Every year, after Easter, we jump into a Bible Study, and it’s always a lot of fun. There is something exciting about a Spiritual Family centering on God’s Word and diving into it.  I always look forward to it, and this year’s study will be a blast because we are jumping into a book that is more relevant to life today than it appears at first glance.  This year, we will study the book of Daniel.  We titled this series Thrive.  Why call it that?  Daniel’s life and actions can teach us how to thrive, not just survive, in our difficult world.  Daniel is a prophet and an incredible man of God who lived in the harshest, most stressful circumstances imaginable, and he didn’t just survive in these circumstances; he thrived, and so can you!  The book contains popular stories we grew up hearing about, like Daniel and the Lion’s Den and Shadrack, Meshak, and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace. Have you ever heard of those?  In Daniel, we will read about people under immense pressure, living in the worst possible circumstances.  They faced brutal tests and intimidating trials while navigating the threat of death and pressure to conform to culture rather than staying true to God and His desires for their lives.  This book helps us face stressful situations, tests, and trials, and the pressure to conform rather than stay true to God in the world we live in today.  Life isn’t easy, but as we will see from the life of Daniel, regardless of the circumstances or pressures we face, we can stay true to God and thrive.

So, what brutal circumstances are Daniel and his friends facing?  Well, the first few verses of this book give us a glimpse into a very brutal time for God’s children. 

Daniel 1:1 During the third year of King Jehoiakim's reign in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God. So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia and placed them in the treasure-house of his god. NLT

Yikes.  I’m always fascinated by small phrases we read in Scripture, which were massive moments to those who faced them.  What do we see here?  Babylon has come to Jerusalem, besieged and conquered it.  The city is left in ruins.  King Nebuchadnezzar has even desecrated their temple, stealing their sacred objects from God’s Temple, and to make matters worse, verse two starts with explaining to us that God gave the Babylonians the victory!  This is just two verses, but this is a pivotal, life-changing moment for all involved.  But it gets worse. 

Daniel 1:3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah's royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives. 4 "Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men," he said. "Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon." 5 The king assigned them a daily ration of food and wine from his own kitchens. They were to be trained for three years, and then they would enter the royal service. NLT

You see, Babylon didn’t just conquer them and destroy the city.  King Nebuchadnezzar was in the world-conquering business.  He is building an empire; to do that, he needs the best and strongest people on his team.  So, he took the best, brightest, and healthiest people from Judah back to Babylon with them and then put them through a three-year process of basically brainwashing them, erasing who they were, and making them into Babylonians.  They were given Babylonian names, would learn the language, eat their food, embrace Babylonian gods, and in three years, there would be nothing left of who they were.  If you think about it, the strategy is brilliant; it leaves the nations you conquered without strong leaders and adds strong leaders to your empire, making it easier to keep all the nations you conquered under your thumb.  Daniel, along with his buddies Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are part of the 25% of people Babylon captures and takes with them. 

Daniel 1:6-7 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah. 7 The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names: Daniel was called Belteshazzar. Hananiah was called Shadrach. Mishael was called Meshach. Azariah was called Abednego. NLT

So, this is how we meet Daniel, he is a prisoner of war, exiled to a hostile nation that is going to do everything it can to turn him into a Babylonian.  Oh, did I mention that Daniel was fifteen years old when this happened?  Can you imagine processing all of this at fifteen years old?  He has been ripped away from his family.  His home has been destroyed.  He not only has watched a foreign nation destroy them but also desecrated God in the process. We will watch Daniel not just survive in this hostile land, but grow into the very person God created him to be, under immense pressure to be something he isn’t, in unimaginable circumstances.  Daniel will face test after test in his life, and he passes them all, remains faithful and true to God and himself, and thrives under circumstances that most would be crushed under!  With each test he faced and passed, he got promoted until he became one of the most powerful people in the empire he served, becoming the king's most trusted servant.  In the book, we will follow Daniel’s life and watch as he lives through three different kings and two empires.  Two different Babylonian Kings, then a Persian King, Cyrus the Great, when the Persians conquered the Babylonians, and Cyrus the Great wanted everyone dead, but kept Daniel around!  Daniel even leads two of these Kings to God in the process! 

