1539. In the World but Not of the World

In the World but Not of the World

"I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (Joh_17:15).

When we see Daniel kneeling before the open window, with his face towards Jerusalem, we at once feel that Daniel, while living in the midst of the Babylonian court, a man full of authority and of power, among his fellow-men, was yet separated from them.

1. Daniel lived a separated life. As a youth, Daniel never allowed himself to enter into the follies of the world court in which he found himself. He refused to eat the king's meat and to drink the king's wine. During his future years this same spirit of separation from evil and of dedication unto God ruled his life.

2. Daniel longed after his people. While he himself was placed in honor next to the king, and while he must have enjoyed everything in the way of luxuries and comforts that his office afforded, yet Daniel never forgot the bitterness and the sufferings of the Jew.

Daniel knew the past of the children of Israel; he knew how God had found them in a waste and howling wilderness, how God had led them about and brought them unto Himself.

Daniel knew the story of the Egyptian bondage, the wilderness journey, the period of the judges, the times of the kings; he knew the perfidy of his people, how they had sinned and rebelled against God, and how, as a result, they were at that very time in bondage.

Daniel also knew the glorious future that was prophesied unto his people. He knew how God had promised that Israel should dwell in their own land, with the twelve tribes restored unto one king. Therefore Daniel set his face toward Jerusalem and prayed.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR