Hearing From God

 

We need more teenagers…No, let me rephrase this…We need more teenagers (and adults) that will hear God and what He has to say to us and for us.

The prophet Daniel was just an ordinary teenager who had desires like any others.  Little is known about his personal history or upbringing, aside from the fact that he was among the Jews exiled to Babylon and likely received comprehensive instruction in the Law, which was traditionally committed to memory. We find him along with his three companions ready to be trained by the officials of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.  In the first chapter of the book of Daniel he along with his friends are given new names along with other strange foods fit for a king.  But they refuse to eat it because they do not want to defile themselves. So, they can arrange for a diet of strictly vegetables.  I suppose, this fast would allow them to gain spiritual insights and strength in obedience to their God.  Here, I believe they were taking a risk in going against the king’s orders, but God protected them,

Daniel 1:8 “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile (taint, dishonor) himself with the king’s finest food or with the wine which the king drank; so, he asked the commander of the officials that he might [ be excused so that he would] not defile himself.”

In other words, he did not want to be friend with the king and that reminds me of the verse in Romans 12:2 “and do not be conformed to this world” like many of us are.  I understand it is not easy to follow God, but we first need to relax in following Jesus because He loves us and He wants the best for us.  His best for Daniel and his friends was that they would overcome the enemy through their faith and obedience to God.  Later in the book, we see how they were used just because of that obedience.  They could hear God’s voice.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus says that “My sheep hear my voice…”(John 10:27)