Hineni

Daniel 1:8-9 “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials…”

What does it mean that “Daniel made up his mind”? In another version of this verse it says, “Daniel purposed in his heart…” Daniel decided, Daniel selected; are all phrases of want and choice. In my life I wish I could say that when I make up my mind to do something then I am not moving. In daily life however I realize that is just not the case. I make up my mind to finish a book but two years later I still have not finished it. Why? Because other things have become more important so I changed my mind in reading the book. I say to people “I will help you; I will give up some of my time, but then substitute it with another activity.

And how many times have I done that with God? I made up my mind to do devotionals every day, but in reality I do not do them every day because I selected to replace devotional time with something else. How many times have I skipped going to congregation every week to sleep in; even though I determined as a young person to “go to church?”

Ok so I change my mind a bunch not only with people but also with God. I have termed that as unpredictable. Why is that such a problem? I find that unpredictable is also understood as halfhearted, fickle, and lukewarm. I do not want those words coupled with my relationship with people or especially God. Particularly because God has some pretty tough words given to believers that are lukewarm in Revelation 3:16 “So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

I was recently confronted with a word in Hebrew that real fits with this idea of purposing my heart to follow God. The word is “הִנְנִי.” It means, “Here I am.” Now when I first read this word I thought, “Self, here I am means physical presents.” "Hineni" means so much more than that. What it really means is "I am here with all of my being, physically and spiritually, ready to do what I need to do and fully present in the moment." Do I mean that when I talk to God?

What would it look like if I said hineni? What would it look like if I acted Hineni?

Daniel made up his mind to follow the ways of God. He said, “Hineni” Even in the worst circumstances. He was in the middle of an enemy country. He could have been killed for going against the enemy. God however knew his heart and He gave him favor. “Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials…” It seems that it is always a positive outcome when you give all of yourself to God. When I write this my response is like “self, it does not always have a positive outcome what about the people that die for their faith? They died because they gave all they had to God. They died for their faith.” Daniel could have died, but wait if Daniel died it would have been a positive outcome too. He would have been with yeshua instantly and forever. That is really positive.

When I say “Hineni”, it will have a positive outcome. If I say “Hineni” to God, He can use me mighty just like in the story of Daniel. I would rather be used in a might way in God’s plan whatever the outcome then be lukewarm.