How To Have God IdeasНамуна

Recognizing God Ideas: Part 2

God Ideas Never Require Compromise

You’ve probably heard a sermon about Daniel choosing not to defile himself with the royal food of Babylon. After getting hauled off into captivity, Daniel is faced with a proclamation from the foreign king that goes against the laws of God. We must remember that Daniel is a Jew living before the new covenant. He knows God wants him to abstain from eating certain kinds of food.

What I want to specifically focus on is this: Daniel has an idea. It’s stated in Daniel 1:12-13.

“Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

Not only does the commander of the officials listen to Daniel, but he also puts the idea to the test and finds it to be exemplary. The idea sets Daniel apart, and I believe Daniel’s strategy is really an inspiration from God.

Verse 17 supports this when it says that God gives Daniel and his friends:

“knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom.”

Why would God give Daniel such an efficacious idea? It all has to do with Daniel’s unwillingness to compromise. God allows Daniel to be put into a situation where he is pressured to do wrong, but God still expects Daniel to do what is right. Because Daniel’s heart is aimed at pleasing God, God gives Daniel a way out—He gives him supernatural wisdom and protection.

To consistently recognize God’s perspective and plan, we need to count the inclinations of our fleshly nature as loss. Our natural tendency is to be self-seeking, and when we follow this tendency, we always end at a compromise of our beliefs.

Some people say that grace gives us an excuse to compromise in little harmless ways, but the truth is that compromise is never harmless. Compromise is always disconnected from God’s plan for our lives. Grace doesn’t give us an excuse to sin but power over sin. If an idea causes you to think, “I’m sure God will be okay with a little compromise,” roll that idea up and toss it into the trash. It’s not from God.