Can you imagine being uprooted from your home and taken prisoner to a hostile country? It happened to Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar conquered his homeland and carried him off to slavery in Babylon. He lost his house, his job, his freedom, his culture, his friends, and his status as a member of Israel’s nobility. He had to learn to speak a foreign language and live in a place where he didn’t want to be. If you had been Daniel, wouldn’t you have been tempted to focus on the things you couldn’t control, like blaming exile for your unhappiness and feeling sorry for yourself? But that’s not how Daniel reacted! He took charge of his life in little areas. The Bible says, ‘Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the…king’s [food]’ (v. 8 NKJV). He decided to live by his convictions – even in small things. That’s important because small battles train you for big ones! If Daniel hadn’t taken control in small things, he wouldn’t have had the strength to say no to big things like worshipping idols or facing the lions’ den without fear or compromise. Maybe you can’t do anything right now about your work, or a relationship, or your money, but you can change your life by taking control of the little things. Perhaps, like Daniel, it will involve what you eat, what you watch on TV or the internet, what comes out of your mouth, or a refusal to let others dictate your attitude based on how they treat you. When you ‘purpose in your heart’ to honour God in small things, He blesses you and becomes involved in your life in ways you never thought possible.
