WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.919 Welcome to Pomoja Podcast, the place where stronger 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:07.139 lives are built, faith is strengthened, hearts 00:00:07.139 --> 00:00:10.199 are encouraged, and Christ -centered homes are 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:13.160 shaped through ordinary conversations that become 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:17.239 extraordinary encounters with God's truth. One 00:00:17.239 --> 00:00:21.739 conversation, one story, one revelation at a 00:00:21.739 --> 00:00:26.379 time. I'm your host, Barry Mwamba. During the 00:00:26.379 --> 00:00:29.600 last two conversations, we have continued discovering 00:00:29.789 --> 00:00:32.390 an extraordinary pattern that runs throughout 00:00:32.390 --> 00:00:35.969 the entire Bible. Joseph's prison was never wasted. 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:40.409 David's caves were never wasted. Moses' wilderness 00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:44.750 was never wasted. Esther's palace was never wasted. 00:00:45.530 --> 00:00:48.609 Every one of those places became part of God's 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:52.030 preparation for a future assignment. But today, 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:56.490 we arrive at another forge, one that may be more 00:00:56.490 --> 00:01:00.009 familiar to many of us than we realize. Because 00:01:00.009 --> 00:01:03.409 Daniel was not forged in a prison. He was not 00:01:03.409 --> 00:01:07.170 forged in a cave. He was not forged in a wilderness. 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:11.590 He was forged inside a culture that was determined 00:01:11.590 --> 00:01:15.189 to reshape who he was. And perhaps there has 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:18.129 never been a more relevant conversation for the 00:01:18.129 --> 00:01:21.530 church than this one. Because every generation 00:01:21.530 --> 00:01:25.510 has its Babylon. Every generation has voices 00:01:25.510 --> 00:01:29.920 trying to redefine truth. Voices trying to redefine 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.239 identity. Voices trying to redefine worship. 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:36.680 Voices trying to redefine what is acceptable 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:41.659 and what is not. The question is no longer. Can 00:01:41.659 --> 00:01:45.939 you survive Babylon? The real question is can 00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:50.480 you remain Daniel in Babylon? There is something 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:53.599 remarkable about Daniel's story. that I had never 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.239 fully appreciated until I looked at it through 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:00.640 the lens of this series. We often remember Daniel 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:04.560 because of the lion's den, but Daniel's assignment 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.939 did not begin with the lions. It began the day 00:02:07.939 --> 00:02:11.599 he lost everything. Think about what happened. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:16.379 One day, Daniel is living in Jerusalem. The next, 00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:19.379 he is being marched hundreds of miles away to 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:23.180 Babylon. His homeland is gone. His family is 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:26.819 gone. His future seems gone. The temple that 00:02:26.819 --> 00:02:29.560 represented God's presence has been invaded. 00:02:30.259 --> 00:02:34.080 The nation has fallen. Everything familiar has 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.259 disappeared. If you had asked Daniel at that 00:02:37.259 --> 00:02:40.439 moment what God was doing, I doubt he would have 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.159 answered. God is preparing me for my future assignment. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:49.180 To human eyes, it looked like defeat. It looked 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:52.740 like tragedy. It looked like the end of the story, 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:56.740 but we have learned something by now. When God 00:02:56.740 --> 00:03:00.000 is writing the story, what appears to be the 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.319 end is often only the beginning of preparation. 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:08.039 Then something happened that reveals the real 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:11.539 battle. Babylon did not simply want Daniel's 00:03:11.539 --> 00:03:15.750 labor. Babylon wanted Daniel's identity. The 00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:18.789 king ordered that these young men should be educated 00:03:18.789 --> 00:03:22.810 in the literature and language of Babylon. Think 00:03:22.810 --> 00:03:26.310 about that. The goal was not simply to teach 00:03:26.310 --> 00:03:29.949 them new information. The goal was to reshape 00:03:29.949 --> 00:03:33.550 how they thought. Then their names were changed. 