Daniel 1:17 – “Good At It – 2”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And the children the these four – God gave to them knowledge and insight in all writing and wisdom and Daniel understood in all vision and dreams.

In my last post I presented what I think is the amazing truth that everyone of us are gifted by God very specifically to do what He made us to do. It’s true of everyone that they’re “good” at something. It’s true of everyone that there’s something that “comes easy” for them. Daniel makes it clear that the abilities he and his three friends had were gifts from God.

I want to stay on the subject just to think through what are possible practical implications of this truth.

First of all, I think it would be very humbling for all of us to really think hard about what we’re “good” at and to realize it is a gift from God. I like what He says in I Cor 4:7, “For what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn’t receive it?” The things I’m “good” at don’t make me “better” than someone else. I have those gifts only because God gave them to me – and the fact is that other person has gifts I don’t have. Also, it would help us not to diminish what we’re “good” at. It’s easy to see other people who have “amazing” gifts and think ours are “not much good.” The fact is few of us will ever have “amazing” gifts. As Abraham Lincoln said, “The Lord must have loved the common man – He made so many of them!” Seriously, it doesn’t matter how seemingly insignificant our gifts may be – those things we’re “good” at – they are gifts from God and He intends we use them to bless others, even in simple ways.

Frankly as I would survey my own life, I would say there really isn’t much I’m “good” at.  I love my engineering, but there are a lot of guys way smarter than me. I like to run, but I rarely even place in my age group. I like to draw but I’m no “artist.” I’m really pretty average even at the things I’m “good” at. But so what? The gifts I have are gifts from God, just like Daniel, and my job is to give them to those around me even if they’ll never “amaze” anyone.

Another implication of this truth would be that one of the major ways parents can bless their children is to help them realize what they’re “good” at. If a child obviously has musical talent, then parents can get them lined up with lessons and help them learn the disciplines of practice. If a child seems particularly artistic, then parents can encourage them to pursue those things. Obviously this can go a million different directions, but that is precisely why a child needs their parents’ input – they need someone who can “see the forest for the trees.” Of course the flip side of this is that a good parent will help their children realize what they’re not “good” at. We’re living in this “positive self-esteem” age where we’re supposed to tell them they’re good at everything. That is so ludicrous it would be laughable, if it wasn’t so sad and destructive. The fact is I am “good” at some things and not at others. I need to capitalize on the things I’m “good” at and not waste time trying to become something I’m not. A parent can help a child immensely by steering them away from things they simply are not good at and never will be and help them focus their efforts on those things that will pay big dividends in their life.

Another implication is that I think it would help us appreciate each other far more if we saw that everyone around us is a person uniquely gifted by God. Maybe they’re not “good” at what I do, but what are they good at? Everyone is good at something! We should be looking to see what others are “good” at and then appreciating them for it. If we see that in fact someone else really is “good” at something, we ought to do everything we can to encourage them in it. We should tell them they’re good at it. We should point out when they’ve done those things they’re “good” at and let them know we appreciate what they do. I’m afraid we live in a world where all most people ever hear is criticism and put-downs and sarcasm. What a shame – when they’re each one a person gifted by God to do amazing things the rest of us would struggle to accomplish! We would value each other so much more if we just saw this giftedness and we could be so much more encouraging if we deliberately appreciated it.

Maybe last of all, I’d like to take this discussion back to the workplace. What if we all saw our job as a place to give our gifts? What if we really appreciated what the Lord has given us and then saw our mission in life as taking those gifts and putting them to work all day every day in the job we do? Every single legitimate job that anyone has anywhere is a way of being kind to other people, a way to “help” them in some way or another. The whole purpose of life itself is to love God and love others. What if we all saw our job as a place to give our gifts as a way of doing just that – loving God and others?

Daniel 1:17 – “To these four young men God gave ..”

You have given me …