what he had originally agreed to preserve. And notice who was behind all these events: "And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand." The Lord was doing something that was bigger than one nation or people group. He was positioning the world to receive their King Jesus six centuries later, and this was part of His plan.
IMPLICATIONS
In future weeks, we will study what Daniel went through to succeed in Babylon because it holds important implications for our day. We are also being asked to serve in Babylon, and we are often not sure how to respond or what to do. We are often not comfortable in a foreign or secular setting, so we long for a more spiritually-friendly environment in which we can serve the Lord and others. Yet God has His own plans, just like He did with Daniel in Babylon, and if we can grasp that He is doing the same with us, we can then settle down and into our situation and serve the Lord.
We would tell the inmates in their situation that they may have been fenced in, but there was no lid on their environment. They had no barriers between them and God, and they could pray, worship, and serve vertically while they were limited and imprisoned horizontally. What's more, God had sent them there to learn that lesson, while He also worked on their character and demeanor. The same may be true for you.
Are you in a situation that is neutral or maybe even hostile where God and your faith are concerned? Are you waiting for your circumstances to improve before you express your spiritual gifts and serve those around you? Are you blaming where you are for your lack of spiritual fruit or holiness? If so, you need to learn how to succeed in Babylon, for your Babylon is not going away. What's more, it may be the very mission field God has chosen for you, and your reluctance to accept that reality will hinder your growth and progress.
This week, I urge you to make peace with where you are and set a goal not just to survive where you, but to thrive and prosper there. Over the next few months, let's study and learn together what Daniel and his friends did that allowed God to honor them by highlighting their stories, and then go about establishing our own credentials before God as people who know how to do well in a setting where God seems to be absent, but is oh so very present--at least for you and me. Have a blessed week!
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