00:03:34.250 --> 00:03:37.849 Daniel, whose name honored the God of Israel, 00:03:38.349 --> 00:03:41.810 was given the name Belteshazzar. His friends 00:03:41.810 --> 00:03:46.860 also received new names. Why? Because names carry 00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:50.900 identity. Babylon understood something. If you 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:54.099 can change how a person sees themselves, you 00:03:54.099 --> 00:03:58.319 can often influence how they live. Doesn't that 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:02.099 sound familiar? Isn't that exactly what we see 00:04:02.099 --> 00:04:05.699 in our own generation? People are constantly 00:04:05.699 --> 00:04:10.659 being told, you decide who you are. Truth is 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:13.759 whatever you want it to be. Compromise if it 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:17.240 helps you fit in. The methods may have changed. 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:21.720 The strategy has not. Babylon still wants to 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:24.680 redefine identity. But then the Bible gives us 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:28.100 one of my favorite verses. It simply says, but 00:04:28.100 --> 00:04:32.279 Daniel resolved in his heart, stop there. Before 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:36.620 the lion's den, before the visions, before the 00:04:36.620 --> 00:04:40.740 promotion, before all the miracles, there was 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:44.860 a decision. Daniel made up his mind before the 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:49.420 pressure arrived. That is profound, because convictions 00:04:49.420 --> 00:04:52.980 formed in the middle of temptation are usually 00:04:52.980 --> 00:04:57.699 weak. Convictions formed before temptation become 00:04:57.699 --> 00:05:01.220 anchors. Daniel did not wait until the king's 00:05:01.220 --> 00:05:04.920 table was set. He had already decided. He did 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:07.639 not wait until compromise became convenient. 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:11.410 He had already decided. He did not wait until 00:05:11.410 --> 00:05:15.129 everyone else agreed. He had already decided. 00:05:15.689 --> 00:05:19.750 And I wonder how many of God's future assignments 00:05:19.750 --> 00:05:23.930 are shaped by quiet decisions that no one else 00:05:23.930 --> 00:05:27.569 ever sees. Joseph's assignment was protected 00:05:27.569 --> 00:05:31.250 by faithfulness in prison. David's assignment 00:05:31.250 --> 00:05:35.209 was protected in the caves. Moses' assignment 00:05:35.209 --> 00:05:38.629 was shaped in the wilderness. Esther's assignment 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:42.050 was prepared in the palace. Daniel's assignment 00:05:42.050 --> 00:05:47.230 was protected in his heart before God entrusted 00:05:47.230 --> 00:05:51.069 Daniel with influence over kingdoms. He watched 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:54.350 what Daniel would do when no one expected him 00:05:54.350 --> 00:05:58.470 to remain faithful. That is where the forge began. 00:05:59.230 --> 00:06:04.029 Not in the lion's den, not before the king, but 00:06:04.029 --> 00:06:07.889 in the hidden decision. that Daniel belonged 00:06:07.889 --> 00:06:13.930 to God before he belonged anywhere else. The 00:06:13.930 --> 00:06:16.910 more I study Daniel's life, the more convinced 00:06:16.910 --> 00:06:20.329 I become that the first battle he faced in Babylon 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:24.009 was never really about food. For many years, 00:06:24.029 --> 00:06:26.889 I believed that this passage was simply teaching 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:30.629 us about dietary laws or personal discipline, 00:06:30.670 --> 00:06:34.110 while those elements certainly have their place. 00:06:34.430 --> 00:06:37.509 I now believe something much deeper was taking 00:06:37.509 --> 00:06:41.689 place beneath the surface. The food was not the 00:06:41.689 --> 00:06:45.509 destination of the battle. It was only the doorway 00:06:45.509 --> 00:06:50.069 into it. If we step back and look carefully at 00:06:50.069 --> 00:06:53.870 what Babylon was doing, we begin to recognize 00:06:53.870 --> 00:06:58.170 a very deliberate strategy. Daniel and his friends 00:06:58.170 --> 00:07:01.560 had been removed from their homeland. separated 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:05.120 from everything that had shaped them since childhood, 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.500 introduced to a completely different culture, 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:12.339 taught a new language, educated according to 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:15.699 Babylonian wisdom, and even given new names, 00:07:16.579 --> 00:07:19.720 every step was carefully designed to accomplish 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:24.339 one objective, to gradually reshape their identity 00:07:24.339 --> 00:07:27.720 until they no longer thought of themselves as 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:31.220 servants of the living God. but as loyal servants 00:07:31.220 --> 00:07:35.480 of Babylon. That is why I no longer believe the 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:39.800 food was the issue. The food simply became the 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:43.279 first visible opportunity for Daniel to decide 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.259 who he really belonged to. Because every generation 00:07:47.259 --> 00:07:49.860 eventually reaches a moment when it must answer 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:54.480 that same question. Who am I? To whom do I belong? 