Daily Devotions
Embracing the Challenge
Reading for August 7th: Jeremiah 12-14
“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?"
Jeremiah 12:5
Daniel was miles from home. He was in a strange land that was filled with strange customs. He had to learn a new language. He had to answer to a new name. He was surrounded by new gods.
These were uncomfortable surroundings for a young man to say the least. But as difficult as Daniel's new life was for him at this tender young age, what Daniel would face later in life (70 years later to be exact) would be much more difficult. In Daniel chapter 6 Daniel is faced with a choice between life and death. If he obeyed the edict of the king which prohibited prayer for 30 days, he would save his life. If he disobeyed this prohibition, he would be thrown into a den of lions.
But I can't read about this heroic old man in the 6th chapter of Daniel, without thinking about the heroic young man in the 1st chapter. Daniel bravely refused to drink the king's wine or eat the meat set before him because he had resolved to not defile himself (Dan 1:8). That decision early in life helped prepare him for the challenge he faced late in life.
Some of you who are reading this devotion today are at college for the first time. Some of you are going to be faced very soon with tough choices. You're going to choose between being cool and being weird. You're going to cave to peer pressure or stand firm in your convictions.
But understand that the choices you make now have long term consequences. The decisions you make will influence later decisions in life. You are establishing patterns and developing attitudes that will follow you for the rest of your life, either for good or for evil.
So, don't shy away from the challenge. Embrace it. Accept the fact that you're different. Resolve in your heart that you'll stand out. Because some day you'll be facing much more difficult challenges than what you will see in college. In fact, within your life time it could even be choices between life and death.
Father, give our young people the courage to follow Jesus no matter what the cost might be.
