A Quiet Faith Is Deafening
Over and over, the cry of my heart is this: Lord, help me to be Godly in an ungodly world. By your grace, help me to live in the world, but not be of the world. Only then will people see your glory shining in this present darkness. We cannot shine when we are polluted with sin and evil, and then try to win others to Christ. That is the very essence of hypocrisy, and Your name is fading because of it.
“My divinely loved friends, since you are resident aliens and foreigners in this world, I appeal to you to divorce yourselves from the evil desires that wage war within you. Live honorable lives as you mix with unbelievers, even though they accuse you of being evildoers. For they will see your beautiful works and have a reason to glorify God in the day He visits us. In order to honor the Lord, you must respect and defer to the authority of every human institution; whether it be the highest ruler or the governors he puts in place to punish lawbreakers and to praise those who do what’s right. For it is God’s will for you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing what is right.” {1 Peter 2:11-15 TPT}
The darker this world becomes, the stronger this tension will feel, setting us apart as strangers in a foreign land. But no matter how evil it becomes, we must hold fast to our faith, and resolve to do the next right thing, according to the sovereign will of God.
Scripture gives us powerful examples of Godly people living in an ungodly world, bringing glory to the Lord through their obedience and reverent respect to authority. We must remember, it’s the kindness of God that leads a heart to repentance, not criticism and self-righteous indignation. Daniel modeled this balance beautifully in chapter one of the Old Testament. When, King Nebuchadnezzar brought Daniel and other Israelites into His kingdom, he changed their names to represent his culture, rather than acknowledging their Hebrew roots. He commanded them to worship his god and eat the food of his idols, but Daniel, would not forsake his God.
When we take a stand, and no matter what people may say, or do to us, we intentionally draw a line in the sand, declaring, “I will not conform to your beliefs,” We become the instrument God is using to tune someone else’s heart. This worldly king could change Daniel’s name, and make him live in his land, but Daniel would not bow down and serve his Babylonian god. With a holy balance of respect and conviction, Daniel found favor in the eyes of the king’s chief official, and although he was offered succulent food from the kings’ table, Daniel asked that he be fed only vegetables, out of a faithful allegiance to the one true God.
Greens and grace became his sustenance.
Because of Daniels winsome faith, the guard granted his request. Not by way of disorderly conduct did Daniel’s God stand out, but by way of awe and reverence. After 10 days of only eating vegetables, Daniel was twice as strong as those who had been consuming all the allotted portions from the kings’ table.
God’s glory was on display through the young Hebrew, who respectfully wouldn’t compromise. Not through rebellion, but through obedience. He wasn’t loud and brazen about it, shouting from the roof tops. No, he simply asked permission, to eat only vegetables….
“The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the kings table…” {Daniel 1:5}
“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….” {Daniel 1:8}
When we resolve in our hearts not to defile ourselves with the world’s unholy provisions, we are intentionally following our calling, to live set apart. No one ever made a difference for God by fitting in and following the crowd. I love how God calls us to be difference makers and peace makers at the same time. He wasn’t calling Daniel, in this moment, to make a scene and set the whole kingdom ablaze with his outward rebellion, He called him to submissively ask permission of the one whose authority he was under.
A quiet faith is deafening.
How do we make a difference? By screaming at the top of our lungs at the worlds injustices? Or by humbly, and steadily, doing the next right thing? Our witness matters, and Daniel’s conviction had a profound effect on the chief Babylonian guard. Perhaps if Daniel had dug his heels in, and came in guns blazing, they both would have been killed, thus killing any chances of conversion, by the curious official.
The world we live in now, begs us to answer how we will stand up for our God. Will we eat the meat the world has to offer to make us feel accepted? Will we follow the crowd and nibble at the world’s table, trading in the sustenance of God for empty calories? Will we follow our desires to dine on what tastes good in this moment, forsaking the patience to plant a harvest?
The table we dine from matters. Every bite we take from the world, leads to death; But every bite we savor from the King of Kings, leads to abundant life. The people around us are watching to see which menu we choose from. When we obey the One True God, like Daniel, we look stronger and shine brighter than those feasting on the world’s insubstantial morsels. They become emaciated, while we gain strength.
God’s Word has all the sustenance we could ever need, and every time we feast at HIS table, we become stronger, bolder, braver, and wiser.
And by His grace, the world will come to see his power on display, through our faithful obedience.
