November 20, 2024

In 2024, we will strive to become more like Jesus by rediscovering the ancient practices of prayer, study, sabbath, celebration, and many more. Our knowledge of scripture, coupled with studying how Jesus lived his life while on earth, will help us become people that overflow with the goodness of God. Wednesday email devotionals will highlight the practices that have been discussed on the previous Sunday.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.

Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

Daniel 1:1-21

Devotional

When I was in my 20s there was a new health trend called Whole30 that everyone began during the month of January. You were only allowed to eat and drink certain whole foods and had to avoid anything processed for 30 days. This diet was supposed to reset your body and give you a healthy start for the new year. I remember doing my research on this program and thinking about what a shift it would be for my life to make this change—I love cheese, after all.

Over the first few weeks, Whole30 was really challenging. It uprooted me from the rhythm of my life, and made my body start to feel incredibly weak. As time went on, though, I started to feel more energy and my body got stronger. The meal prepping and structure made it easy for me to plan.

This is not a call for us to diet. Food is a gift from God that should be valued and appreciated. Instead, what my Whole30 journey makes me think of is the idea of integrating healthy rhythms into our lives—like a Rule of Life. A Rule of Life is a set of habits or rules that you live by to govern your life, as Daniel did in our scripture passage.

But Daniel and the Babylonians had different Rules of Life: Daniel’s habits were centered around God and the Babylonians’ habits were centered around themselves. Justin Earley says, “We can practice our way into problems,” but the same can be said for practicing our way into new life. God wants to give us strength and show us that we can rely on him, but sometimes we need some sort of recalibration, like Daniel and his friends did, to see clearly.

My hope is that you will take some time this week to think through a Rule of Life. Think about how you can choose godly rhythms for your daily, weekly, monthly, and annual routines to lean on the strength and wisdom of God. Maybe in doing so, God will bless you the way he did Daniel.

For Reflection 

What are the habits that govern your life? Do they connect you to God or do they bring you further away from him?

How can you choose godly habits to build your life around the Lord this week? What would it look like to use those choices to create a Rule of Life?

Prayer

Father God, thank you for creating me as someone who can connect with you. Please enter into my habits and practices this week to show me where I am drawing close to you and where I am running away. Draw me back to your heart and teach me how to love like you. Amen.