The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book Work of Influence: Principles for Professionals from the Book of Daniel. Lord willing, it will be in print and available at Amazon in January 2018.
This principle of tentmaking that we draw from the book of Daniel is, perhaps, the most profound and, yet, most revolutionary of this book. Without reading this principle directly from the words of Daniel, it, nonetheless, becomes clear when we understand the context of the story. To do that, we have to put ourselves into Daniel’s shoes. These men were,
…young men in whom there was no physical defect and who were handsome, well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well educated and having keen insight, and who were capable of entering the king’s royal service—and to teach them the literature and language of the Babylonians. Daniel 1.4
As was mentioned earlier, Daniel could have been on the cover of GQ Babylon, if there was such a thing. He was handsome, he was young and he was fit with a perfect body with no defect. The same could be said for his three friends, Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael. They had everything going for them. They could have just sat back and enjoyed their status, sipping piña coladas or something.
However, along with being “well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well educated and having keen insight,” these guys had a work ethic that was deeply ingrained in them. In fact, you could say that their work ethic was their faith epic. It simply was not in their nature to rest on their laurels. This expressed their deep commitment to the intrinsic value of work.
These young men were already recognized as brilliant. They were smart enough to serve in the king’s royal service. Note that at this time, the king’s royal service was based on merit and brilliance, not on popularity. Today’s political populism wouldn’t have passed muster with Nebuchadnezzar. There were no second chances. As we will see, if your advice or abilities did not meet the king’s standard of excellence, you were dispatched, to put it nicely.
They were seen as brilliant, but now, add on to that brilliance three years of intensive training in the “language and literature” of the Babylonians. After that training, these men would have been congratulated with an acceptable level of service to the king, but it wasn’t enough for them. These young men were ten times smarter and better than everyone else in every matter of wisdom and insight. This does not happen by accident. It happens through an incredible amount of hard work and the blessing of the Lord over and above that hard work. So yes, their work ethic was their faith epic.
