Sat.’s Devo - God is Greater

Read: Daniel 1;1-2:23; 1 Peter 3:8-4:6; Psalm 119:65-80; Proverbs 28:14 Daniel’s book starts when King Nebuchadnezzar came to besiege Jerusalem. King Jehoiakim was still reigning in Judah. He gave King Nebuchadnezzar permission to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God back to Babylonia where he placed them in the treasure-house of his god. *** Nebuchadnezzar commanded his chief of staff, Ashkenazi to take the wisest and best of the captives and train them in the ways of their kingdom. They were to learn the language and literature of Babylon. They were also to eat the food of Babylon’s royalty. *** Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen to enter this education. They changed their names to Beltteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ***Daniel was determined not to defile himself with their food and wine so he asked the chief of staff permission to test him and his friends. He asked for 10 days of eating kosher food and then he could see if they were still strong. They proved themselves more healthy than the others so they were allowed to continue to eat kosher food. *** When the recruits had finished their training, they were brought before the king and Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego proved to be ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. *** One night, Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream. He clued for all his astrologers and commanded that they tell him his dream and what it meant. If they couldn’t tell him then their houses would be turned into heaps of rubble. If they could tell him then they would be given many wonderful fits and honors. *** They tried to get the king to tell them his dream but he refused. They told him how impossible and how no other king had asked this, but he wouldn’t budge. He was so mad, he ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be executed. So men came to kill Daniel and his friends. Daniel asked why they were ordered to die and Daniel was told the kings request. Daniel went to the king immediately and asked for more time to tell the king what he wanted and was granted more time. *** Daniel then went home to his friends and told them to pray with him that the God who knows everything would tell them. That night God told Daniel the dream and its interpretation. Daniel praised the Lord who controls the course of world events. *** It is important that we know this while navigating through our geo-political events. God controls the course of world events and removes kings and sets up other kings. *** Peter tells us to return a curse with a blessing because we are blessed. God uses our suffering for his purposes. *** Jesus suffered the cross then went to hell and preached to the spirits in heaven that disobeyed him on earth while Noah was building his boat. Those people got a chance to repent. God had saved 8 people in the flood and the flood represented their baptism. God’s baptism doesn’t just cleanse you from dirt but from a clear conscience.