Romans 9:4-5 “Blessings”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴ones who are Israelites, of whom [is] the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the [temple] service and the promises. Of whom [are] the fathers, and out of whom [is] the Christ (that [is], according to the flesh), the One being God upon all, blessed into the ages. Amen.

Something else I believe is highlighted by the verses before us – the revelation of just how privileged are the Jewish people. It has to be a good thing for you and I to pause and simply ponder on what a special people the Lord has made them.

All the way back to the Garden of Eden, the Lord had promised that one day the Seed of the Woman would come and crush the head of the serpent. Beginning with their son Seth, I believe the godly people were very aware of that Messianic promise and also very aware of exactly who was carrying it. I suspect that explains why the genealogies of  Gen. 5 contain specifically the men it does – that they were not necessarily the firstborn sons, but rather the ones chosen by God to be the ones through whom the Seed of the Woman would come.

Certainly, the Lord made it clear to Abraham that the Messiah would come through his family. Out of all the world, he and his family were “chosen.” How can we underestimate the enormity of this fact, that through Abraham’s family – the Jewish people, the Messiah would come to conquer all this horrible death and misery and brokenness of our world and restore again the perfect joy and peace of an Edenic world?

Consider what the Lord told Abraham:

“I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and curse them that curse you,

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”

 (Gen. 12:2.3).

Particularly note, “…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” That is, above all, the promise of the Messiah, and what a blessing it is! However, please note, the “blessing” is not just for Abraham and his family. It is for all the world. It is for us too! From that very beginning, the promise to us Gentiles is that through Abraham’s family, through the Jewish people, we will be blessed! What a debt of honor and appreciation we all owe to the Jewish people! No wonder Jesus told the woman at the well, “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

But I want to suggest that blessing goes far beyond the Messianic promise itself. As important as that is, yet we would be reminded that our Lord is the God of the “full measure pressed down and running over.” The Jewish people are a blessing to us. It has been said, “For generations, remarkable Jewish leaders have propelled humankind forward by discovering cures for diseases, developing new technologies, composing musical masterpieces, advancing causes of freedom and human rights, and serving as trailblazers in countless other fields.” It has been estimated that they comprise less than one half of one percent of the world’s population, yet their contributions have been staggering.

Consider the following list as just a tiny taste:

Jewish Contributions to Society

Albert Einstein	Physicist
Jonas Salk	Created first Polio Vaccine.
Albert Sabin	Developed the oral vaccine for Polio.
Galileo	Discovered the speed of light
Selman Waksman	Discovered Streptomycin. Coined the word ‘antibiotic’.
Gabriel Lipmann	Discovered color photography.
Baruch Blumberg	Discovered origin and spread of infectious diseases.
G. Edelman	Discovered chemical structure of antibodies.
Briton Epstein	Identified first cancer virus.
Maria Meyer	Structure of atomic nuclei.
Julius Mayer	Discovered law of thermodynamics.
Christopher Columbus (Marano)	Discovered the Americas.
Benjamin Disraeli	Prime Minister of Great Britain 1804-1881
Isaac Singer	Invented the sewing machine.
Levi Strauss	Largest manufacturer of Denim Jeans.

If you think back to someone “great” in history, and by “great” I mean someone who did something truly wonderful for the rest of the world, don’t be surprised to find out they were Jewish! What a shame to think of the Holocaust and all the pogroms and all the horrible mistreatment the Jewish people have suffered in this world. Their presence is intended by none other than God Himself to be a blessing to the rest of the world – and they are – yet all they receive here it would seem is slander and cruelty and endless ingratitude!

May it not be true of you and me!

Certainly all of us truly born-again Christians are aware that the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, are a special people, that they are and always will be the chosen people of God, yet I believe it does us good, as with the present passage, to stop once in a while and remind ourselves just how special they are! May the Lord allow each of us, even in some small way, to be a blessing to them!

 

Romans 9:4-5 “Unanswered Questions”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses: 

⁴ones who are Israelites, of whom [is] the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the [temple] service and the promises. Of whom [are] the fathers, and out of whom [is] the Christ (that [is], according to the flesh), the One being God upon all, blessed into the ages. Amen.

As I wander into Romans chapter 9, one thing I hope to understand better is the place of the Jewish people in God’s great plan and even today in the Church. Actually, Paul’s discussion of the matter runs all the way to chapter 11, so I will definitely be in it for a while! On the one hand, I feel like I do understand. I understand that the Lord promised Abraham to bless his descendants forever, that Palestine would somehow be their home forever, and that they would be the special people of God. I understand that they have broken the Mosaic Covenant and rejected their Messiah, so that they are currently under the curses of Deuteronomy 28 and that the Church Age, as we know it, is actually just a parenthesis in what is reality their plan.

