Trusting God's Plan in the Fire: Lessons From the Book of DanielSample

As part of King Nebuchadnezzar’s three-year training program for these young men, they were assigned a daily amount of food to eat from the king’s table. Most people in Babylon would have loved to eat what King Nebuchadnezzar was eating, but not Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.” v 8.

Why do you think Daniel didn’t want to eat this food? What was the issue? There may have been multiple reasons. It could be that the meat was considered unclean by Jewish law. Or, maybe the food was offered to pagan gods as a sacrifice. Daniel was being asked to put something into his body that he felt was morally wrong, even if everybody else didn’t see it that way. Others may have seen it simply as food, but to Daniel, it was a sin. He knew in his heart that he could not eat that food.

This had to be really hard for Daniel and his friends. First of all, how delicious must that food have been? It was the best in the land! Plus, there was enormous peer pressure to do what everybody else was doing. Don’t forget that Daniel was also a captive and didn’t have many rights, so he could have used the excuse that he was forced to eat the food. Finally, this was a moral issue between himself and God. He could have easily compromised and eaten the food to save his life. But he did not.

Daniel resolved not to defile himself. Resolve means he made a firm decision and there was no turning back. Whatever the consequences, he was willing to take them because he knew that he could not sin against God, no matter how insignificant eating the king’s food may have seemed to others. He was respectful in how he handled the situation. Daniel didn’t argue or make a scene, he simply went to the king’s official and asked for permission not to eat the food.

Resolve takes courage. It means standing alone when everybody else is eating off the king’s table. It may mean losing a job, not hanging out with certain friends, or being made fun of by others that don’t understand. Taking a stand has consequences and we’ll see in tomorrow’s lessons what they were.

Questions:

1. Have you ever had to take a moral stand for something?

2. If so, what challenges did you face?

3. What compromises have you been tempted to make because it would be easier than the alternative?