TEN TIMES BETTER (2)
TEN TIMES BETTER (2)
What made the four Hebrew boys ten times better was not the king’s food they rejected, but that they push themselves to learn beyond their age and mates. Daniel and his friends were not adults as at this time, probably they were around fourteen years of age and during their three probationary years they continued to flourish intellectually as well as physically. They were very skilful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge, and understanding science. They learn new skills and new languages and in all these matters the king not only found them ten times better than their peers, but also than the magicians and astrologers.
Daniel and company did not say because they have the God of Israel behind them, they will not learn, they did not say, no school and did not stay idle. They understood science, full of knowledge, well educated and vast in the laws of their God. Are you of a school of thought that says you don’t need to read before you pass your exams? Don’t be deceived, Holy Spirit will only bring to your remembrance what you have read. In whatever position, office and level you are, you need to improve, you need knowledge. What stops you to learn a new language, a new programming language and new skill that can be useful for you soon or to make impact in your community? God does not just call the available, He also calls the responsible. To learn no more is to earn no more. There is a place for spiritual activities and there is also a place for knowledge and education. Read books, understand your environment and be the best in your chosen profession. No man can call himself a general in the army if he has not face a battle. What have you done to call yourself an overcomer? The amount of church services you attend does not translate to victory in life; it is what you do with the service that matters.
These young men chose to honour God, the Lord says, "Them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." It is the lesson of Joseph’s superiority to the glamour of temptation in the house of Potiphar; of the choice of Moses, preferring to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than all the treasures of Egypt and "to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter"; of Samuel’s stainless innocence beside the corrupting example of Eli’s sons; of David’s strong, pure, ruddy boyhood as a shepherd-lad on Bethlehem’s hills. It is the anticipated story of that yet holier childhood of Him who-subject to His parents in the sweet vale of Nazareth-blossomed "like the flower of roses in the spring of the year, and as lilies by the water-courses." The young human being who grows up in innocence and self-control grows up also in grace and beauty, in wisdom and "in favour with God and man." Will you honour God with all that you have acquired in life? Whatever you become out there is useful for God within His Church and outside the Church of Christ.
Nebuchadnezzar came to the knowledge of God because young men like Daniel stood for God. Tyranny and nepotism will continue to prevail in our land if there is no man to stand up for God. All those that stood for God, against sins and tyranny in their environments were honoured by God and became very great. Don’t just pray for greatness, work for it.
Word Affirmation: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" - Psalm 27:1 (Don't just say it, mean it!)
“God does not just call the available, He also calls the responsible."
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