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Deuteronomy 31:6 - Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.Loneliness is a nasty beastie.
From my experience on The Lutheran Hour, I know that there is no topic which generates more responses than the topic of loneliness. Loneliness grabs hold of the rich and poor, young and old, the popular and the outcast.
Here is one loneliness story you might like.
In Hurst, Texas, the parents of Graham Day were celebrating his eighth birthday with a party.
It wasn't the first time they had thrown Graham a party. They had tried two years ago when he had turned six. For that birthday bash they had sent out 19 invitations, and none of those invited showed up. Graham's mother, Jennifer, had made up one excuse after another to make her son feel better.
In actuality, she believes the other children are frightened by Graham's brother who has autism and can, at times, become explosive.
Still, that was then and this is now. Everybody is two years older, and the Days thought they would try again. And they ended up with the same results: nobody came. Only this time there was no way Jennifer could come up with explanations which held water. As for Graham, he said, "This always happens."
That was when Jennifer said she snapped. She said to herself, "This is not okay. This is not happening. I can fix this, and I've got to try." Jennifer and her husband went to the local police department and asked Lieutenant Mark Schwobel if he could "spare a man to help celebrate the birthday of a lonely boy who hopes to grow up and become an officer."
Officer Schwobel said he would come. Then he volunteered his crew ... and a few firemen as well.
Schwobel says that when they got to Graham's house, they turned on the squad cars' lights, hit the siren and .... well, wide-eyed Graham came running. He was in shock that all these important people had come for him. As a good host, he served pizza and cake and showed the men his gifts.
His mother says he has not yet come down from the high: the high of not being lonely.
Pretty touching, don't you think? Now I know the folk of these departments can't go to the birthday party of every lonely child, but I'm glad they went to this one. It was the right thing to do.
Long ago, shortly after humankind's fall into sin, the Lord looked at our fate, the pain, the loss, the loneliness, and the fires of damnation, and He said, "I can fix this. I've got to try." To that end, He sent His Son into this world to be with us, to reach, to rescue us, to forgive, and save us. All of these gifts were wonderful, but there is one more which ought not be ignored.
That gift is the Lord's presence. In the New Testament, Jesus says He is with us always; in the Old Testament, we have the Father's promise: "Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."
The world may desert us; best friends may betray us, but the Lord is here. He is waiting to hear our prayers, our fears, our terrors and then, having heard, give us the means to deal with them.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, the world is filled with those who are alone or feel alone. May they be turned to see Your love and ongoing care for them. This I ask in the Savior's Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Inside Edition on July 12, 2017. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
Deuteronomy 31:6 - Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.Loneliness is a nasty beastie.
From my experience on The Lutheran Hour, I know that there is no topic which generates more responses than the topic of loneliness. Loneliness grabs hold of the rich and poor, young and old, the popular and the outcast.
Here is one loneliness story you might like.
In Hurst, Texas, the parents of Graham Day were celebrating his eighth birthday with a party.
It wasn't the first time they had thrown Graham a party. They had tried two years ago when he had turned six. For that birthday bash they had sent out 19 invitations, and none of those invited showed up. Graham's mother, Jennifer, had made up one excuse after another to make her son feel better.
In actuality, she believes the other children are frightened by Graham's brother who has autism and can, at times, become explosive.
Still, that was then and this is now. Everybody is two years older, and the Days thought they would try again. And they ended up with the same results: nobody came. Only this time there was no way Jennifer could come up with explanations which held water. As for Graham, he said, "This always happens."
That was when Jennifer said she snapped. She said to herself, "This is not okay. This is not happening. I can fix this, and I've got to try." Jennifer and her husband went to the local police department and asked Lieutenant Mark Schwobel if he could "spare a man to help celebrate the birthday of a lonely boy who hopes to grow up and become an officer."
Officer Schwobel said he would come. Then he volunteered his crew ... and a few firemen as well.
Schwobel says that when they got to Graham's house, they turned on the squad cars' lights, hit the siren and .... well, wide-eyed Graham came running. He was in shock that all these important people had come for him. As a good host, he served pizza and cake and showed the men his gifts.
