Most of us remember hearing the story of Daniel when we were little tykes in Sunday School. He was certainly a hero to us then. Regardless of how long we’ve been hearing the story, Daniel is still a story worth telling and a person worth emulating.
This week we began with the first two chapters of the book he penned and it is in these first few pages that we see how Daniel set himself apart from the culture around him. Daniel 1:4 records this about Daniel and some of his friends: “youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge and who had ability for serving in the king’s court”. This list reads like my prayer requests for the men who would marry my daughters!
These young men were uprooted from their homeland, singled out for their exceptional abilities for service to King Nebuchadnezzar in the foreign land of their exile. The rest of that chapter details how the king sought to cut their ties with home and indoctrinate them into his pagan culture. He required that they be taught the language and literature of the Babylonians; he changed their diet and even their names. King Nebuchadnezzar was a clever man - he knew that as long as the young men had any remains of ties to home, they could never be loyal to him.
We know the story, though, don’t we? We know how Daniel and his three closest friends responded. With respect for their earthly authority, they stood firm for their Heavenly authority and did not adapt their ways to those of the foreign land. And “God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the officials” (1:9) and “God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams” (1:17).
While we may not be physically captured and exiled by a pagan king, we must realize the effect of today’s culture around us. The prince of this world (Satan) wants to indoctrinate us just as King Nebuchadnezzar did Daniel. He wants to change the way we talk and think, to control what we read and see (revisionist history, perhaps???), and even to change our identity as followers of Christ.
Be on the alert. Ask the Lord to show you the subtle ways of the enemy. How are you and I being brainwashed in an attempt to transfer our loyalty and service from the KING to this world? And how can we withstand this onslaught?
Just like Daniel did. Verse 8 - “Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself” - not so much with physical food as with spiritual food. Let us purpose in our hearts to feast on the Word of God instead of the worthless words, thoughts, and ways of our enemy.