The
short Book of Daniel is filled with unforgettable images of
faithfulness contrasted with the fragile nature of man-made kingdoms.
It includes both past and future events and it gives us a peek into
the spiritual world surrounding us today. Theologians will debate
this book until the last days, but for now, let’s be encouraged.
Daniel
chapter 1 reminds me of the challenges of change. Relocating,
starting school, changing jobs, marital status, or the passing of
loved ones will force us into new situations. It can be tempting to
reinvent ourselves, but often those alterations are superficial.
Here in the first couple of verses we read of massive transition, the
southern half of the nation of Israel (Judah) is captured by the
Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. He takes “some
of the articles from the temple of God“,
and “young men without any
physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of
learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve
in the king’s palace“. The
Babylonian’s wisely took the best and brightest of their captives
to reeducate them into their culture. This brain drain insured
Babylon’s advantage. “They
were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter
the king’s service.” This
reeducation began with giving them new Babylonian names. We read of
four examples, “to Daniel, the
name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to
Azariah, Abednego“. Roughly
600 years before Christ, these teenage boys were brought to a new
land, stripped of everything they knew and put under new authority.
Are you dealing with unwanted change?
The key to the entire book is contained in
the next sentence, “But Daniel
resolved not to defile himself“.
Daniel could have experimented with the wild side, or become bitter,
but it says that God caused the official in charge “to
show favor and compassion to Daniel“.
Daniel looked to the God that was bigger than his situation. Daniel
also knew the Word of God, not just the symbols and traditions.
Roman’s 10:17 reminds us “Faith
comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God“.
Do you need your faith increased?
Daniel,
fully trusting God’s Word and God’s promise, proposed a test to
his instructor to allow them to maintain a kosher diet. “Please
test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to
eat and water to drink.
Then compare our
appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and
treat your servants in accordance with what you see“.
At the end of 10 days, “they
looked healthier and better nourished“.
Here is a question, what would
Daniel have done if the official did not agree? We see in the
following chapters that Daniel would not defile himself. Too often,
we put ourselves in compromising situations and then blame God for
not rescuing us. Daniel was not out late in the wrong part of town,
he understood he was being observed. The chapter concludes with “To
these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all
kinds of literature and learning“.
They excelled even in captivity and when tested at the end of three
years, “In every matter…
which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than
all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom“.
Whatever your transition, “All
Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly
equipped for every good work”
(2 Timothy 3:16).