Jesus’ crucifixion marked the end of Daniel’s 69^th week and there are seven more years of Jewish history to be accomplished (the Day of Jacob’s trouble) before the Stone Cut Without Hands returns to destroy evil and to establish the New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, to save what will no doubt be a great host of believing Jews. In Christ, you and I have been allowed by faith to enter into the blessings of Abraham’s descendants, though we are Gentiles. Just like them, Jesus is our Messiah and makes us His children.

Into exactly this point, Paul asserts the familiar statement of Gal. 3:28,29, which would tell us, in the Church, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

That is all well and good. However, it is exactly at this point where I’m reminded there is something I totally do not understand. That statement is clear enough, it would seem, but I cannot help but observe that, even throughout the New Testament, there is maintained a constant distinction between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. Even back as early as Acts 15, this distinction became a matter of controversy. In v.1, The “Judaizers” were telling the believers, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” You would think the simple answer to that claim would be, “That isn’t true. No one needs to keep the Mosaic Law in order to be saved.”

However, notice in that passage that, after their lengthy discussions, the elders write “To the Gentile believers in Antioch…” (v.23). Why just the “Gentile” believers? What about the Jewish believers? And why are they making any distinction at all? If we are “all one in Christ” and if the Law was only a schoolmaster to bring us all to Christ, then why would there be one answer for Gentiles, and by inference, apparently a different answer for Jews? It seems to me there never was a clearly stated case that Jewish believers are no longer required to keep the Mosaic Law.

Even as late as Acts 21, when Paul arrived in Jerusalem, James and the elders tell him, “You see, brother how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the Law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from the Moses…” (vv. 20,21). Then they propose he join the purification rites of the four men saying, “Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the Law” (v.24). Notice, you would think Paul would say, “No, what you’re saying about me is true. The Law of Moses was only ‘a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ’ (Gal. 3:24). All those requirements of the Mosaic Law were ‘only a shadow of things to come. The reality, however, is Christ’ (Col. 2:17).” But he didn’t.

Was Paul still living “in obedience to the Law” or not? If he was, why? And why do James and the elders, even in that passage, maintain that distinction between Jewish and Gentile Christians, by following up their insistence that Paul keep the Law, then say, “As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality” (v.25)? Apparently Jewish Christians should keep the Law, but Gentiles get to only follow a “Law Lite?

Yes or no? Is there still, in the Church, a distinction between Jews and Gentiles? And as for the Jewish Christians, should or should they not strive to keep the Law? I understand that Jews are still Jews. God’s promises to Abraham were to bless his physical descendants. The fact that, in Christ, we Gentiles are allowed to be “grafted in” doesn’t change the fact that there are still in this world direct descendants of Abraham, who, as a people, still possess all the blessings listed in the passage before us (Rom. 9:4,5). Jews are still Jews. There is still a rich flow of prophecy reserved specifically for them and, following the Rapture of the Church, they will resume their place specifically as the people of God, in order to finish out their glorious history. That is all clear enough, but what about now?

So there you go. I’ve drug you into my confusion! Sorry about that, but those are my questions, and I hope that somehow, by spending time studying these three chapters, Romans 9, 10, and 11, perhaps the Lord will shed some light on my feeble brain. I am 100% confident it all makes perfect sense to Him. The problem is not Him and it certainly is not the Bible. The problem is me – simply that I don’t understand – but, then, that is precisely why I study. I want to understand. I know that, in time, I can. He promised me many years ago, “Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not” (Jer. 33:3). I have every confidence that, if I study and seek the truth, then, in His time, and when He knows I’m ready, He will gladly make everything clear to me.

But on these issues, boy is that not now!

Here I go, hanging out once more with my old buddy Habakkuk: “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me…” (2:1).

 

Romans 9:4-5 “What Matters”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴ones who are Israelites, of whom [is] the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the [temple] service and the promises. Of whom [are] the fathers, and out of whom [is] the Christ (that [is], according to the flesh), the One being God upon all, blessed into the ages. Amen.

The passage before us generates a lot of interesting observations. First I want to note that, in these words, we should realize Paul is drawing back the curtain of his heart. He is passionately expressing what his eyes see as of great value in this world, and in so doing, he would allow us to see our world through Jesus’ eyes.

What does this world value? Gold, diamonds, palatial mansions, physical beauty, athletic ability, luxurious clothes, delicious food. In Rev. 17ff, we see the drunken harlot of Babylon, and how is she described? “The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries” (17:4). The book of Esther opens with Ahasuerus throwing a 6-month long party and we’re told “For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty” (1:4). Our world treasures everything the Great Harlot offers!

