As I thought of all the students, and all the potential of a coming generation, I was struck by some Bible reading I did several months back. I was reading through the stories of Daniel in the lion's den and the 3 Hebrew young men being thrown into the fire. Their courage and faith is staggering to me.
And yet, what struck me in those stories for the very first time is their preparation. In other words, God used them to stand before the king. But, before they got that opportunity, they had lived of life of discipline and learning that had prepared them for that moment.
Daniel 1:3-7So, God used their preparation to place them in the heart of a pagan nation, so that they might make a strong statement of their faith in the one true God! It reminds me that God has many people in our OBC family who are good at a host of different things, who can use those things to impact many lives for his kingdom.
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
