Daily Discovery 28th April 2020 Devotional – Stand Up!
TODAY’S TOPIC: STAND UP!
Opening Prayer: My Savior, may I stand for You today.
Today’s Read: Daniel 1
Daniel’s Training in Babylon
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia[a] and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—
4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.[b]
5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
Daily Discovery 28th April 2020 Devotional
6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel,
10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your[c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
Today: Daily Discovery 28th April 2020 Devotional
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”
14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service.
20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
Footnotes:
a Daniel 1:2 Hebrew Shinar
b Daniel 1:4 Or Chaldeans
c Daniel 1:10 The Hebrew for your and you in this verse is plural.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect – Daily Discovery 28th April 2020 Devotional
The world tries to stop us with temptations, pressure to conform, and persecution. Which of these do you find most difficult?
Daniel begins with the humiliation of Israel. First besieged (1) and then defeated, even their Temple treasures were stolen (2); God’s people were finished.
How do you think God’s people are doing today? Many say the church needs to “get with the program” of society’s changing values; others say that it has given in too much to the pressure to conform.
Daniel and his friends knew that pressure well. They were picked out for special training (4); expected to look, sound and act like Babylonians; and given Babylonian names (7).
What would you have done? Would you have had the courage to stand up, like Daniel, and refuse to be assimilated (8)? Imagine how these men must have been feeling, and the courage it took for them to stand up to the king.
God honored that courage; see how they ended up the best in the kingdom (20), not because of their training but because of God’s gift (17). When Daniel stood up, he found he wasn’t on sinking sand but solid ground.
Apply (Daily Discovery 28th April 2020 Devotional)
What do you need to “stand up for Jesus”—courage? faith? opportunity? Is there a situation in which you have been called to stand for the Gospel? Choose to cling to Christ today.
Closing prayer: God, I choose You. Teach me to stand firmly rooted in Your word and ever-loyal to Your name.
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