His mother says he has not yet come down from the high: the high of not being lonely.
Pretty touching, don't you think? Now I know the folk of these departments can't go to the birthday party of every lonely child, but I'm glad they went to this one. It was the right thing to do.
Long ago, shortly after humankind's fall into sin, the Lord looked at our fate, the pain, the loss, the loneliness, and the fires of damnation, and He said, "I can fix this. I've got to try." To that end, He sent His Son into this world to be with us, to reach, to rescue us, to forgive, and save us. All of these gifts were wonderful, but there is one more which ought not be ignored.
That gift is the Lord's presence. In the New Testament, Jesus says He is with us always; in the Old Testament, we have the Father's promise: "Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."
The world may desert us; best friends may betray us, but the Lord is here. He is waiting to hear our prayers, our fears, our terrors and then, having heard, give us the means to deal with them.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, the world is filled with those who are alone or feel alone. May they be turned to see Your love and ongoing care for them. This I ask in the Savior's Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Inside Edition on July 12, 2017. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: 2 Chronicles 36; Daniel 1-2; Titus 1
2 Chronicles 36:1 Then the people of the land took Y’ho’achaz the son of Yoshiyahu and made him king in his father’s place, in Yerushalayim.
2 Y’ho’achaz was twenty-three years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for three months in Yerushalayim. 3 But the king of Egypt deposed him in Yerushalayim and imposed a penalty on the land of three-and-a-third tons of silver and sixty-six pounds of gold. 4 Then the king of Egypt made Elyakim his brother king over Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, changing his name to Y’hoyakim; N’kho took Yo’achaz his brother and carried him off to Egypt.
5 Y’hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai his God. 6 N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel attacked him and bound him in chains to carry him off to Bavel. 7 N’vukhadnetzar also carried the articles in the house of Adonai away to Bavel and put them in his temple in Bavel. 8 Other activities of Y’hoyakim, including all the abominations he did publicly and those discovered later, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el and Y’hudah. Then Y’hoyakhin his son took his place as king.
9 Y’hoyakhin was eight years old when he began his reign, and he ruled in Yerushalayim for three months and ten days. He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective. 10 In the spring, King N’vukhadnetzar sent and had him brought to Bavel together with the valuable articles from the house of Adonai, and made Tzedekyah his brother king over Y’hudah and Yerushalayim.
11 Tzedekyah was twenty-one years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. 12 He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai his God. He did not humble himself before Yirmeyahu the prophet speaking on behalf of Adonai.
13 He also rebelled against King N’vukhadnetzar, who had made him swear loyalty to him by God; instead, he became stiffnecked and hardhearted, refusing to turn to Adonai the God of Isra’el. 14 In addition, the chief cohanim and the people grew increasingly unfaithful, following all the abominable practices of the other nations; and they polluted the house of Adonai, which he had consecrated in Yerushalayim. 15 Time after time, and frequently, Adonai, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers; because he had compassion on his people and on the place where he lived. 16 But they ridiculed God’s messengers, treating his words with contempt and scoffing at his prophets, until the anger of Adonai rose up against his people to the extent that there was no longer any remedy.
17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Kasdim, who put their young men to the sword in the house of their sanctuary. They had no compassion on either young men or young women, old men or gray-haired; God handed all of them over to him. 18 All the articles in the house of God, great and small; the supplies in the house of Adonai; and the supplies of the king and his leading men — all these he brought to Bavel. 19 Then they burned down the house of God, broke down the wall of Yerushalayim, put to flames all its palaces and destroyed everything in it of worth. 20 Those who had escaped the sword he carried off to Bavel, and they became slaves to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. 21 Thus was fulfilled the word of Adonai spoken by Yirmeyahu, “until the land has been paid her Shabbats” — for as long as it lay desolate, it kept Shabbat, until seventy years had passed.
22 Now in the first year of Koresh king of Persia, so that the word of Adonai spoken by Yirmeyahu might be fulfilled, Adonai activated the spirit of Koresh king of Persia to proclaim throughout his entire kingdom, and put in writing as well: 23 “Here is what Koresh king of Persia says: Adonai, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms on earth, and he has charged me to build him a house in Yerushalayim, in Y’hudah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may Adonai his God be with him! He may go up . . . .”
Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah, N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel came to Yerushalayim and laid siege to it; 2 and Adonai handed Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah over to him, along with some of the articles from the house of God. He took them to the land of Shin‘ar, to the house of his god and placed the articles in the storehouse of his god.
3 The king ordered Ashp’naz, the eunuch serving as his chief officer, to bring into the palace from the people of Isra’el some of royal or noble descent. 4 They were to be boys without physical defect, handsome in appearance, versed in all kinds of wisdom, quick to learn, discerning, and having the capacity to serve in the king’s palace; and he was to teach them the language and literature of the Kasdim. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of his own food and the wine he drank, and they were to be cared for in this way for three years. At the end of this time they were to become the king’s attendants.
6 Among these, from the people of Y’hudah, were Dani’el, Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah. 7 The chief officer gave them other names — to Dani’el he gave the name Belt’shatzar; to Hananyah, Shadrakh; to Misha’el, Meishakh; and to ‘Azaryah, ‘Aved-N’go.
8 But Dani’el resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or the wine he drank, so he asked the chief officer to be excused from defiling himself. 9 God caused the chief officer to be kind and sympathetic toward Dani’el; 10 however, the chief officer said to Dani’el, “I’m afraid of my lord the king. After all, he has given you an allowance of food and drink; so if he were to see you boys looking worse than the others your age, you would be putting my own head in danger from the king.”
11 Then Dani’el said to the guard whom the chief officer had put in charge of Dani’el, Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah, 12 “Please! Try an experiment on your servants — for ten days have them give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then see how we look, and compare us with how the boys who eat the king’s food look; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 He agreed to do what they had asked and gave them a ten-day test. 15 At the end of ten days they looked better and more robust than all the boys who were eating the king’s food. 16 So the guard took away their food and the wine they were supposed to drink, and gave them vegetables.
17 To these four boys God had given knowledge and skill in every aspect of learning and wisdom; moreover, Dani’el could understand all kinds of visions and dreams.
18 When the time the king had set for them to be presented came, the chief officer presented them to N’vukhadnetzar; 19 and when the king spoke with them, none was found among all of them to compare with Dani’el, Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah. So they entered the king’s service; 20 and in all matters requiring wisdom and understanding, whenever the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and exorcists in his entire kingdom.
21 So Dani’el remained there until the first year of King Koresh.
2:1 In the second year of the reign of N’vukhadnetzar, N’vukhadnetzar became so troubled by a series of dreams he had that he couldn’t sleep. 2 So the king ordered the magicians, exorcists, sorcerers and astrologers summoned to interpret the king’s dreams to him. They came and stood in his presence. 3 The king said to them, “I had a dream which will keep troubling my spirit until I know what it means.”
4 The astrologers spoke to the king in Aramaic: “May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 5 The king answered the astrologers, “Here is what I have decided: if you don’t tell me both the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses reduced to rubble. 6 But if you do state the dream and its interpretation, I will give you presents, rewards and great honor. Just tell me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 A second time they said, “Let his majesty tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 8 The king replied, “I see you’re only trying to gain time, because you see that I’ve decided 9 that if you don’t tell me the dream, there is only one sentence passed on all of you. So you’ve conspired to mislead me with lies in the hope that time will change things. Now, just tell me the dream! That will convince me that you will also be able to give me its correct interpretation.” 10 The astrologers answered the king, “Your majesty, nobody in the world can do this! Never has a king, no matter how great and powerful, asked such a thing of any magician or exorcist or astrologer. 11 The king is asking a difficult thing; nobody but the gods could tell this to your majesty, and they don’t live with mere mortals.” 12 At this the king flew into a rage and ordered all the sages of Bavel put to death. 13 When the decree was published that the sages were to be slain, they sought Dani’el and his companions in order to have them put to death.
