How are You Planning to Remain Faithful to God?
During a playful conversation with my husband, he offered me a piece of advice.
He proposed that, in addition to pursuing a career in professional counseling, I should also consider a job as a professional planner. In this role, I could plan people’s trips, meals, day-to-day activities, and overall lives.
As you can probably tell, he was poking fun at my tendency to construct plans in my own life, which can sometimes be excessive.
The topic of planning reminded me of a passage I read recently in the book of Daniel.
In Chapter 1, Daniel had just been taken out of his home in Judah to live under the direction of King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, and the others who had also been confiscated by the king, were given new names, a Babylonian education, and even food that differed from their customs and culture.
The purpose of this appeared clear, to draw Daniel away from his faith and into a different way of living.
While Daniel’s circumstances are different from the hardships we face today, there are some similarities.
Aren't we all tempted from time to time to allow the world’s provisions and faulty assumptions to guide our steps and define who we are?
Daniel reacted to his circumstances in many extraordinary ways, one of which can be seen in the following verse.
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank.” (Daniel 1:8)
A hand holding up the Bible towards the sky. The sun is beaming right onto the open Bible.
I love the phrase that is used in this verse, “purposed in his heart.”
Other versions substitute it for the words “resolved” and “determined.”
You see, Daniel knew that the delicious food and drink he was offered was likely devoted to the gods of the Babylonians who prepared it. Consuming such provisions was likely unacceptable to Daniel because he was already committed to ensuring that every aspect of his life was seen as pure in the eyes of the one true God.
This verse and the rest of the chapter suggest that Daniel planned in his heart that, when facing temptation and difficult circumstances, he would fall back onto God’s provision, truth, and identity within Him instead of the temporary, dangerous solutions, which the world offered.
In this way, he decided, before he was ever tempted or faced hardship, to be filled with faith and trust in God’s plan.
