“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.” – Daniel 1:17
As we learned yesterday, Daniel was not afraid to reject the king’s food. If you missed yesterday’s devotional, we saw where Daniel’s loyalties lied. Though he was given the opportunity to turn to the king’s ways and eat the royal food of the king Daniel chose not to do so. He asked if he and his friends could be served only vegetables to eat and water to drink for ten days.
Daniel 1:12-15 says, “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and deal with your servants based on what you see. He agreed with them about this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days, they looked better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.”
Here is what I want you to see today. In these passages, Daniel and his three friends chose to miss out on temporary pleasures in order to be faithful to God. They could have stuffed their faces and completely compromised their convictions, but instead, they displayed courage and remained faithful to God.
As a result, God blessed their obedience. Verse 17 says, “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.”
How did God bless them? He gave them supernatural gifts. These gifts were apparently so impressive that the king “found them ten times better than all the magicians and mediums in his entire kingdom.” God’s blessings came as a result of their courage and their willingness to miss out on temporary pleasure.
Do you have FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)? What are you afraid to miss out on? Trust me, my friend. If God is calling you to take a stand, you are not missing out. He will always bless you with immeasurably more. If it is God’s will, He will not withhold it from you. But if you will remain obedient to Him, the reward will be so much greater!