MOVING
"Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible for me' - but I will not be mastered by anything."
I Corinthians 6:12

I had a conversation this week with a family friend and was questioned as to why I am not dating currently. Not knowing really at the time how to explain my reasoning, I simply stated, "I just haven't met anyone". I posted on my Facebook status a piece of my conversation and was amazed at how many other people agreed that I should be out looking and dating again. But it isn't that I do not want to. Rather, the reason is I do not feel released to. Let me explain further.
Take into consideration the actions of Abraham. In Genesis 15:5, God told Abraham that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. However, as time went on and things weren't working out the way Abraham expected, nor in the time Abraham wanted, he took matters into his own hands and produced a child with Haggar (Gen 16:15). It was not the child God had originally spoken of. As such, Hagger and her son, Ishmael, were both the avenue of much pain within the camp. Finally Abraham had to let them go (Gen 21:14).
I know for me that in my first marriage I produced my own Haggar. God told me He had someone. But when I got tired of waiting and grew scared she may not come, I took matters into my own hands. Only after it all began to show real problems did I realize I had stepped out of faith in God. God had sent people to me to warn me, but in my stubbornness and fear I did not listen. Now, years later, I find myself single once more and with a chance to try again. God's promise of a loving wife is still true, but it is up to me to not do God's job for Him again. How many more Haggar's and Ishmael's must I endure to see this? Hopefully no more.
Perhaps we are not so different. We are all wanting to find what God has promised us, be it love, career, family, anything. I know God will provide in time. Maybe the question to be asked comes down to God's timing. I know how it feels to hope for and want something more, but I know this is still not God's timing. I may have been more quick to do so a year ago, but I am not sure I would have been doing it in the right time and with the right motives.
If you think about it, Moses and the Israelites didn't move unless they saw the cloud or fire. If it parked, they parked. It was in their obedience to God that moves were made and safety of victory was given with each change in location. If I had jumped ahead of God, in any situation, before the cloud or fire, I am not sure I would have been as safe or in God's will as much as I hoped. I am reminded of I Corinthians 6:12. "Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible for me' - but I will not be mastered by anything." I want the steps that I am taking to be the steps that are not just permissible, but beneficial.
The Israelites were permitted to move without the fire and cloud moving, but it would not have been beneficial as God's blessing would not have been there. And we see that even on some of the actions of Moses himself. When he got fed up with the circumstance and took matters into his own hand, he struck the rock and water came out. However, that was not the true blessing God wanted to give at that moment. Because Moses moved out ahead of God in his own ways, just like we can in our own frustrations and loneliness, Moses did not enter the Promised Land.
I know for myself, the cloud and fire have not yet moved. As such, I stay camped at this location. In so doing, I have found the 'me' that I lost; that I was forced to change. Someday the cloud and fire will move again and I will be pointed in the direction of the relationship I have longed for - my own Promised Land. But it is not today. God is at work. The hope we have is that Abraham did become the father of many, and the Israelites did make it into the Promised Land. So we also have hope when we fully trust God will do what He says He will do.

MID YEAR'S RESOLUTION
"But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way."
Daniel 1:8

I have been reading and meditating on the life of Daniel quite a bit lately. Not only because he and I share the same name, but more so because I see in his character a man I want to be. Look with me for a bit at the life of Daniel.
The Bible tells us that Daniel was one of the few Israelites carried off to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar besieged Judah. But the men that Nebuchadnezzar had taken for his service were not just your ordinary guys. We read in Daniel 1:3-4 that these men were from royal families; nobility. They were young men without any physical defect, good looking, smart, quick to learn, and fully able to serve.
But I want to point out something here that some may not know. The name Daniel in the Hebrew means "God is my Judge". Why would I share that? Because in knowing this we see how God's hand was on Daniel. Daniel had made a resolution that even though he was not in Israel, he would not let the lifestyle of Babylon overtake him. In chapter 1:12, Daniel requests a ten day challenge, resolving to eat only vegetables and drink only water. Ashpenaz, the chief court official, is leery about this idea as any decrease in Daniel's appearance or abilities could easily be his demise. But we see here that first mention of God as Daniel's judge. In verse 14, Ashpenaz agrees and to his amazement, Daniel and his three friends are healthier and better nourished. As time went on they also proved to be the smartest of all who were taken.
In chapter 2 we see God as Daniel's judge when Daniel tells the king that he will interpret a dream he knows nothing of. Nebuchadnezzar had told the astrologers and wise men that if they could not tell him the meaning of his dream, that they would all face death (2:13). Faced with this penalty, Daniel sought God and found the answer as well as justice in the courtroom.
And let us not forget Daniel being tossed into the lions den. In trickery and deceit the administrators and satraps in Darius' court passed a law stating death in the den to any who prayed to anyone or any god other than the king. In true obedience to the only God, Daniel did not sway. He was thrown in with the lions, but it was God's decree as the judge to not allow permission to the lions to attack. The next morning when the administrators and satraps faced the same punishment for deceiving the king, their fate was not so lucky.
God was Daniel's judge. But God is also our judge, even if your name isn't Daniel. The character of Daniel, I believe, is the true point here. Daniel made the resolve from the beginning to not be moved by circumstance or influenced by location. His heart was sold out to God, and he proved it in his lifestyle, eating, and prayer times.
This is the type man I want to be. And as much as resolutions are made in January, I do not believe it wrong to make a resolution today. Does your heart yearn for God? Is your passion for life void without God involved? I so desperately want to know that the choices I make now honor God, and in so give me peace that He will indeed protect me when He sits as my judge. I'll be honest, growing up with a name like Daniel, and knowing the meaning, scared me for so long. I feared that God saw all my evil and my judgement would be damnation. However, the more and more I know God, the more I see and feel His love for me.
Will you resolve today to put God first? Will you stop defiling yourself? Do not let the circumstance or the location define you. You are God's child, and so I urge you to live undefiled.