We can learn so much from Daniel and the different stories in this book.  They can teach us how to thrive, not just survive, in this difficult world that we live in today!  Because Babylon pressuring Daniel to live as they want rather than how God wants isn’t all that different from the pressures we face today.  You live in a world that pulls you away from God and doesn’t want you to stand as the person God created you to be…now hopefully you aren’t thrown in a lion’s den or a fiery furnace if you don’t conform. Still, today's world seems to push in harder and harder on us to push away from God and conform to this world.  The other thing that I think is so important to see is how much we can learn from Daniel on how to live as God desires, as we walk through tough times and even see something hard to accept…that God often uses difficulty to help us grow, and to lead us to better things in our lives, if we can push through them.   

So, before we start our study of the book of Daniel, let’s look at what another prophet of that era had to say about why God allowed His people to be taken to Babylon.  It’s interesting because there were different prophets God kept sending to warn them that if they didn’t change, this would happen, and now it has. So, this didn’t sneak up on them, or at least it shouldn’t have.  Today, we will look at one of those prophets, probably the most famous of them, and one that gives us many one-liners in Scripture that we love. His name is Jeremiah. Jeremiah was sent to the people of Judah because they had repeatedly broken their covenant with God. There was a lot of social injustice, idol worship, and a lot of evil things happening. They were stumbling along in the wrong direction and pulling away from God.  For 23 years, Jeremiah had warned the people of Judah to change their ways so that they could thrive in the land God gave them. Remember, this is the Promised Land, but the people did the opposite and wouldn’t listen to Jeremiah. Instead, he was mistreated, disrespected, threatened, and they even tried to kill him, and most just dismissed him, thinking he was just crazy or wrong. Other prophets had said the same, but they didn’t care and had no interest in changing their lives and turning back to God. Jeremiah even predicted that God would use Babylon to defeat Judah and rule over them for 70 years, which is exactly what happened. 

Jeremiah 25:3 "For the past twenty-three years…the Lord has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened…Because you have not listened to me, 9 I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever…11 This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. NLT

So, it’s interesting that they knew this was coming. They had been told for decades to change their ways, but they had no interest, and everything Jeremiah said happened exactly the way God said it would.  This can be tough to process.  We all like to hear the positive things people say about us. We enjoy being reminded that God loves us, just as we are. But we aren’t as excited to hear truths about life change, obeying God fully, surrendering our lives, making wise choices as God leads our lives, allowing God to disrupt our lives, or the fact that not living for God can have ramifications that aren’t all that pleasant.  Even the idea of walking through pain, tests, and trials, it’s hard to accept that God could use those things to help us, guide us, and help us grow into who we were called to be.  It’s tough, but life-changing when we accept this as truth in our lives.  

Jeremiah gives us a lot of amazing Scripture. Still, I’m not sure we realize that these amazing Scriptures we are so inspired to read come from this brutal time, mostly as a warning and some as encouragement to those exiled to Babylon. One of my favorites is Jeremiah 29:11, an awesome scripture to reference as we walk through tough stuff.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” NIV

We love this, but we may not realize this is God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah in a letter to the prisoners of war in Babylon!  Think about how that must have felt to hear that God has a plan, and it’s to prosper you, not harm you, after being conquered, ripped from your home, family, and friends, and made a prisoner of war.  You don’t plan to harm me…but prosper me…wow, that had to be tough to accept!  And if we open this up to a few surrounding verses, it gets harder to accept!

Jeremiah 29:10 This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. NIV

The letter starts with God saying, “Hey, settle in, make homes and families, because you are going to be here for seventy years before I get you out of this horrible spot you are in.”  Ouch!  God lets them know it will be a while and then says, “I know my plans for you, not to harm you but to prosper you.” Whew, how would you receive that? 

