equipped

God had a job for four young men from Judah, and it changed their lives. They were uprooted from their homes, separated from their families, and brought into the palace in Babylon, a place that represented everything that opposed their people and their God. There, they were subjected to training designed to make them think like their enemies. Lodged in luxury, fed the best delicacies the royal court could offer, they were also immersed in the literature and history of the Babylonian dynasty. The idea was to destroy Judah by subverting its best and brightest to the service of this pagan King and his tiny gods.

But these young men were exceptional not just in intelligence, but also in faith. They didn't want the food, and they resisted the indoctrination. And God, who put them there because their people would need them and because through them he would minister to pagan Babylonia, rewarded them. Just read Daniel 1:17-20. 

"To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom."

God gave this knowledge - it didn't come from genetics or education. God wanted his people influencing the king; he not only put them in place, but he also equipped them for the service he called them to.

The lesson is obvious, and it's been said so often it's become trite: when God calls, he also equips. But take a minute to notice the degree of equipping in this case. Ten times wiser and more understanding! No one else was even close. 

It's as if God wanted to remove all doubt. No one could ever say a pagan was just as good, or that the king was playing favorites. Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as they were renamed, would have a hard enough time as faithful young men representing God in a court full of older magicians and enchanters. There might be questions about their faith, but there would never be any about their qualifications.

I don't think God has ever done that for me. I've always had competency challenges along with those of faith. My enemies have been able to successfully argue that they're just as good as me, or even better, but without the squeamishness and limitations that go along with being a Christian. In the worldly court of business management, my little faction often takes a beating.

It would be nice if God made me ten times smarter than the pragmatists and "fake-it-till-you-make-it" types. He didn't, though, which means that I don't really need that. I can fulfill his plan at my current level of equipping, and for some reason it's better either for the plan or me to do it that way.

The reassuring point in all this is that if I ever need to be ten times smarter to do God's work, I will be. In fact, I've already had many of those times when I wonder where the words came from. I'm just average, but God and me as a team are unbeatable if I let him lead.