Thou Art Greatly Beloved

Daniel 9:23

“At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.”

One of the greatest statements that God could ever say about His children was said about Daniel. God said that Daniel was greatly beloved. You will notice that He did not say that he was just beloved but that he was greatly beloved.

There ought to be a desire in every believer to be greatly beloved by their God. The word beloved means the dearest, the much loved, the esteemed, or the one highly regarded. You have to understand this is not a man writing about himself or a man writing about another man, but this is God saying that Daniel was greatly beloved. So, what was it that caused Daniel to be greatly beloved?

First, he stood for right when others compromised. There were two notable times in Daniel’s life when he took a stand for God. The first time was when they were commanded to eat of the king’s meat that had been offered to idols, and Daniel refused to eat that meat. It did not matter that he was away from home and that his parents would not see what he did; his God was worthy of serving despite being hundreds of miles away. The second time was when the law was made that he could not pray to God, yet Daniel did not care that praying would likely cause his death. Daniel felt that doing right was more important than personal safety.

Second, Daniel had a humble heart. When you read most of the chapter above, you will see Daniel confessing sin to God, not only his sin, but also the sin of his nation. Here is the great Daniel realizing that he was still a sinner that must be clean before his God. Daniel was more interested in keeping his fellowship with God right than to enjoy the pleasures of sin.

Third, Daniel was a man of prayer. One of the great monikers of Daniel’s life was that he spent much time in prayer. Whenever he was faced with a situation bigger than life, he found himself on his face in prayer asking God to intervene. When facing laws that demanded that he not pray, he still turned his face towards Heaven three times a day praying to the God he loved. When faced with question about what God was saying, he prayed to God to ask for clarity so that he could know what he was supposed to do with his life.

My friend, do you desire to be God’s beloved? God is not a respecter of persons; therefore, if God called Daniel his beloved, he will call you His beloved if you do what Daniel did. Sadly, far too many people are more concerned with being in favor with the world and man than they are with being beloved by God. You must understand that you must make God your beloved if you are going to be His beloved.

Let me ask, do you stand or crumble in the face of compromise? You will never stand in the face of compromise if God is not your beloved. God will never be your beloved when holding onto sin is more desirable than being right with your God. God will never be your beloved if you don’t spend much time with Him in prayer. You always love the one the most with whom you spend the most time with; therefore, you must spend the most time with God in prayer if He is going to be your beloved.