🌿BREATHE TRUTH🌿
He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.” —Daniel 6:4-5
🌿LIVE THE REAL TRUTH🌿
Sometimes in our journey of faith, the mess in our lives can overwhelm the sacredness of God. Choose to pilgrimage the sacred, not the mess.
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Trustworthy Daniel is appointed one of the 3 leaders over the 120 high provincial officers throughout the emerging Persian and Medes empire. Daniel rises to an unprecedented position of power parallel to his other two Persian counterparts. Though he is a foreigner and forced captive, this is no conquered man. His wisdom wins him favor with both the past and present kings who conquer his people.
Then the Mess happens.
Daniel’s rivals plot to remove him on the grounds of his faith. They concoct an edict to glorify Darius and get rid of Daniel: “Anyone who prays to any god or human being for the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lion’s den.” —Daniel 1:7
Their ultimatium forces Daniel into an ugly corner. Worship God and walk into his enemies’ trap or break his covenant with God and bow down to their idol.
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“But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room. He prayed three times, just as he had always done.”—Daniel 6:10.
In the wake of the mess, Daniel recommits to focusing on the sacred. No hiding behind. No turning back. No backing down.
Daniel knows the consequences of this mess: Be faithful to God and fall hard. Live out my faith and lose all. It would be far easier to compromise his relationship with God. Yet because he values the sacred more, Daniel is willing to pay the price to keep it.
Knowing the sacred empowers us to withstand the intimidation of the mess. In prostrating himself and praying to God amidst the edict, Daniel rises up to make a stand for the sacred. How much is the sacred worth to you? What loss will you endure to protect the sacred places in your life?
In the end, Daniel’s character claims the sacred, and he refuses to cower to the costs of the mess.
When we hold onto our life, what we are doing is settling for the mess. But when we give our life to God, He holds our mess in His hands and transforms it into something far more sacred.
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Settle or surrender.
Most likely we will never encounter trials of physical demise like Daniel. But we may face hardships and hard circumstances as he does. Daniel chooses to trust God. He chooses the sacred over the mess.
•Surrender the mess in your life, and God will save the sacred.
•Settle for the mess, and you will lose the sacred.
Beloved, find the sacred in your mess so you can live out the Real Truth no matter what the world’s consequences are.
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©️2019 Jordan Su