Daniel 1:17 – “Good At It”

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.

“God gave …”

Here are these four young men. What will they do in this pagan world? How will they survive?

God gives to them the knowledge and insight they’ll need to do their jobs and He even gives to Daniel a spiritual gift for understanding “vision and dreams.”

How do we survive? It is God who gives us what we need. Consider these verses:

“For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov 2:6).

“I will give you [Solomon] a wise and discerning heart … and they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice” (I Kings 3:12,28).

“To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness” (Eccl 2:26).

“I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you (Ex 31:6).

“Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

Daniel himself will say:

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank and praise you, God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power …” (2:21-23).

What I’d like to point out is that this isn’t just “religious” wisdom of some sort. In Daniel and his friends’ case, it is wisdom to do their jobs in service to the king. For Solomon, it was specifically wisdom to “administer justice,” his job being to serve as the king himself and provide leadership to the people. In Exodus, God is giving skill to the craftsmen “… to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”

In fact, this is true for all of us. What are you “good” at? And why? You might say, “because I took lessons” or “that’s what I went to school for.” On the surface, that may sound like an adequate explanation. But I think we all know it goes much deeper than that. Why did you “take lessons” to start with? Why did you go to school for “that?” Is it not true most of the time there was already some obvious inclination in that direction?

I think about the girl who is always “doing” the other girls’ hair, who then becomes a beautician and a very good one at that. I think of the boy who loves tools and “fixing things” and becomes a mechanic and a good one at that. My wife has always been an amazing musician, but watching my son “learn” piano from her was even more amazing. My oldest daughter took sewing lessons probably starting around 5 or 6 years old and almost instantly became an amazing seamstress. My youngest daughter wanted to take dance and before long was actually doing ballet!

We’re all “good” at some things. Sometimes they turn into entire careers and sometimes they’re just skills to bless other people or hobbies. But why is that? Why do we find we’re “good” at some things? Daniel would tell us it all comes from God. “Every good and perfect gift …”

I have noticed over the years, when someone is working at whatever it is they’re “good” at, it seems to me they don’t even have to “learn” it. It’s as if they “realize” it. It’s like music. All of us can take lessons. If we grind through our lessons and do it over and over and over, eventually most of us will “get” it. But I’ve watched Joan and Daniel. There’s very little of the “grinding through it.” It’s as if, as they look at the sheet music or whatever, it just “happens.” Compared to the rest of us, it “comes easy” to them. And I think that is true of all of us – we all know in our hearts that, when it comes to whatever we’re “good” at, we don’t really have to “learn” it. There’s something already there inside of us, something that just needs a little coaxing and suddenly it’s ours forever.

For myself, school always came “easy.”  Math and science always came very easily to me, and so upon High School graduation, I entered Purdue’s school of Engineering. Right away I discovered two things – first of all that the course work was unbelievably hard, far beyond my wildest imagination, but second of all, that no matter how difficult it was, I could do it – and enjoyed doing it too. And it has been that way my whole career. I have been faced with what other people thought were impossible situations and yet, I figured them out. I have to say without any doubt, in every one of those situations, it was very clear to me that it was God who gave me the insight. It’s not that I’m a “smart guy.” Yes, I can learn material, take tests, get good grades, and all the rest. But there is something much deeper than that going on inside of me that allows me to figure out things no one else seems able to.

Another thing I’d like to say from my own career is that not only has it been obvious to me that my “success” came from God, but I also owe it to other people who are “good” at what they do. In every one of my “successes” there have been other people who contributed their gifts and abilities. I am very proud to say, as I look back, “They couldn’t have done it without me,” but it is equally true, I couldn’t have done it without them.

It is a wonderful thing, I think, to realize that God has gifted all of us to do many different things and that we can come together, contribute those gifts, and do what are often amazing things. And I particularly want to point out this happens at work. Too much church teaching about giftedness ends up applied only to “church” ministries. But people live their lives at work and their God-given giftedness is just as important there.

No matter what we’re “good” at or what successes we may enjoy, we can say with Daniel,

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank and praise you, God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power …”

You have given me …