August 6 - Jeremiah 19:1-20:18 | Daniel 1:1-21

Good morning everyone,

Today we open up with Jeremiah who is not going to have one of his better days. The Lord has asked him to go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom where babies were being burned, sacrificed to Moloch in some twisted form of worship and share God’s prophecy. When mission completed, Jeremiah then returned to the Lord’s temple and repeated the  same prophecy there. When Pashhur, the chief governor of the temple, heard of what Jeremiah had prophesied he beat him and threw him in stocks. While there, the Lord spoke again to Jeremiah with a message for Pashhur and upon release Jeremiah gave him that message, one of personal doom. Not something I would want to hear. You?

In verse 7 we see Jeremiah go into a bit of a funk, he accuses the Lord of deceiving him, most likely because the Lord had told Jeremiah He would be with him. This is a great lesson for all of us. The Lord never promised us a rose garden, as a matter of fact Jesus told us in John that in this world we will have troubles. But take heart! I (Jesus) have overcome the world. In James we are instructed to consider it pure joy, whenever we face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith produces perseverance. So are you feeling joy? Jeremiah, will come around. The Lord will be there waiting for him when once Jeremiah misses Him so much there is a burning deep within him. The Lord will always be waiting for you and for me too. Totally awesome! Right?

Daniel! Who does not love Daniel? His story begins with Babylon invading and consequently overtaking Judah. With the power shift, Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the young, quick, smart, handsome, Jews without any physical defect be taken to the palace where they would enter into a three year program of retraining, basically brainwashing, the young men to serve the king. Now, just for a moment I am going to ask you to use your mind’s eye to take a look at what it would have been like for these young men, thought to be between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, to experience this. Can you see them? They were good, handsome, obedient, respectful boys whose parents taught them all about Yahweh. They grew up in a pretty humble existence in Jerusalem where change of command, or rule, was not unfamiliar to them however, being taken from their homes was. So what are they thinking as their parents are crying, perhaps pleading as Ashpenaz, chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s court officials, comes in and says, “let’s go for a hike boys.” 

The “hike” would be a journey of about nine hundred miles, it would take weeks for them to get to Babylon. Each day would be the same; get up early, have some water and bread to eat and then march in the hot desert sun for all of the day. They have to have been, depressed, frightened, anxious of the unknown and crazy miserable by the time they got Babylon in their sights; but here they are in the home stretch and what do they see? A three hundred foot high wall looming before them, the equivalent of a thirty story building. Right? Now, these tired kids are going to enter through the Ishtar gate, it’s a double gate leading through double fortified, eighty-five foot thick walls, that were covered with patterns of flowers, geometric figures, and life-size animals, such as bulls, lions, and dragons. Are you seeing this? I am sure it has Daniel’s attention. Now once inside the city they would be walking on a street paved with limestone and marble with red brick curbs. What?? They have god to be wondering. Many of the walls of the city were enameled bricks decorated with life size lions, I can only imagine. The Euphrates River ran right through the middle of town allowing it to be cooler within the walls and they would walk past one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Everywhere they looked it was rich and colorful, full of life. I am sure their jaws were dropped while they were thinking, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” 

And if that wasn’t seductive enough, the boys were taken to the palace where they would receive a bath, new clothes, food literally fit for a king and begin their “training.” Daniel, though, drew a line and chose not to cross it. God’s law forbid them to eat food that wasn’t kosher and Daniel was not going to go against God’s law. Daniel took a stand, God caused the guard to have favor on Daniel and honored his request for a ten day trial. At the end of the ten days God had caused Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah who had all eaten only vegetables and water to look healthier and better nourished than all the other young men who had eaten the king’s food. 

All this to say, Daniel had come to a crossroads in his life where he had to make a decision about who he really was. Nebuchadnezzar could make him move, he could change his name, he could even make him speak a different language, that’s all stuff you look at, but when it came to taking a path that would dishonor God, that would compromise his integrity, Daniel would not go down it. We all, on a daily basis, come to many crossroads, choices we make about clothing, language, entertainment, behavior, etc. Where we are today is due to the turns we made at the crossroads of yesterdays gone by. Who we are to become tomorrow, will be determined by the choices we make today. The Lord wants us all to take a stand for Him. So it begs the question; where is your line drawn? Joshua 24 15 says, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Me too! And all God’s people said … Amen!

Have a good day and to God the Father give all the glory!

God bless you all …..