The Story of Whom You Trust

I am currently reading the story of a group of British guerrilla fighters in World War II. They did work in some of the countries overrun by Hitler’s Blitzkrieg, but they also began preparations in Britain itself, stocking weapons and explosives in secret places all around Britain in anticipation of the invasion that never came. They were men who had decided that their loyalty was to the king, prime minister, and government of England no matter who took control during the war. Every day there is a question and a battle about who is going to be in control in your life, who is sovereign in your story.

In Daniel 1 we have the story of Daniel and the story of God Jehovah. The clear point of so much of the book of Daniel is the sovereignty of God, the fact that God reigns and God is the King. We also see the story of the agency of men, the choices that people like Daniel make. Your life is the story of who is king. Think about the recent national election and you see how the behavior of many people, prominent business people and so on, has changed. You may ask yourself, “Is this genuine? Is this real?” I don’t know, but I do know that your life is the story of who is king in your life. Sometimes you don’t know that until the chips are down.

Daniel 1:1 explains to us that Daniel was a young man who was taken captive, brought back to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. He was a man with no town, temple, treasure, or tribe. The tribe of Judah had been exported from Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. How do you know who is king in your life? There are three questions you can ask yourself and that you can answer about Daniel.

First, whom do you trust? Someone says, “Everyone has their price. Everyone will cave, given the proper provocation.” Indeed, my friend Jim Cook says, “The devil will give you what you want, but it will cost you what you have.” We read in verses 4, 5, and 7 that Nebuchadnezzar did everything he could to make these young men of Judah his own. He taught them the language of the Chaldeans. He appointed them food that was Chaldean. He gave them names that were Chaldean and pointed to Nebuchadnezzar’s own gods. So, whom do you trust?

The point of chapter 1 is largely about what God gave. Verse 2 says, “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.” That is the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. God did that. It wasn’t accidental. Verse 9 says, “Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.” Daniel and his Hebrew friends were put under the care of this prince who oversaw them, and God gave them favor. Favor is God-given, not something that Daniel earned per se, but something God gave and intentionally did.

Verse 17 says, “As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.” God did that. So, Daniel had the big picture in mind. Much of the Bible, perhaps as much as a quarter, is prophetic. Daniel is a prophetic book. Daniel, even before he was receiving visions from God, saw the big picture and his faith was in God, not in Nebuchadnezzar. He realized that what he had was from the hand of God.

Second, whom do you fear? When Daniel appealed to the man overseeing him and his Hebrew friends to change their diet in order to keep the Jewish law, the Bible says that he had “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat.” He purposed himself. Then, the Bible says about the prince of the eunuchs, “I fear my lord the king.” So, Daniel feared God and the prince of the eunuchs feared the king. The eunuch explained, “Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.”

Sometimes you don’t know whom you fear until you are endangered. Lewis basically said, “You don’t know the strength of the current until you try to swim against it.” If you fear God, you need fear nothing else. So, whom do you fear? What is your testimony like at work? Are you more fearful of the people around you or do you fear God? Do you realize that God is the giver and that God is the one who is sovereign? Your life is the story of who is king in your life.

Third, whom do you follow? This is the ultimate question. Verse 8 says, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. As a Jewish young man there were things that he was not to do regardless of whether he was far from home or in Jerusalem. He purposed in his heart. That was a decision that made every other decision. When you make the big decision of who is king in your life, the smaller decisions make themselves. They are already predetermined. He purposed and then he proved. The Bible says that when it was all said and done, it was evident that God had given them health. “Prove thy servants,” Daniel says in verse 12. Verse 15 says, “Their countenance appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat at the portion of the king’s meat.”

Today, there is a question and a battle at times. The question is, “Who is king in your life?” The story of your life today will be who rules as king.