14 Then, choosing his words carefully, Dani’el consulted Aryokh, captain of the royal guard, who had already gone out to kill the sages of Bavel. 15 He said to Aryokh, “Since you are the king’s official, let me ask: why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” Aryokh explained the matter to Dani’el. 16 Then Dani’el went in and asked the king to give him time to tell the king the interpretation.
17 Dani’el went home and made the matter known to Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah, his companions; 18 so that they could ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this secret, and thus save Dani’el and his companions from dying along with the other sages of Bavel. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Dani’el in a vision at night, and Dani’el blessed the God of heaven 20 in these words:
“Blessed be the name of God
from eternity past to eternity future!
For wisdom and power are his alone;
21 he brings the changes of seasons and times;
he installs and deposes kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those with discernment.
22 He reveals deep and secret things;
he knows what lies in the darkness;
and light dwells with him.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
for giving me wisdom and power,
and revealing to me what we wanted from you,
for giving us the answer for the king.”
24 So Dani’el went to see Aryokh, whom the king had charged with destroying the sages of Bavel, and said to him, “Don’t destroy the sages of Bavel! Bring me before the king, and I will give the king the interpretation.” 25 Quickly Aryokh brought Dani’el before the king and told him, “I have found one of the exiles of Y’hudah who will reveal the interpretation to his majesty.” 26 The king said to Dani’el (who had been renamed Belt’shatzar), “Can you tell me what I dreamt and what it means?” 27 Dani’el answered the king, “No sage, exorcist, magician or astrologer can tell his majesty the secret he has asked about. 28 But there is a God in heaven who unlocks mysteries, and he has revealed to King N’vukhadnetzar what will happen in the acharit-hayamim. Here are your dream and the visions you had in your head when you were in bed.
29 “Your majesty, when you were in bed, you began thinking about what would take place in the future; and he who reveals secrets has revealed to you what will happen. 30 Yet this secret has not been revealed to me because I am wiser than anyone living, but so that the meaning can be made known to your majesty, and then you can understand the thoughts of your own mind.
31 “Your majesty had a vision of a statue, very large and extremely bright; it stood in front of you and its appearance was terrifying. 32 The head of the statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its trunk and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you watched, a stone separated itself without any human hand, struck the statue on its feet made of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken into pieces which became like the chaff on a threshing-floor in summer; the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone which had struck the statue grew into a huge mountain that filled the whole earth.
36 “That is what you dreamt, and now we will give the king its interpretation. 37 Your majesty, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; 38 so that wherever people, wild animals or birds in the air live, he has handed them over to you and enabled you to rule them all — you are the head of gold. 39 But after you another kingdom will rise, inferior to you; then a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole world. 40 The fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron. Iron can break anything into pieces, pulverize it and crush it. So just as iron can crush anything, this kingdom will break the other kingdoms into pieces and crush them. 41 Finally, you saw the feet and toes made partly of pottery clay and partly of iron; this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the firmness of iron, since you saw the iron mixed with clay from the ground. 42 Just as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay; that means that they will cement their alliances by intermarriages; but they won’t stick together any more than iron blends with clay.
44 “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not pass into the hands of another people. It will break to pieces and consume all those kingdoms; but it, itself, will stand forever — 45 like the stone you saw, which, without human hands, separated itself from the mountain and broke to pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold. The great God has revealed to the king what will come about in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is reliable.”
46 Then King N’vukhadnetzar fell on his face and worshipped Dani’el; he ordered that a grain offering and incense be offered to him. 47 To Dani’el the king said, “Your God is indeed the God of gods, the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.” 48 The king promoted Dani’el to a high rank, gave him many rich gifts and made him governor of the entire province of Bavel and head of all the sages of Bavel. 49 At Dani’el’s request, the king put Shadrakh, Meishakh and ‘Aved-N’go in charge of the affairs of the province of Bavel, while Dani’el remained in attendance on the king.
Titus 1:1 From: Sha’ul, God’s slave and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, sent to promote among God’s chosen people the trust and knowledge of truth which lead to godliness 2 and which are based on the certain hope of eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised that life before the beginning of time 3 but made public this word of his in its own season through a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by order of God, our Deliverer.
