At my local church, we have been doing a study of the book of Daniel, since the beginning of the year. Daniel, a young Jew taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar the great Babylonian King, together with his three friends; Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, find themselves in a foreign land and separated from the land of their ancestry, a land of promise. And they shall dwell in captivity probably for the rest of their lives.
Israel, God’s chosen people are reaping the fruit of their rebellion, and while in captivity, God speaks to them about their redemption that will come 70 years later, through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:10). Daniel and his three friends shall wait, and indeed serve the kingdom that destroyed theirs. They must pray for the peace of Babylon, they must plant vineyards and reap, they must endure the hardship in a foreign land. They must keep their faith in God, even when they are in a godless society.
God’s plan of redemption will be effected because of the bondage of His people. For after all, what is redemption, if there exists no captivity to be redeemed from? Like it was with Egypt, God’s redeeming power will be demonstrated to the entire world, so that He may be glorified above all else. The captivity of the Jews shall be an occasion for God to exalt His Name.
This is the context of one of the most misused verses in scripture; Jeremiah 29:11. This verse is often misquoted, for our own selfish reasons. We must keep in mind that it is in Babylonia, not in a land flowing with milk and honey, but in captivity that God’s good plans for the captive Jews will take place. Babylon will be a platform for God to magnify Himself. So, God tells them to ‘seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried a way captive’ (Jeremiah 29:8).
Daniel and his 3 friends (as will Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah) will be instruments through which the glory of God and His wisdom shall be magnified before the nations. They are witnesses of God in the broken world. They are His mouthpiece and vessels of honor. And this is not because they are at ease, for they are not, but because they love and know their God, and live for Him regardless of the circumstances.
In his service to Babylon that lasts almost 80 years, Daniel is respected and honored by all the kings. Beginning with Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 3:26-30; 4:34-37), then Belshazzar (5:29) to Darius the Mede (6:24-28), God’s name is glorified among the heathen. Daniel’s faith shines through, and his character is indisputable even before the heathen (6:4-5).
God’s good plans for us must be manifested in this broken world. These good plans concern His glory in this broken world. Righteous living in a broken world is an apologetic, a defense to those despairing, and causes people to ask a reason for the hope that is in us, a hope that endures tough times in this world. Often, we ask God to change our circumstances, not knowing that he placed us in this atmosphere so that our testimony may make sense to the broken and lost. It is precisely because God desires to exalt Himself before kings and kin, preachers and presidents, as well as friends and the faithless, that He ordains our boundaries of dwelling, boundaries we oft abhor.
But as light is more valuable in the knowledge of darkness, so hope in Christ is visible in face of despair. It is when we have nothing that the sufficiency of Christ is manifest. It is amidst sickness and death that the life of Christ is exalted. It is when we are hungry that the bread of life is seen for what it is worth.
‘We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you’ (2 Cor 4:7-12).
We are also reminded in 2 Cor 12:9-10, that God’s grace “….is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ ‘Therefore’ so says Paul, ‘I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’
Are you weary of the circumstance you are in? God has a good plan for you. Are you suffering, for no reason of your own? God is with you. That job you are about to quit, the family persecuting you for your faith? Wondering why God seems not to notice? The good news is that He is watching, He is with you, and he has a good plan for you. This plan is to prosper you. Not materially, necessarily. He is using this, as an occasion to magnify His name, and as a result, working for you a crown far weighty than a bank cheque. Yours is to live out the gospel in that context. Leave the rest to God.
Daniel was a faithful witness. And so was Esther, and Nehemiah. How about you? Will you be a witness for God in this broken world, not seeking air-conditioned environment where the world is suffocating? Will you allow to suffer alongside the suffering world, so the hope of Christ may shine through you? Will you become all things to all men so that you might win some for Christ? Make up your mind, I have mine to make up. I hope that we can one day celebrate together, for having endured this hellish world for His glory, one day when we meet in glory.