The book of Daniel will help us understand that our circumstances aren’t in control of our life experience; God is, and while we say that, it’s often much easier to agree with it when life is going the way we want it to, and harder to accept when it isn’t.  But, when do we realize our need for God and cry out to Him?  When life is hard. There is a major theme in Scripture, and all through the book of Daniel.  God doesn’t spare those He loves from painful tests and trials, but uses them for good in our lives if we allow it.  Think of it this way, God didn’t spare them from being conquered and taken prisoner for 70 years, but He was in it with them.  He didn’t spare Daniel from the Lion’s Den, but He is in it with him.  He didn’t spare Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego from the fiery furnace but He is in it with them, and God won’t spare you from challenges either, but He will be in those moments with you and when you let go and let Him lead, you can thrive and live your best life just like Daniel.  God said He plans to prosper us, not harm us, to give us hope and a future, even if our circumstances tell a different story.  This leads me to a few points I would like to make today as we open this Bible study. 

First, Daniel‘s life teaches us something very important about problems in life.  His circumstances were brutal, yet he could thrive and succeed in life.  This tells us that our circumstances are not the issue.  For so many of us, we walk through life and look at our circumstances as the reason things do or don’t happen for us, we point to them and think that is our problem.  Ever wish your life were easier, you weren’t so busy, your job wasn’t so hard, or that you had better luck, because that is when you could enjoy life?  Have you ever seen someone thriving and thought it must be nice, or assumed they can thrive because life is easier for them?  But you need to understand something: we think our circumstances are the problem, but they aren’t.  Do you know what the real issue is?  It’s how we respond to the problems and circumstances of our lives.  Daniel’s life proves this.  His life circumstances are tough, but his response to them allowed him to thrive!  He could have walked through life defeated and upset at being a prisoner in a hostile land, but instead, he thrives, and so can we!

We have to understand that our problems aren’t our problems. So often, we think our problems are the problem, but the real issue is how we respond to them. Here are a few ways our problems become actual problems in our lives.  When tough stuff hits and we turn negative, lose perspective, and struggle to see anything good in our lives, that is a big way our problems become real problems.

“When life is hard, it’s easy to focus only on the bad things and forget all about the good things God has given us. But God has blessed every one of us in ways we often overlook.”  Billy Graham

When tough stuff hits, if we give up our values and compromise who we are to try and solve the issue, that is when it becomes a real problem in our lives.  When we start feeling sorry for ourselves or figuring out who to blame for where we find ourselves, our problems become problems in our lives.  When we quit doing good things in life, when we pull away from God and our Spiritual Family, stop eating and exercising, and down the list I could go, it’s amazing how often we make a hard life harder just by how we respond to difficulty.  We pull away from the things that could help us, and try to relieve the pain in ways that only make it worse.  We isolate, try to numb and medicate it, we push away from God rather than towards him, turning to all kinds of things that only double down on our issues.  Our problems become real problems when we forget God is up to something bigger in our lives, that God has a plan for us, even when it doesn’t make sense.  In our frustrations, we miss the opportunity to grow and learn from what we are working through, which probably means you will keep dealing with similar issues until you learn from them! So often, we will keep having the same tests thrown at us until we pass them!  

So, how should we respond to pain in our lives?  Well, Paul, who has experienced some brutal circumstances himself, says we should respond this way…

Romans 5:3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-they help us learn to be patient. 4 And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it... TLB

We should not be surprised that we experience hard times and adversity in life.  It is amazing how this happens to us, though.  We can read about what God’s Children are walking through here and think, wow, God has been warning them since the days of Moses, that if they don’t change, this will happen to them, how could they miss that?  But we can also miss this theme found all through Scripture that we will face tough stuff, it seems to sneak up on us too, but it shouldn’t. 

1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. NLT

I love this line from Peter, yet we are often surprised and think something strange is going on when we walk through everything Scripture says we will walk through in life.  