However, look again at our passage. What are the great benefits Paul would attribute to the Jewish people? Notice, as usual, he lists seven – in this case, the first being that they are “Israelites” and the seventh being that theirs is the ancestry of none other than Jesus the Messiah Himself! I find great value in pausing and realizing that this world sees no value whatsoever in any of these seven blessings! What about me? What about my heart? Which do I see as of greater value? It is true that there is great beauty in this world and there in nothing necessarily wrong in enjoying that beauty, but the question is, “What do I value?” I want to be like Paul and see “the promises” as far greater riches than gold and silver! Moses did. Heb. 11:24-26 would tell us, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

As our Bibles lie there open to Romans chapter 9, these two simple verses call out and challenge us all to pause and ask, “What do I really value?” Can I look at the seven blessings listed and say, “Yes, those are things that I see as priceless”? Would I rather have any one of them than all the gold in the world? Thanks be to God that, in the Word, He helps you and me to see the things that truly matter in this life. He would help us to live lives where we accumulate true blessings, not the ashes and straw of this world’s treasures. “Oh, to die the death of the righteous!” exclaimed Balaam. Oh, to die, surrounded by a loving family, with a heart filled with memories of kindnesses and hours spent investing in the lives of others, and knowing that my very next step is to enter the presence of Him who has been all these years my Shield and my exceeding great reward!

This passage calls us to remember what matters!

 

Romans 9:1-4a “Hearts”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹I am speaking truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, ²there is to me great grief and unceasing pain in my heart, ³for I could wish I myself to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, ⁴ones being Israelites…

As I’ve been pondering these verses, I find they lead in two directions, both of which I believe are worthy of serious consideration. First of all, there is the obvious challenge I hope we all feel. Paul is actually saying he’d give up his own salvation if only it would bring about the salvation of others. It has been shocking to me to read many, many commentaries on this passage and how many of the authors barely pause to even consider this. A few of the old reformers do and I really like what godly old Robert Hawker wrote (ca. 1798): “Perhaps no passage in the word of God is more difficult to apprehend, than the one at the opening of this Chapter...I must leave the passage as I found it, for I am free to confess it is attended with too much difficulty of apprehension for me to explore.”

I couldn’t have said it better. It is almost hard to believe, yet Paul certainly couched it in certainty with his assertions of “I am speaking the truth in Christ, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit…” Moses was of the same spirit when the Lord would destroy the Israelites after the golden calf incident and he prayed, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed…but now, please forgive their sin – but if not, then blot me out of the book You have written” (Ex. 32:31,32).

These two men would challenge us all to plumb the depths of our own hearts and consider the depth of our love to others around us. The nearest I can find such feelings would be to my children and grandchildren. Would I give up my own salvation and spend eternity in hell, cut off from Christ, if that could guarantee that all of them would choose life and be born again? I want to answer yes, but I find my soul hesitating at the brink, and wonderfully thankful there is no such possibility. As the Lord sternly told Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me I will blot out of My book. Now, you go…” I am glad that is true, that I don’t need to even consider that choice, but it bothers me that my soul hesitates at the brink, when Paul is saying he would!

That leads me back to Robert Hawker’s words, “Perhaps no passage in the word of God is more difficult to apprehend, than the one at the opening of this Chapter...I must leave the passage as I found it, for I am free to confess it is attended with too much difficulty of apprehension for me to explore.” I agree. I guess we can observe that out of the entire human race, only one man was ever truly given that choice and thank God, He did love us that much. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “All we, like sheep, have gone astray…and He has laid on Him the iniquity of us all...By His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5,6).

Certainly Paul’s and Moses’ spirit is the spirit of Christ, the spirit of self-sacrifice for the good of others, and certainly we ought to all find our hearts driven to do all the Lord would have us do for the salvation and the good of others. I would pray at this point for the Lord to help me have that spirit, but, again, if I try to push it to such a point as Paul expresses, I have to run back to Hawker’s words: “I must leave the passage as I found it.” Give up my own salvation? Burn in hell forever? “I must leave the passage as I found it.”

Just so it’s said, I am very aware of the many ways people play down the straightforward meaning of these verses, and perhaps in heaven we’ll find out they were right. However, personally I will retreat back to the old adage, “If the plain sense makes good sense, why make any other sense?” As difficult as the straightforward understanding of this passage may be, I feel like all the other attempts to explain it fall into what I call “hermeneutical gymnastics,” – something I sincerely try to avoid. As John Eadie warned, “Interpretations are generally false in proportion to their ingenuity.” I will leave that discussion at that.

