After the conquest of Judah, four young men entered the service of the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar chose the best and brightest of his new subjects to work for him, creating closer ties and infusing new blood into the leadership of his growing empire.

God blessed these young men—Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel—with health and vigor and best of all, knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning.

Like students everywhere, desperate to salvage my grades I prayed God, help me with the answers on this test! In Babylon, however, the Lord blessed these scholars so that they would in turn bless others. The heavenly tutoring served everyone around them, including their fellow Jews and their captors, Nebuchadnezzar included.

I never received any divine intervention when I failed to study. Seems the Lord allowed me to learn better lessons from my lack of preparation.

But when the Lord chooses to bless, he will use whatever means at his disposal, especially bright young people ready to follow Him.

Daniel 1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Roman Mager