4 To: Titus, a true son in the faith we share:
Grace and shalom from God the Father and from the Messiah Yeshua, our Deliverer.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city — those were my instructions. 6 A leader must be blameless, husband to one wife, with believing children who do not have a reputation for being wild or rebellious. 7 For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God’s affairs, must be blameless — he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain. 8 On the contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness, uprightness, holiness and self-control. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.
10 For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk. 11 They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 Even one of the Cretans’ own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” — 13 and it’s true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust 14 and no longer pay attention to Judaistic myths or to the commands of people who reject the truth.
15 To all who are themselves pure, everything is pure. But to those who are defiled and without trust, nothing is pure — even their minds and consciences have been defiled. 16 They claim to know God, but with their actions they deny him. They are detestable and disobedient; they have proved themselves unfit to do anything good.
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5 Y’hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai his God. 6 N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel attacked him and bound him in chains to carry him off to Bavel. 7 N’vukhadnetzar also carried the articles in the house of Adonai away to Bavel and put them in his temple in Bavel. 8 Other activities of Y’hoyakim, including all the abominations he did publicly and those discovered later, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el and Y’hudah. Then Y’hoyakhin his son took his place as king.
9 Y’hoyakhin was eight years old when he began his reign, and he ruled in Yerushalayim for three months and ten days. He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective. 10 In the spring, King N’vukhadnetzar sent and had him brought to Bavel together with the valuable articles from the house of Adonai, and made Tzedekyah his brother king over Y’hudah and Yerushalayim.
11 Tzedekyah was twenty-one years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. 12 He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai his God. He did not humble himself before Yirmeyahu the prophet speaking on behalf of Adonai.
13 He also rebelled against King N’vukhadnetzar, who had made him swear loyalty to him by God; instead, he became stiffnecked and hardhearted, refusing to turn to Adonai the God of Isra’el. 14 In addition, the chief cohanim and the people grew increasingly unfaithful, following all the abominable practices of the other nations; and they polluted the house of Adonai, which he had consecrated in Yerushalayim. 15 Time after time, and frequently, Adonai, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers; because he had compassion on his people and on the place where he lived. 16 But they ridiculed God’s messengers, treating his words with contempt and scoffing at his prophets, until the anger of Adonai rose up against his people to the extent that there was no longer any remedy.
17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Kasdim, who put their young men to the sword in the house of their sanctuary. They had no compassion on either young men or young women, old men or gray-haired; God handed all of them over to him. 18 All the articles in the house of God, great and small; the supplies in the house of Adonai; and the supplies of the king and his leading men — all these he brought to Bavel. 19 Then they burned down the house of God, broke down the wall of Yerushalayim, put to flames all its palaces and destroyed everything in it of worth. 20 Those who had escaped the sword he carried off to Bavel, and they became slaves to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. 21 Thus was fulfilled the word of Adonai spoken by Yirmeyahu, “until the land has been paid her Shabbats” — for as long as it lay desolate, it kept Shabbat, until seventy years had passed.
22 Now in the first year of Koresh king of Persia, so that the word of Adonai spoken by Yirmeyahu might be fulfilled, Adonai activated the spirit of Koresh king of Persia to proclaim throughout his entire kingdom, and put in writing as well: 23 “Here is what Koresh king of Persia says: Adonai, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms on earth, and he has charged me to build him a house in Yerushalayim, in Y’hudah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may Adonai his God be with him! He may go up . . . .”
Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah, N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel came to Yerushalayim and laid siege to it; 2 and Adonai handed Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah over to him, along with some of the articles from the house of God. He took them to the land of Shin‘ar, to the house of his god and placed the articles in the storehouse of his god.
3 The king ordered Ashp’naz, the eunuch serving as his chief officer, to bring into the palace from the people of Isra’el some of royal or noble descent. 4 They were to be boys without physical defect, handsome in appearance, versed in all kinds of wisdom, quick to learn, discerning, and having the capacity to serve in the king’s palace; and he was to teach them the language and literature of the Kasdim. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of his own food and the wine he drank, and they were to be cared for in this way for three years. At the end of this time they were to become the king’s attendants.
