Apples of Gold
Radio Script for June 10, 2008
“Handsome, Brilliant, Who Wouldn’t Want to be Like This Guy?”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
I want to be a man like Daniel.
Who wouldn’t?
He was handsome, with “no physical defect” the Bible says.
He was brilliant in many subjects.
He was just an exile from Judah, but some Babylonian big shots saw that Daniel was something special, so they enrolled him in a three year training course. The goal? To prepare him to serve the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar.
A smart young man like Daniel certainly appreciated this opportunity. But something came first for Daniel, and that was God.
God had given the Jews dietary laws, but now these Babylonians gave him food that broke those laws. Daniel could have said, “Ah, just go with the flow,” but instead, look what it says in Daniel 1:8. “Daniel resolved not to defile himself.”
Now that is a phrase we should all pound into our brains. “I resolve not to defile myself.”
Look around. What is it that defiles you? Now make this your resolution, like Daniel. “I resolve not to defile myself.”
Daniel didn’t throw a big, stinking fit about it. He didn’t start a protest in the lunchroom. Instead, he simply went to the proper official and, get this, asked for permission to eat something else.
What a combination! He was resolved to do the right thing, but he humbled himself before his authority.
Daniel had a truckload of talent, and Daniel 1:17 reveals where it came from. All that knowledge and understanding? God gave it to him, including the ability to understand dreams and visions.
With talents like that, Daniel quickly rose up in the ranks. The king found Daniel and his friends to be 10 times better than all the rest.
At one point Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and he demanded that his wise men both tell him his dream, and its interpretation – or he would kill them. Of course they couldn’t tell him his dream, so he started rounding them up, including Daniel and his friends.
Now look what it says in Daniel 2:14. When the commander came to arrest Daniel, it says, “Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.”
Again, here is the great Daniel, handsome and wise, with the true ability to interpret dreams, yet he didn’t brag or boast. He wasn’t full of himself. Instead he spoke to the commander with wisdom and tact.
Then it says they pleaded with God for mercy, and that night God revealed to Daniel both the dream and its interpretation.
Then when Daniel stood before the king, he was so humble, he took no credit for himself. He said that no man could explain the king’s mystery, that only God could do that.
Even so, after that the king put Daniel in a high position as one of his rulers.
Now once Daniel had this cushy government job, he could have laid low and enjoyed it. But no, God still came first.
In Daniel 4:27 we see Daniel speaking so boldly to the king as to say, “Renounce your sins…” But again, he didn’t do it in arrogance. He was humble before the king, saying, “O king, be pleased to accept my advice…”
In Daniel 5 he is offered many gifts to interpret the now famous writing on the wall. But he told the king he could keep his gifts, then he interpreted the writing anyway, which was a message of judgment.
After that scathing report, amazingly the king elevated him to the third highest position in the land.
Then Darius the Mede became king, and he also recognized Daniel’s leadership skills, and made him one of his three main leaders. Daniel did his job so well that Darius planned to promote him.
When the other leaders heard about it, they decided to cut Daniel down to size. They checked all the angles, analyzed all of Daniel’s work, and get this, Daniel 6:4 says, “They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.”
Did you get that? He was neither corrupt, nor negligent.
That’s a great example of how we should do our work. Yes, we have no corruption. But just as important is this, that we are not negligent. We are not slack or lazy in our work.
They finally tripped up Daniel over his commitment to prayer, and got him thrown in the lion’s den. As he was going in, the king said, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you.”
What a testimony! Even the king saw Daniel’s spiritual integrity, that he served God, not just when it was convenient, but continually!
And God did rescue Daniel from the lions, and two reasons are mentioned in Daniel 6: because Daniel was found innocent in God’s sight, and because Daniel trusted in God.
After that Daniel prospered, both under the rules of Darius and Cyrus. At times he fasted and prayed and sought the Lord. He repented of his own sins and the sins of his people. He studied the scriptures and served the king.
Daniel 10:12 said he set his mind to gain understanding and to humble himself before God.
In Daniel 9:23, Gabriel told Daniel that he was “highly esteemed.”
In Daniel 10:11, a man who looked a lot like Jesus in the book of Revelation, told Daniel that he was “highly esteemed.”
Daniel 10:19 says it again, that Daniel was “highly esteemed.”
Oh, there are so many reasons to look up to Daniel. His commitment to God. His prayer life. His integrity. His service to the government. His humility. His brilliant mind. His stately appearance. And what more can you ask than to be “highly esteemed” by heavenly authorities?
I look at him, and I want to be like him.
Like I said when I started, I want to be a man like Daniel.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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