November 25: Of Exiles and Faith Muscles

Daniel 1:1-2:23

1 Peter 3:8-4:6

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 28:14

Daniel is an exile.  Everything good he might have had, the life he might have enjoyed?  Gone.  Before him, uncertainty, fear - slavery perhaps?  Poverty, hunger, suffering?  Possible, perhaps even likely.  

Consider then how fortunate many must have thought him to have been picked by the king to be so abundantly provided for.  And all he had to do was go along...I mean, c'mon.  A guy's gotta eat, right?  Why refuse it when someone wants to feed you really well?

However, "Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine".  And he didn't just refuse the food discreetly...no, he asked the chief official - the guy handing out the food! - for special treatment.  If I were in his shoes, I would have been worried about being sent back to the uncertainty of the exile's life.  

We know how the story ends.  But I cannot help but focus on this point, before the official agreed, before Daniel found out he was going to wind up healthier than the others.  He must have been worried.  But he chose to act despite that worry - that was his faith.

I love this story, just as I love the story of Esther, when went into the king's presence unbidden, and the story of Abraham, when he was prepared to surrender his son and his future to God.  I am afraid of facing the situations that might develop such faith, but I pray for it nonetheless.

Father, be gentle with us - gentle but firm, so that we might face situations where our faith is exercised, and it grows stronger.