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:58.319 What will define my life when every voice around 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.970 me is inviting me to become someone else. That 00:08:01.970 --> 00:08:05.730 was Daniel's battle. And if we are honest, it 00:08:05.730 --> 00:08:09.550 is still ours. Our Babylon may not ask us to 00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:12.449 eat from the king's table, but it constantly 00:08:12.449 --> 00:08:16.350 places other tables before us. It offers new 00:08:16.350 --> 00:08:20.310 definitions of truth, new definitions of success, 00:08:20.829 --> 00:08:23.990 new definitions of marriage, new definitions 00:08:23.990 --> 00:08:27.139 of holiness. and even new definitions of what 00:08:27.139 --> 00:08:31.019 it means to follow Christ. The pressure is often 00:08:31.019 --> 00:08:34.440 subtle rather than violent, which is precisely 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:38.620 why it can be so dangerous. Rarely does compromise 00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:42.419 begin with a dramatic decision. More often it 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:45.960 begins with a small adjustment that appears harmless 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:49.480 followed by another, until little by little we 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.899 begin thinking, speaking, and living more like 00:08:52.899 --> 00:08:56.730 Babylon. than like the kingdom of God. That is 00:08:56.730 --> 00:09:00.850 why Daniel's decision is so remarkable. The scriptures 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:03.730 tell us that Daniel resolved in his heart that 00:09:03.730 --> 00:09:07.549 he would not defile himself. Notice where that 00:09:07.549 --> 00:09:10.690 decision was made. It was not made before the 00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:14.409 king. It was not made before a crowd. It was 00:09:14.409 --> 00:09:18.289 not made after public debate. It was made quietly, 00:09:18.490 --> 00:09:21.809 deep within his heart, long before anyone else 00:09:21.809 --> 00:09:25.919 knew what he had decided. That is where every 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:30.419 lasting conviction is born. The greatest spiritual 00:09:30.419 --> 00:09:33.879 victories are almost always won in private before 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:37.659 they are ever seen in public. Daniel did not 00:09:37.659 --> 00:09:40.679 wait until the pressure became unbearable before 00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:44.519 deciding what he believed. He settled his convictions 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:48.360 before the test ever arrived. That is one of 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:50.799 the reasons he remained faithful throughout the 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:55.450 rest of his life. The lion's den did not suddenly 00:09:55.450 --> 00:10:00.090 produce courage within Daniel. It simply revealed 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:03.269 the convictions that had already been established 00:10:03.269 --> 00:10:07.929 years earlier at the king's table. The same principle 00:10:07.929 --> 00:10:11.450 appears throughout the Bible. Joseph remained 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:15.009 faithful long before Pharaoh ever heard his name. 00:10:15.789 --> 00:10:19.090 David learned obedience while caring for sheep 00:10:19.090 --> 00:10:23.779 long before Israel called him king. Moses learned 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:27.100 dependence upon God in the wilderness long before 00:10:27.100 --> 00:10:30.100 he stretched out his staff over the Red Sea. 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.779 Esther chose courage before she ever entered 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:37.279 the King's presence. And now, Daniel teaches 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.379 us that public faithfulness is almost always 00:10:41.379 --> 00:10:44.820 the result of private decisions that no one else 00:10:44.820 --> 00:10:48.080 ever sees. Perhaps that is one of the reasons 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.899 God allows hidden seasons in our lives. Before 00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:55.399 he entrusts us with influence, he watches what 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:59.460 we do when there is no applause, no recognition, 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:03.559 and no audience. Before he places us in positions 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:07.039 where