6 Among these, from the people of Y’hudah, were Dani’el, Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah. 7 The chief officer gave them other names — to Dani’el he gave the name Belt’shatzar; to Hananyah, Shadrakh; to Misha’el, Meishakh; and to ‘Azaryah, ‘Aved-N’go.
8 But Dani’el resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or the wine he drank, so he asked the chief officer to be excused from defiling himself. 9 God caused the chief officer to be kind and sympathetic toward Dani’el; 10 however, the chief officer said to Dani’el, “I’m afraid of my lord the king. After all, he has given you an allowance of food and drink; so if he were to see you boys looking worse than the others your age, you would be putting my own head in danger from the king.”
11 Then Dani’el said to the guard whom the chief officer had put in charge of Dani’el, Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah, 12 “Please! Try an experiment on your servants — for ten days have them give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then see how we look, and compare us with how the boys who eat the king’s food look; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 He agreed to do what they had asked and gave them a ten-day test. 15 At the end of ten days they looked better and more robust than all the boys who were eating the king’s food. 16 So the guard took away their food and the wine they were supposed to drink, and gave them vegetables.
17 To these four boys God had given knowledge and skill in every aspect of learning and wisdom; moreover, Dani’el could understand all kinds of visions and dreams.
18 When the time the king had set for them to be presented came, the chief officer presented them to N’vukhadnetzar; 19 and when the king spoke with them, none was found among all of them to compare with Dani’el, Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah. So they entered the king’s service; 20 and in all matters requiring wisdom and understanding, whenever the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and exorcists in his entire kingdom.
21 So Dani’el remained there until the first year of King Koresh.
2:1 In the second year of the reign of N’vukhadnetzar, N’vukhadnetzar became so troubled by a series of dreams he had that he couldn’t sleep. 2 So the king ordered the magicians, exorcists, sorcerers and astrologers summoned to interpret the king’s dreams to him. They came and stood in his presence. 3 The king said to them, “I had a dream which will keep troubling my spirit until I know what it means.”
4 The astrologers spoke to the king in Aramaic: “May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 5 The king answered the astrologers, “Here is what I have decided: if you don’t tell me both the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses reduced to rubble. 6 But if you do state the dream and its interpretation, I will give you presents, rewards and great honor. Just tell me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 A second time they said, “Let his majesty tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” 8 The king replied, “I see you’re only trying to gain time, because you see that I’ve decided 9 that if you don’t tell me the dream, there is only one sentence passed on all of you. So you’ve conspired to mislead me with lies in the hope that time will change things. Now, just tell me the dream! That will convince me that you will also be able to give me its correct interpretation.” 10 The astrologers answered the king, “Your majesty, nobody in the world can do this! Never has a king, no matter how great and powerful, asked such a thing of any magician or exorcist or astrologer. 11 The king is asking a difficult thing; nobody but the gods could tell this to your majesty, and they don’t live with mere mortals.” 12 At this the king flew into a rage and ordered all the sages of Bavel put to death. 13 When the decree was published that the sages were to be slain, they sought Dani’el and his companions in order to have them put to death.
14 Then, choosing his words carefully, Dani’el consulted Aryokh, captain of the royal guard, who had already gone out to kill the sages of Bavel. 15 He said to Aryokh, “Since you are the king’s official, let me ask: why has the king issued such a harsh decree?” Aryokh explained the matter to Dani’el. 16 Then Dani’el went in and asked the king to give him time to tell the king the interpretation.
17 Dani’el went home and made the matter known to Hananyah, Misha’el and ‘Azaryah, his companions; 18 so that they could ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this secret, and thus save Dani’el and his companions from dying along with the other sages of Bavel. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Dani’el in a vision at night, and Dani’el blessed the God of heaven 20 in these words:
“Blessed be the name of God
from eternity past to eternity future!
For wisdom and power are his alone;
21 he brings the changes of seasons and times;
he installs and deposes kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those with discernment.
22 He reveals deep and secret things;
he knows what lies in the darkness;
and light dwells with him.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
for giving me wisdom and power,
and revealing to me what we wanted from you,
for giving us the answer for the king.”