The other observation I want to make is to consider our attitude toward the Jewish people themselves. Here in America, it is generally true that those of us who call ourselves Christians hold the nation of Israel in high regard. We should note that has not always been the case. For centuries and including right down to the some of the great reformers like Luther and Calvin, what came out of the Church has been an ugly spirit of animosity toward the Jewish people. “Christ-killers,” they’ve been called. Theologically, the claim has even been made (or at least intimated) that the Jewish people have been forever rejected, and today “God’s people” have become the Church. So, in those people’s minds, the Jewish people today are just a bunch of rejected Christ-haters who no longer own any special place in this world and certainly not in the great eternal plans of the Lord.

It's hard to believe that people who think like that read their Bibles! Ought not the Church exhibit the spirit of Paul that we see here in Romans 9? Looking ahead, an even cursory glance would tell us that the Jewish people not only always have, but always will, hold a place of prominence in the heart of God and His plans for eternity! Unbelievable. I once heard someone say, if you visit the Holy Lands, you should identify yourself as an Evangelical, not as a Christian. Apparently the history of the Church has been toward the Jewish people so vindictive, they assume anyone who calls themself a Christian hates them. They know the “Evangelicals” from America love them, but they see us as someone different than “Christians.” How sad is that?

I think it important to note that the foundation of the Jewish people was the Abrahamic Covenant, which was unconditional and eternal. God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants forever. The Mosaic Covenant is the one that was conditional. In Deut. 28, the Lord promised blessings if they obeyed and warned of terrible curses if they did not. Today, it is that Mosaic Covenant that is in abeyance, not God’s love for Abraham’s descendants. In fact, what Jesus will bring to the Jewish people is the New Covenant, which will then be itself unconditional and eternal.

I also want to note that the Lord promised that Abraham’s descendants would not only be blessed but that they would themselves be a blessing. Many, many of the inventions and technical advances we’ve all enjoyed actually came from Jewish people. Also, while the Lord promised to Abraham, “I will bless them who bless you,” He went on to say, “And I will curse them that curse you.” Personally, I want to respect and appreciate the Jewish people because their presence in this world usually spells blessings for all the rest of us, but I also want to note I certainly don’t want to join the sad group of people who will be cursed by God for how they’ve cursed Israel!

Would that the Church (and people who call themselves “Christians”) had displayed down through the centuries something of the spirit of Paul expressed here in Romans 9. Far from hating the Jewish people, Paul could long to see them saved (just like us) and honor them for their place in the heart and plans of God.

May we who call ourselves Christians exhibit that same spirit.

And Lord, search us and know our hearts,,,and see if there be any wicked way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Give us Your heart and lead on, O King Eternal!

Daniel 9:15-19 “Living for His Glory”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁵And now, Adonai our God, who brought out Your people from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made to You a name as [it is] to this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶Adonai, like the all of Your righteousnesses, may (nah) Your anger and Your fury turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. Because [of] our sins and the perversions of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people [have become] a reproach to all of ones around us. ¹⁷And now, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant and his requests and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, the desolate, to the sake of Adonai. ¹⁸Incline Your ear, my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called [by] Your name on it, because not upon our righteousnesses we cause to fall our requests to Your face, [but] because upon Your great mercies. ¹⁹Adonai, hear! Adonai, forgive! Adonai, give attention and act! For Your sake, my God, do not tarry because Your name [is] called upon Your city and upon Your people!

Finally, Daniel comes to his actual request. Up to this point, his prayer has been consumed with acknowledging God’s greatness and the depth of the Jewish people’s sins.

As I read this prayer, one of the first things that strikes me is how much Daniel knew his Bible. It’s perhaps not as easy to see in English, but in Hebrew there are several places where there is no doubt in my mind Daniel is actually quoting Scriptures. I don’t mean, obviously, that he quotes chapter and verse, but what I do mean is that the particular words and phrases reflect a man who knew his Bible so well, when he speaks, his sentences simply come out in terms which you can find in exactly that order in exactly that context in other places in the Bible. He’s so full of the Scriptures, when he speaks, it comes out Bible!

Just as an example, in v.17, when Daniel says, “And now, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant and his requests…” those are the exact same Hebrew words and in the same order as Psalm 143:1, “Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy…” Not so obvious in English, but it’s there in Hebrew – I am quite sure Daniel has prayed the prayer of Psalm 143 many, many times, so that, when he himself prays, those words come out. Then when he says, “Make Your face to shine on Your sanctuary…” those are the familiar words of the Aaronic Benediction in Numb. 6:24-26, “The Lord bless us and keep us, the Lord make His face to shine upon us...” Those kinds of little bits and snatches of Bible words and phrases are laced all through Daniel’s prayer.