our faith will be seen by many, he often 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.639 allows us to demonstrate that same faithfulness 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:15.059 in moments that appear insignificant. I cannot 00:11:15.059 --> 00:11:18.370 help but wonder How many future assignments are 00:11:18.370 --> 00:11:21.370 shaped by quiet decisions that no one will ever 00:11:21.370 --> 00:11:25.350 know we made. The world celebrates dramatic moments, 00:11:25.950 --> 00:11:30.789 but God often celebrates hidden obedience. Long 00:11:30.789 --> 00:11:34.090 before Daniel stood before kings, interpreted 00:11:34.090 --> 00:11:37.950 dreams, received visions, or survived the lion's 00:11:37.950 --> 00:11:41.110 den, he simply decided that his relationship 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:45.090 with God was not negotiable. Everything that 00:11:45.090 --> 00:11:48.480 followed, grew out of that one decision. And 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.179 perhaps that is the lesson God is inviting us 00:11:52.179 --> 00:11:56.200 to consider today. We often ask him to reveal 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:59.500 our assignment while he quietly asks whether 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:02.539 we are allowing him to establish our convictions. 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:07.259 We ask him to open greater doors while he watches 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:10.779 how faithfully we walk through the ordinary ones 00:12:10.779 --> 00:12:14.580 already standing before us. Because the greatest 00:12:14.580 --> 00:12:19.000 forge is not always found in suffering. Sometimes 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.879 the greatest forge is found in the quiet decision 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.960 to remain faithful when compromise would be far 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:31.799 easier. Daniel's decision at the king's table 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:35.120 was not the conclusion of his story. It became 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:38.019 the foundation upon which the rest of his life 00:12:38.019 --> 00:12:42.279 would be built. Years would pass. Kings would 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:46.200 come and go. Governments would rise and fall, 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.639 but the convictions Daniel established as a young 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:53.879 man would remain unchanged. Those convictions 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:56.720 would eventually lead him into one of the most 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:00.460 famous moments in all of scripture. Not because 00:13:00.460 --> 00:13:04.220 he was searching for a lion's den, but because 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:07.559 a man whose identity has already been settled 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:11.139 cannot be intimidated by the lions waiting ahead. 00:13:11.820 --> 00:13:17.279 That is where we will continue our journey. There 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:19.759 is another thought that completely changed the 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:23.500 way I read Daniel's story. When we think about 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:26.899 Daniel, most of us immediately picture the lion's 00:13:26.899 --> 00:13:30.399 den. That is understandable. It is one of the 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:33.000 greatest miracles recorded in the Old Testament. 00:13:33.539 --> 00:13:36.500 But I have come to believe that the lion's den 00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:40.059 was never the place where Daniel became faithful. 00:13:40.379 --> 00:13:44.080 It was simply the place where everyone else discovered 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:47.519 that he already was. Think about the timeline. 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:51.200 By the time Daniel was thrown into the lion's 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:54.659 den, he was no longer the young man who had arrived 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:58.659 in Babylon. Decades had passed. Kings had ruled 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:02.080 and died. Empires had shifted. Political leaders 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:05.179 had come and gone. Yet through every change, 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:09.779 one thing remained remarkably unchanged. Daniel's 00:14:09.779 --> 00:14:14.080 relationship with God. That is extraordinary. 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:17.559 Most people change with their environment. Daniel 00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:20.600 changed his environment through his faithfulness. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:24.100 The Babylon that tried to redefine him never 00:14:24.100 --> 00:14:27.120 succeeded because Daniel had already settled 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.840 in his heart who he belonged to. The scriptures 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:33.279 tell us that when the officials were searching 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:36.000 for something they could use against him, they 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.809 examined his entire life. Imagine that for a 00:14:39.809 --> 00:14:43.490 moment. They investigated his work. They examined 00:14:43.490 --> 00:14:46.309 his leadership. They watched the way he handled 00:14:46.309 --> 00:14:50.490 responsibility. They looked for corruption, dishonesty, 00:14:51.230 --> 00:14:54.590 negligence, or hidden compromise. And what did 00:14:54.590 --> 00:14:58.970 they find? Nothing. Not because Daniel was perfect, 00:14:59.509 --> 00:15:02.730 but because he had lived with integrity for so 00:15:02.730 --> 00:15:06.210 many years that even his enemies had to acknowledge 00:15:06.210 --> 00:15:09.860 it. Can you imagine having people who dislike 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:13.259 you examine your entire life, hoping to find 00:15:13.259 --> 00:15:17.639 one inconsistency, and finally conclude, we will 00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:20.840 never find any basis for charges against this 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:24.240 man unless it has something to do with his relationship 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:28.639 with God? What an incredible testimony. That 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:31.799 statement alone tells us everything we need to 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:35.399 know about the Forge. Daniel did not become a 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:38.419 man of integrity the day he entered the lion's 00:15:38.419 --> 00:15:42.320 den. Integrity had been forged through thousands 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:46.799 of ordinary decisions made over many years. Every 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:51.299 quiet prayer, every act of obedience, every refusal 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:55.259 to compromise, every moment when no one was watching 00:15:55.259 --> 00:15:58.559 had become another stroke of the hammer in God's 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:02.779 workshop. Then the decree was signed. No one 00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:06.740 could pray to anyone except the King. This was 00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:10.480 no longer about politics. This was about worship. 00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:15.500 This was about allegiance. This was about identity. 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:19.320 The same battle that began at the King's table 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:22.440 had simply returned wearing different clothes. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:26.919 Years earlier, Babylon had invited Daniel to 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:31.059 compromise through comfort. Now it demanded compromise 00:16:31.059 --> 00:16:34.960 through fear. The strategy had changed. The objective 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:38.779 had not. Babylon still wanted Daniel to place 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:42.179 something above his relationship with God. But 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:45.580 notice what Daniel does next. The Bible does 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:48.799 not tell us that Daniel panicked. It does not 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:51.740 tell us that he called a meeting to discuss his 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:55.039 options. It does not tell us that he tried to 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:59.340 negotiate with the king. Instead, it simply says 00:16:59.340 --> 00:17:02.080 that when Daniel learned the decree had been 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.539 signed, he went to his house, opened the windows 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:09.240 toward Jerusalem, knelt down, and prayed just 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:13.000 as he had done before. Those last words have 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.539 always captured my attention. Just as he had 00:17:16.539 --> 00:17:20.410 done before. That may be one of the most powerful 00:17:20.410 --> 00:17:25.390 phrases in the entire book. Daniel did not suddenly 00:17:25.390 --> 00:17:28.529 become a man of prayer because his life was in 00:17:28.529 --> 00:17:32.329 danger. He prayed because that was already the 00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:36.130 pattern of his life. The crisis did not produce 00:17:36.130 --> 00:17:40.490 his faithfulness. The crisis revealed it. Isn't 00:17:40.490 --> 00:17:44.049 that true throughout scripture? Joseph did not 00:17:44.049 --> 00:17:47.210 suddenly begin trusting God inside the prison. 00:17:47.309 --> 00:17:50.470 The prison revealed the faith he had been building. 