24 So Dani’el went to see Aryokh, whom the king had charged with destroying the sages of Bavel, and said to him, “Don’t destroy the sages of Bavel! Bring me before the king, and I will give the king the interpretation.” 25 Quickly Aryokh brought Dani’el before the king and told him, “I have found one of the exiles of Y’hudah who will reveal the interpretation to his majesty.” 26 The king said to Dani’el (who had been renamed Belt’shatzar), “Can you tell me what I dreamt and what it means?” 27 Dani’el answered the king, “No sage, exorcist, magician or astrologer can tell his majesty the secret he has asked about. 28 But there is a God in heaven who unlocks mysteries, and he has revealed to King N’vukhadnetzar what will happen in the acharit-hayamim. Here are your dream and the visions you had in your head when you were in bed.
29 “Your majesty, when you were in bed, you began thinking about what would take place in the future; and he who reveals secrets has revealed to you what will happen. 30 Yet this secret has not been revealed to me because I am wiser than anyone living, but so that the meaning can be made known to your majesty, and then you can understand the thoughts of your own mind.
31 “Your majesty had a vision of a statue, very large and extremely bright; it stood in front of you and its appearance was terrifying. 32 The head of the statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its trunk and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you watched, a stone separated itself without any human hand, struck the statue on its feet made of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken into pieces which became like the chaff on a threshing-floor in summer; the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone which had struck the statue grew into a huge mountain that filled the whole earth.
36 “That is what you dreamt, and now we will give the king its interpretation. 37 Your majesty, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; 38 so that wherever people, wild animals or birds in the air live, he has handed them over to you and enabled you to rule them all — you are the head of gold. 39 But after you another kingdom will rise, inferior to you; then a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole world. 40 The fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron. Iron can break anything into pieces, pulverize it and crush it. So just as iron can crush anything, this kingdom will break the other kingdoms into pieces and crush them. 41 Finally, you saw the feet and toes made partly of pottery clay and partly of iron; this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the firmness of iron, since you saw the iron mixed with clay from the ground. 42 Just as the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 You saw the iron mixed with clay; that means that they will cement their alliances by intermarriages; but they won’t stick together any more than iron blends with clay.
44 “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not pass into the hands of another people. It will break to pieces and consume all those kingdoms; but it, itself, will stand forever — 45 like the stone you saw, which, without human hands, separated itself from the mountain and broke to pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold. The great God has revealed to the king what will come about in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is reliable.”
46 Then King N’vukhadnetzar fell on his face and worshipped Dani’el; he ordered that a grain offering and incense be offered to him. 47 To Dani’el the king said, “Your God is indeed the God of gods, the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.” 48 The king promoted Dani’el to a high rank, gave him many rich gifts and made him governor of the entire province of Bavel and head of all the sages of Bavel. 49 At Dani’el’s request, the king put Shadrakh, Meishakh and ‘Aved-N’go in charge of the affairs of the province of Bavel, while Dani’el remained in attendance on the king.
Titus 1:1 From: Sha’ul, God’s slave and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, sent to promote among God’s chosen people the trust and knowledge of truth which lead to godliness 2 and which are based on the certain hope of eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised that life before the beginning of time 3 but made public this word of his in its own season through a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by order of God, our Deliverer.
4 To: Titus, a true son in the faith we share:
Grace and shalom from God the Father and from the Messiah Yeshua, our Deliverer.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city — those were my instructions. 6 A leader must be blameless, husband to one wife, with believing children who do not have a reputation for being wild or rebellious. 7 For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God’s affairs, must be blameless — he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain. 8 On the contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness, uprightness, holiness and self-control. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.
10 For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk. 11 They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 Even one of the Cretans’ own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” — 13 and it’s true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust 14 and no longer pay attention to Judaistic myths or to the commands of people who reject the truth.
15 To all who are themselves pure, everything is pure. But to those who are defiled and without trust, nothing is pure — even their minds and consciences have been defiled. 16 They claim to know God, but with their actions they deny him. They are detestable and disobedient; they have proved themselves unfit to do anything good.
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Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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