John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you WILL have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." NLT

Jesus didn’t say you might have trouble or won’t if you are a good person; he said you WILL!  Peter says we shouldn’t be surprised or think something strange is happening to us; we will deal with stuff.  And as we look at what is happening in Daniel, this shouldn’t have snuck up on them either.  God has been warning them for decades, and they wouldn’t hear it, and I’m confident that even with all these warnings, it still snuck up on most of them.

So, we haven’t even dug into this book yet, and we can already see how helpful it can be.  We learn from Daniel that our circumstances don’t determine our life experience; our response to all that life throws at us does.  We learned that we can learn, grow, and thrive regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in, which is awesome.  We learned that tough stuff hitting shouldn’t sneak up on us, yet it so often does.  But while it shouldn’t sneak up on us, so often what God is doing is hard to understand.  We just don’t see or understand what He is up to.  I mean, try to place yourself in their shoes, conquered by the Babylonians?  It’s devastating! And who did it?  God!

Daniel 1:1 …King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah… NLT

They were conquered, their homes destroyed, their lives turned upside down, and God did it.  What?  I mean, how do you process this?  If we go to the prophet Jeremiah’s warnings, there is this beautiful line in Jeremiah 24 where God is speaking about how he will tend to the hearts of His loved children, calling them the good people, that He is tending to…

Jeremiah 24:7 I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly. NLT

Do you know who He is talking about?  It’s the prisoners of war, who have been ripped from their homes and will spend 70 years in captivity!  What?  In Jeremiah 29 from earlier, we get a Scripture that is so helpful and inspirational…

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” NIV

That is found in a letter written to the exiles in Babylon.  They are reading as prisoners of war!  How confusing must it have been to hear this in these circumstances?  I mean, keep your chin up, I’m doing a great work in you, and my plans are to prosper you, not harm you…while everything in their lives seems to be harming them!  So, we shouldn’t let tough times sneak up on us, but what do we do when we don’t understand what God is up to in our lives?  Well, here is the last point, and something we will see Daniel do an amazing job of as life keeps hitting him.

We have to trust God through all that life throws at us.  While we shouldn’t be surprised that tough things happen, I think it’s fair to say it can be hard to understand what God is up to at times in our lives.  I am sure you can think of different situations you have walked through or may currently be walking through that just don’t seem to make sense in your life.  I have them too.  It’s in those moments that we must trust God for what we don’t understand.  Here are a few awesome Scriptures that can help us when we just don’t get what God is up to in our lives.

Isaiah 55:8 "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. NLT

God is beyond us; we can trust Him because He loves us, even when we don’t understand what He is doing.  I love this one-liner from Solomon that I think could help lower our stress level a ton!

Proverbs 20:24 The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way? NLT

Here’s the key: We must trust God when life throws things at us, even if we don’t understand.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. 6 Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success. NCV

Do you see it?  Trust God with all your heart, don’t depend on your understanding.  Focus on God, trust Him, and what will He give you?  Success…you will thrive, not just survive the tests of life, just like Daniel.  So welcome to the book of Daniel, where we will learn how to thrive, not just survive life in this brutal world.  So, as we close today and prepare for next week when Ken gets to start diving into this Bible Study, I want to ask you a couple of questions that can open us up to what is to come. 

How do you do with the pressure that people and our culture put on you to be something you are not?  Can you stand tall as the person God created you to be, or do you struggle to be you? 

How do you respond to tough times in your life?  Can you look at your life and see times when your response to something actually made your life harder?  What could you learn from that and apply moving forward? 

Have you assumed your circumstances are the issue, and if you were just ___________then life would be different?  Daniel's life proves otherwise.  Remember, your circumstances don’t determine your life experience, but how you respond to them sure can. 

Do painful moments and adversity sneak up on you?  Can you trust God as you walk through all life will throw at you? 

Can you trust Him even when you don’t understand? 

Listen, life isn’t easy, but it doesn’t mean you are stuck or that you can’t thrive.  That’s where we head in this year’s Bible study, to learn how to thrive and not just survive as life tests and pushes against us, just like Daniel.