00:17:51.450 --> 00:17:54.589 David did not suddenly learn courage when he 00:17:54.589 --> 00:17:58.490 faced Goliath. The battlefield revealed what 00:17:58.490 --> 00:18:01.569 had already been formed while he was alone with 00:18:01.569 --> 00:18:05.829 the sheep. Moses did not suddenly begin depending 00:18:05.829 --> 00:18:10.690 on God at the Red Sea. The Red Sea revealed what 00:18:10.690 --> 00:18:14.529 the wilderness had been producing for forty years, 00:18:14.890 --> 00:18:18.500 and Daniel did not suddenly become faithful because 00:18:18.500 --> 00:18:21.980 lions were waiting. The lions simply revealed 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:26.099 what Babylon had never been able to remove. Perhaps 00:18:26.099 --> 00:18:30.099 that is why God sometimes allows us to walk through 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:33.680 moments that expose what has been growing inside 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:37.619 us all along. Not because he needs to discover 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:42.420 what is there. He already knows. Sometimes the 00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:45.640 test is not for God's information. It is for 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:49.000 our transformation. It allows the world to see 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.180 what God has been quietly building in secret. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.640 And perhaps it even allows us to discover how 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:59.660 faithful God has been while preparing us. The 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:03.640 lions never changed Daniel. The lions revealed 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:07.680 Daniel. The prison revealed Joseph. The caves 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.380 revealed David. The wilderness revealed Moses. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:15.900 The palace revealed Esther. Every forge eventually 00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:18.980 reaches a moment when what God has been shaping 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:22.420 in secret becomes visible to everyone around. 00:19:23.180 --> 00:19:26.559 But before we leave Daniel's story, there is 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:29.500 one final lesson that may be the most encouraging 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:33.599 of all. Because God did not merely prepare Daniel 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:37.700 to survive Babylon, He prepared Daniel to influence 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:42.549 Babylon. And that changes everything. As I come 00:19:42.549 --> 00:19:45.789 to the end of Daniel's story, I find myself asking 00:19:45.789 --> 00:19:48.650 a question that I had honestly never considered 00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:53.089 for many years. Why did God leave Daniel in Babylon? 00:19:53.730 --> 00:19:56.630 If the Lord was powerful enough to shut the mouths 00:19:56.630 --> 00:20:00.069 of hungry lions, if He was powerful enough to 00:20:00.069 --> 00:20:03.589 give Daniel favor before kings, if He was able 00:20:03.589 --> 00:20:06.730 to reveal dreams and visions that no one else 00:20:06.730 --> 00:20:10.670 could understand, then surely He was also powerful 00:20:10.670 --> 00:20:14.289 enough to bring Daniel back to Jerusalem, yet 00:20:14.289 --> 00:20:18.309 he never did. Daniel spent almost his entire 00:20:18.309 --> 00:20:22.609 life in Babylon. That alone should make us stop 00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:27.089 and think. Sometimes we assume that God's greatest 00:20:27.089 --> 00:20:30.710 blessing is to remove us from difficult environments, 00:20:30.970 --> 00:20:34.549 but Daniel's life suggests that God's purpose 00:20:34.549 --> 00:20:37.950 is often much greater than simply changing our 00:20:37.950 --> 00:20:42.049 location. Sometimes he leaves his servants exactly 00:20:42.049 --> 00:20:45.430 where they are because that is the very place 00:20:45.430 --> 00:20:49.470 where their assignment will unfold. That realization 00:20:49.470 --> 00:20:52.990 completely changed the way I read Daniel's story. 00:20:53.930 --> 00:20:57.210 For years, I thought Daniel's greatest testimony 00:20:57.210 --> 00:21:02.109 was that he survived the lion's den. Today, I 00:21:02.109 --> 00:21:05.089 believe his greatest testimony is that after 00:21:05.089 --> 00:21:09.240 spending decades in Babylon, Babylon never succeeded 00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:12.480 in changing the man God had called him to be. 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:16.220 He learned the language of Babylon, but he never 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:19.920 forgot the language of faith. He worked inside 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.920 Babylon's government, but he never surrendered 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:26.359 his allegiance to the kingdom of God. He served 00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:29.559 pagan kings with excellence, while remaining 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:33.240 completely devoted to the king of kings. That 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:36.740 is an extraordinary picture of spiritual maturity. 