Wed.’s Devo.- God’s Mysterious Ways

Read: Daniel 1:1-2:23; 1 Peter 3:8-4:6; Psalm 119:65-80; Proverbs 28:14 During King Jehoiakim’s third year of reigning in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and besieged it. He ordered this men to take the sacred objects from the Temple back to Babylon. He also ordered his chief of staff to bring the men from the royal family and from other noble families. They must be young, strong, healthy, good-looking, smart, and educated. When they arrived, they were retrained to think like Babylonians. They were taught their language, given their names and given their food. Among the ones taken were Daniel, Hahaniah, Michael, and Azariah. This lets us know that the Babylonians honored youth, wealth, heritage, beauty and knowledge. Sounds like America. What they did with these young boys was to try to brainwash them by giving them a new name, new food, new language. It is exactly what Satan wasn’t to do with us - steal our identity. Daniel asked to not have to eat the things that would have defiled him and was given a test. He passed with flying colors and was allowed to eat the diet of his land. Daniel and his three friends excelled above other because they refused to let the new name and new education change their hearts and change their god. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which greatly disturbed him. He didn’t want trust his wise men to get it right. He tested them and told them that if they were truly magicians, they should be able to tell him both the dream and the interpretation. They tried to talk sense into Nebuchadnezzar but he threatened to kill them if they couldn’t do it. When they came to kill Daniel, he asked for the reason. When they told him, he went straight to the king and asked for some time so he could ask his God. Daniel had some courage! The king granted him some time and Daniel prayed to God for the answer. That night, God gave him the answer. God has all the secrets of the universe and He loves to share them with us. Daniel praised the Lord for the answer and for God’s wisdom and hidden mysterious ways. First Peter has some great advise for us in today’s society. He said not to repay evil for evil. When someone insults you, don’t give it back, instead give them a blessing. Most of the time when we do good, we will reap good, but if we don’t, God will reward us. If people ask us how we can have hope in this upside down world, we can tell them about the lover of our soul, our hope forever. Jesus suffered for doing good and died sinless. When he died, he went to the grave and preached salvation to the spirits in prison. The were the only who disobeyed God while Noah was building the ark. They will get a chance to repent. They didn’t have the law to tell them right from wrong and tell them what God required. God baptized the earth during the flood. We must have the same attitude that Christ had and desire to live a sinless life. Lord, may we fear doing wrong and have a desire to follow your Word.