I’m reminded again that, when he said back in verse 2, “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures…” it wasn’t some isolated case of him opening a scroll. Daniel was a man who regularly had his Scriptures open in front of him, reading and studying and pondering, and that so much that his mind was full even of simply Bible terms. If you and I would have the faith of Daniel, may we realize we need to imitate his Bible study habits before that will ever happen. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Strong faith grows only in the soil of much Bible reading and study.

All that said, however, I believe Daniel has opened my eyes to something I am not sure I’ve ever really seen before. Read these verses over and over and over and over and probably, like me, you’ll begin to notice something that strikes us as strange. You would think his prayer would read something like, “Lord, You see how much we Your people are suffering here in Babylon! Please bring an end to this awful captivity and let us Your people return to our home! Free us from the rule of these Gentiles and let us again be a strong, independent nation! Help us and free us, Lord!”

If your first thought is, “That’s basically what he’s praying,” go back and read it a few more times. Can you see, too, that Daniel’s greatest concern is not for the suffering of his people, but instead for the glory of God??? What bothers Daniel most about the downtrodden condition of his people is not their suffering but rather the disgrace it brings to the name of the Lord! What bothers him most about the desolation of Jerusalem is how it degrades the name of the Lord. The reason he’s praying for it all to end is to once again show the world that our God is a great God, that He is glorious!

Let me inject that there is nothing wrong with praying specifically for an end to the people’s suffering. The poor leper said to Jesus, “If You are willing, You can make me clean,” and what was Jesus’ answer? “I am willing. Be clean.” Our larger problem in this world is our sins and our sinfulness, yet Isaiah specifically said, “By His stripes, we are healed” (53:5) and much of Jesus’ earthly ministry was giving sight to the blind, healing the sick, and even raising the dead. “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:13). The Lord Himself tells us we should be “Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7). That last phrase says literally, “for it matters to Him concerning you.” Jesus cares. Pray on, though your prayers be the senseless babbling of a 2-year old. Your Father just loves to hear your little voice. Just spill your heart.

At the same time, however, our Father does want us to grow up. For myself, I believe what I’m seeing in Daniel is the realization that there is a much larger issue at stake here, even in my suffering, and that is the glory of God. I would suggest it’s easy to say I want the Lord to be glorified. I would suggest statements like that have even become cliché in the Church today. However, do we really mean it? Is that truly what we care most about? For myself, I don’t know that I’ve ever really seen that. Have I ever really done what I did because I sincerely cared about the glory of God? I’m afraid the honest answer is no. Like I said, I feel like Daniel’s prayer has cracked open a door I’ve never really known was there. It opens a window through which I’m not sure I’ve ever really peeked.

Note how he says things like: “O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteousness, turn away Your anger from Jerusalem, Your city.” He says, “Our sins have made Jerusalem and Your people an object of scorn to all those around us.”  He says, “For Your sake, O Lord, look with favor on Your sanctuary.” Finally he concludes with, “For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

While I am quite sure Daniel was deeply grieved by the oppression and sufferings of his people, he could lift up his eyes and see there was a much larger issue at stake. Just so it’s said, I also am quite sure Daniel understood that God’s glory is always the greatest good of His people. For the Lord to be glorified would indeed result in blessing on His people. However, Daniel could see that it was truly God’s glory that was most at stake and that, it turns out, was the sincere focus of this great model prayer.

Obviously, for us all, maturity will mean learning to actually value God’s glory even above our own suffering. That is no doubt part of the “secret” of what made Daniel who he was. No wonder Daniel is praying this prayer, even though he himself is probably 85 years old and cannot ever see the benefits that will come as the Babylonian Captivity ends! No wonder. It’s not so much an end of the suffering that concerns Daniel, but rather the glory of God in this world – which is by its very nature timeless (and has nothing to do with his age, or even his presence)! No wonder Daniel seems so calm, so resolute in his faith regardless of his circumstances. His heart has moved on to the much larger issues of God’s glory in the events of his life.

 Wow. I have a LOT to learn. I do want to be more like Daniel. Studying his prayer greatly encourages me to just keep studying the Bible, but now he’s challenging me to take what I would call a step of maturity, to actually make choices sincerely moved by the glory of my God. That seems almost insurmountable to me. On the other hand, knowing the Lord, I am sure if we would ask Him, He would be more than happy to teach us! May we truly learn what it means to live for His glory! Daniel did. We can too!