00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:40.630 Daniel did not isolate himself from Babylon, 00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:44.910 yet he refused to become Babylon. He understood 00:21:44.910 --> 00:21:48.089 its culture without allowing that culture to 00:21:48.089 --> 00:21:51.809 redefine his convictions. He lived among people 00:21:51.809 --> 00:21:55.410 who worshipped other gods. Yet every decision 00:21:55.410 --> 00:21:59.650 he made quietly testified that the God of Israel 00:21:59.650 --> 00:22:04.130 was still the true and living God. His influence 00:22:04.130 --> 00:22:07.130 did not come from becoming like everyone else. 00:22:07.670 --> 00:22:10.910 His influence came from remaining different while 00:22:10.910 --> 00:22:14.849 serving everyone with integrity, wisdom, humility, 00:22:15.250 --> 00:22:18.809 and excellence. When I look at Joseph, I see 00:22:18.809 --> 00:22:22.589 the same pattern. God did not remove Joseph from 00:22:22.589 --> 00:22:25.690 Egypt because Egypt had become the place where 00:22:25.690 --> 00:22:28.390 Joseph's assignment would bless the nations. 00:22:29.250 --> 00:22:32.539 When I look at Esther, I see that God did not 00:22:32.539 --> 00:22:35.759 remove her from Persia because Persia had become 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:38.980 the place where an entire people would be preserved. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:43.740 When I look at Moses, I see that after 40 years 00:22:43.740 --> 00:22:48.220 in Midian, God sent him back into Egypt because 00:22:48.220 --> 00:22:51.299 Egypt was the place where God's glory would be 00:22:51.299 --> 00:22:55.799 revealed. And now, Daniel teaches us that Babylon 00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:59.380 itself became the platform through which kings, 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:04.039 rulers, and empires witnessed the wisdom, faithfulness, 00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:08.240 and sovereignty of the living God. Do you see 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:12.079 what all these stories have in common? God never 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:15.339 prepared His servants merely so they could survive 00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:19.180 difficult places. He prepared them so they could 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:23.339 reveal His glory. within those places. Joseph 00:23:23.339 --> 00:23:27.500 revealed God's wisdom in Egypt. Moses revealed 00:23:27.500 --> 00:23:32.039 God's power in Egypt. Esther revealed God's providence 00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:35.640 in Persia. Daniel revealed God's sovereignty 00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:39.059 in Babylon. Their assignments were never centered 00:23:39.059 --> 00:23:42.720 on themselves. Their assignments always pointed 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.400 people back to God. That challenges me personally 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.839 because I realize how often my prayers sound 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.680 very different. We naturally ask God to remove 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:57.640 us from uncomfortable situations, to open another 00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:01.579 door, to change our circumstances, or to take 00:24:01.579 --> 00:24:05.579 us somewhere easier. Yet perhaps the better question 00:24:05.579 --> 00:24:09.730 is not. Lord, when are you going to take me out 00:24:09.730 --> 00:24:13.650 of this place? But rather, Lord, how do you want 00:24:13.650 --> 00:24:18.470 to use me while I am here? That question completely 00:24:18.470 --> 00:24:21.609 changes our perspective because it moves our 00:24:21.609 --> 00:24:24.890 attention away from escape and toward purpose. 00:24:25.690 --> 00:24:28.809 Perhaps your workplace is not simply where you 00:24:28.809 --> 00:24:32.690 earn a living. Perhaps it is part of your assignment. 00:24:33.730 --> 00:24:37.380 Perhaps your neighborhood your profession, your 00:24:37.380 --> 00:24:41.259 classroom, your business, or even the difficult 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:44.059 relationships you have been praying about are 00:24:44.059 --> 00:24:47.660 not interruptions to God's plan, but the very 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:51.380 places where He intends to reveal Himself through 00:24:51.380 --> 00:24:55.640 your life. Throughout scripture, God repeatedly 00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:58.500 placed His servants in environments that seemed 00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:03.160 unlikely, uncomfortable, and even hostile. Yet 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:06.200 those very environments became the places where 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:10.900 his glory was displayed most clearly. That is 00:25:10.900 --> 00:25:14.559 why Daniel's story is so important for our generation. 