All of us at some point will walk into a situation we can’t control. It might be a relationship where the other person continues to make poor choices, and you are left cleaning up the mess. It might be a parent or a spouse that keeps hurting you but doesn’t seem to care. But it hurts, and you know it. It might be a financial crisis where it continues to be harder and harder to trust God. It might be a health issue, and you wonder why God doesn’t heal you, why God doesn’t take that pain away.

Why?

We cry out in the dark places of our lives and many times in the darkness; God feels silent. God feels distant.

And if you aren’t there today, you will be someday. We all find ourselves at the bottom of life wonder where is God when the bottom falls out?

The theme of the book of Daniel is how to trust God when life seems hopeless. That no matter what your present situation looks like, God is in control.

This theme is important for us because all of us at one time or another feel like life is out of control.

Daniel lived in 600 B.C., so over 2500 years ago. He was Jewish and was taken into exile to Babylon, the empire of the day.

King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the king of Judah and took some of the vessels from the house of God.

In ancient culture, removing vessels from the god of a nation was not only a victory over the people but also a sign of success over the god of those people.

But verse 2 of Daniel 1starts off, God gave the king of Judah into his hands.

The words, God gave, are crucial in Daniel 1.

But we might first ask, why would God do that? Why would He give them into their enemies hands?

Before the book of Daniel, in other old testament books we know that the people of Judah were sinning and through prophets, God continually warned them of the way they were going.

What is essential, is to know that God will give us our desires and sins. He will allow us to end up where we want to.

Many times, when our lives end up in dark places, it is through our sin or the sin of someone else.

This truth is hard for us to wrap our minds around, at least it is for me: that God is in control and we have freedom in our choices. And those choices, as we’ll see, have an impact on life. They determine outcomes.

Nebuchadnezzar then brings some of the youth to Babylon, which includes Daniel and his friends.

Some historians believe that Daniel and his friends were part of the royal family.

Why do this?

Nebuchadnezzar is bringing the best and the brightest with him. Notice scripture says, “without blemish, good appearance, skillful, competent.”

By doing this, Nebuchadnezzar is seeking to stop the growth of Judah and build up Babylon.

They are teaching them their culture, their language, their religion, their values, and customs.

They are changing their names.

Changing their names was also a sign of ownership over the prisoners.

Their new names were for Babylonian gods and cultural beliefs.

I want you to imagine the lowest point in your life. The moment when life felt the darkest, God felt the furthest away from you.

This low point is where Daniel and the people of Judah are.

But what is fascinating about the book of Daniel is that Daniel is writing it at the end of his life and it is only then, that he sees God’s hand.

So how does Daniel respond?

Through this darkness, Daniel and his friends seek to honor God.

They ask not to eat the king’s food.

Now, there are many reasons they could’ve asked for this, but we are not told all the reasons why they asked for it.

Were only told it would defile them.

Here’s what I find fascinating about this and I want to make this point as we think about living out our faith in our culture.

Daniel could’ve fought back on anything, the food, the teaching, the values, the religion, the changing of his name, but he doesn’t. He only chooses the food.

Daniel’s beliefs don’t change, his name does. He still holds to his faith in God as we’ll see in this book, but he is learning what they are teaching him.

But he takes a stand on the food.

Why? It went against who Daniel is and his core beliefs. Your core is what you decide on ahead of time, your values so that when you are faced with temptation or a decision, your heart makes it clear what you will do.

Here’s another point, Daniel did this privately. He talked to the chief eunuchs, not the king. According to Scripture, the king didn’t know.

Daniel teaches us that the struggle is not to make the culture Christian, but how a Christian can live in a hostile culture.

Every stand you take as a Christian doesn’t need to be public to matter. It might, but maybe it doesn’t need to be a public stand.

So, Daniel asked to be tested for ten days. This length of time is important because, throughout Scripture, 10 represents the testing of faithfulness.

And God blessed them through this testing.

We don’t want to believe or hear this: when we trust God, we are better after the testing.

If you read Daniel 1 straight through, you’ll see the phrase “God gave” three times.

In verse 2 God gave them to the Babylonians, in verse 9 God gave Daniel favor with the chief of the eunuchs, in verse 17 God gave them learning and skill.

Now, let’s be honest about this. We like the last 2 of those 3. God gave him favor and learning and skill to move up in Babylon.

But, God needed to give them to the Babylonians in exile for him to experience the other 2.

Larry Osborne said God is in control of who is in control.

Now, this is easy to believe when life is going well. When your finances are sound, health is good; relationships are humming along, your career, parenting is simple. Of course, God is in control.

When you’re stuck in the storm, this is hard to swallow.

It is hard to hear that God blesses in the darkness of life and pain.

What is amazing is at the end of Daniel 1, Daniel lived a long life. He lived through two kings.

Daniel 1 is the hope we need to trust God in the dark places and place our faith in the power of God and what He is doing. Daniel shows us; we can trust God when life feels hopeless and out of control.