Daniel and his friends are a great model for us. Like us, they are living in a society with someone else’s norms, rules, and values – and they either remember or know others who remember when that wasn’t the case. Like us, they are trying to discern what it means to be “in the world but not of it,” to be immersed in the world but to be faithful to the LORD. Like us, the story they hear alternately challenges and discourages their faith and romances them. Like us, the reality of these circumstances isn’t going to change soon.
But God is with them. As they hold fast to their calling and the hope which springs from his story, he repeatedly rewards them. But as we’ll see in chapter 3, it is not all success and exaltation. Take some time to read the story; ponder the pressures they face and how they face them. What would you do if you were in their situation?