00:25:15.240 --> 00:25:17.819 We live in a world that constantly pressures 00:25:17.819 --> 00:25:22.380 believers to compromise, to redefine truth, and 00:25:22.380 --> 00:25:25.700 to blend into the surrounding culture. Daniel 00:25:25.700 --> 00:25:29.640 reminds us that faithfulness has never required 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:34.019 isolation. It requires conviction. It requires 00:25:34.019 --> 00:25:37.140 a heart that has already settled the question 00:25:37.140 --> 00:25:40.460 of whom it belongs to before the pressure to 00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:45.319 compromise ever arrives. In the end, Daniel's 00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:48.579 greatest victory was never that the lions could 00:25:48.579 --> 00:25:53.039 not harm him. His greatest victory was that Babylon 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:57.109 could not reshape him. The lion simply revealed 00:25:57.109 --> 00:26:00.309 what decades of hidden faithfulness had already 00:26:00.309 --> 00:26:04.849 produced. God had forged a servant whose identity 00:26:04.849 --> 00:26:08.349 was rooted so deeply in him that neither power, 00:26:08.589 --> 00:26:12.369 culture, fear, nor persecution could move him 00:26:12.369 --> 00:26:15.269 from his convictions. Perhaps that is the lesson 00:26:15.269 --> 00:26:19.150 God wants all of us to carry away from this conversation. 00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:23.519 The purpose of the forge is not merely to help 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:27.299 us endure difficult environments. The purpose 00:26:27.299 --> 00:26:31.099 of the forge is to prepare us to reveal Christ 00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:35.740 wherever he has placed us. Because when God finishes 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:39.039 his work in a servant, that servant no longer 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:45.500 asks, how can I escape Babylon? Instead, he begins 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:50.619 asking, Lord, How can Babylon see you through 00:26:50.619 --> 00:26:55.680 me? As we bring this conversation to a close, 00:26:55.940 --> 00:26:58.559 I hope you are beginning to recognize that none 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:02.279 of these stories stand alone. Joseph, Moses, 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:05.720 Esther, and Daniel are not isolated examples 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:08.259 scattered throughout the Bible. They are all 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:11.839 revealing the same God and the same divine pattern. 00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:16.059 Every prison, every wilderness, every palace, 00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:19.970 and every Babylon became part of the forge through 00:27:19.970 --> 00:27:22.890 which God prepared his servants for the assignments 00:27:22.890 --> 00:27:26.450 he had already determined long before they understood 00:27:26.450 --> 00:27:30.269 them. But our journey through the forge has only 00:27:30.269 --> 00:27:34.069 just begun because there is another servant whose 00:27:34.069 --> 00:27:37.170 story reveals yet another remarkable dimension 00:27:37.170 --> 00:27:41.950 of God's preparation. Unlike Daniel, this man 00:27:41.950 --> 00:27:45.930 was not taken captive as a young boy. He began 00:27:46.039 --> 00:27:49.359 as a fierce opponent of the very gospel he would 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:53.460 one day spend his life proclaiming. He was brilliant, 00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:57.539 educated, passionate, and convinced that he was 00:27:57.539 --> 00:28:01.259 serving God, only to discover that God had an 00:28:01.259 --> 00:28:04.180 entirely different assignment waiting for him. 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:07.440 Most people remember the dramatic encounter on 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.099 the road to Damascus, but very few stop to ask 00:28:11.099 --> 00:28:14.430 what happened afterward. Why did God not send 00:28:14.430 --> 00:28:18.109 Paul immediately to the nations? Why did years 00:28:18.109 --> 00:28:21.349 of silence follow such an extraordinary calling? 00:28:22.210 --> 00:28:24.869 Why did imprisonment become one of the greatest 00:28:24.869 --> 00:28:28.430 classrooms of his ministry? Could it be that 00:28:28.430 --> 00:28:31.650 even after such a powerful encounter with Christ, 00:28:32.230 --> 00:28:36.390 the forge was still necessary? Join me in our 00:28:36.390 --> 00:28:39.849 next conversation. as we continue uncovering 00:28:39.849 --> 00:28:42.670 God's extraordinary pattern through the life 00:28:42.670 --> 00:28:46.109 of the Apostle Paul, and discover why some of 00:28:46.109 --> 00:28:49.630 God's greatest servants spend years being prepared 00:28:49.630 --> 00:28:53.369 before the world ever sees the fullness of their 00:28:53.369 --> 00:28:56.589 assignment. Because the God who prepared Joseph 00:28:56.589 --> 00:29:00.309 in prison, Moses in the wilderness, Esther in 00:29:00.309 --> 00:29:04.079 the palace, and Daniel in Babylon, is the same 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:08.299 God who continued shaping Paul long after Damascus. 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:13.279 And perhaps he is doing the very same thing in 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:14.599 your life today.