Is this not what David wrote of when he composed that beautiful Psalm which we sang today: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies . . . (Psalm 23:5, KJV).
That is Babylon. But that is where faith in Christ must be lived out.
I cannot think of the enemy encircling us without thinking of an incident I have mentioned before. Colonel Roger Ingalvson ejected from his plane in Vietnam and was surprised that he had actually survived the ejection only to float down in that parachute and be encircled by the enemy. For Roger that would be the beginning of a new life: a free stay at the Hanoi Hilton, which no words can describe and for which no country can fully repay for the pain endured for being an American. But that prison was also the beginning of a new life of faith in Jesus Christ. His first year was in solitary confinement. He learned how to examine the parts of a bug’s body and thank God for His creation. He learned to pray. He remembered the Scriptures he had been taught as a young boy in a Lutheran church in Minnesota. Roger was encircled by an enemy. But Roger would tell you that as the Vietcong encircled him, God encircled him as well.
Discipleship is not always as clean as we would like it. But if our goal is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and if God is in control, then we can trust Him that He knows what He is doing. We can believe that even when we have been encircled by Babylonians, God is there. And if we are His, then we can trust Him. We can know that He intends for us to follow Him through it all.
In Daniel, there must be a generation that would do that. One day there would be a revival of true faith. One day there would be a rebuilding of the temple. One day there would be a renewed passion for God. Therefore, God must raise up Daniels. And that may be what God is doing in your life. Remember the old hymn and apply the truths to your life:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform,
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Today maybe you feel like you are being encircled by things that frighten you, disturb you. My beloved, behind those Babylonian soldiers you are facing in your world, is the invisible hand of your heavenly Father. You will learn to trust the Lord more there than at any other time.
Discipleship in Babylon — A foreign land where God leads us (Daniel 1:2)
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god (Daniel 1:2).