Here I Stand

What happens when the bottom falls out of your world? Where do you start when everything that gave you your meaning and identity is taken from you and the past is brought to a crashing full stop? The fall of Jerusalem, the sacking of the Temple and exile create the setting for this remarkable book. For Daniel and his friends, all that is familiar is taken from them. One truth remains, though the facts seem to deny it the Lord reigns. This is the story of how God used the faith of a few to demonstrate his faithfulness and fulfill his purpose.

Daniel was probably a teenager when selected for training in the Babylonian civil service. He was given a new name, a fresh education and immersion in a different culture. All this Daniel and his friends went along with, but there was a sticking point, and it was over diet. It seems so trivial compared to the total makeover he was experiencing, but this was the issue over which he would not compromise (v 8).

Why refuse the king’s meat? Was it because it was ritually unclean or not kosher? Or was it that sharing the king’s food tacitly meant sharing the king’s values, and this he would not do? His loyalty was to God. God’s judgment, not Nebuchadnezzar’s military strength, had delivered Jerusalem to the Babylonians (vv 1,2). God was still calling his people back to their former allegiance.

Politely but firmly, offering a trial to protect their supervisor, they trusted that God would honour this stand and of course he did! Physically they thrived on their new diet, which became the norm. Educationally they shone and graduated with first-class honours. Spiritually they were in the right place to be used by God.

Respond in Prayer

Lord, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, be with me as you have promised and as you were with Daniel. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Colin Sinclair