Daniel 1:8-10
But Daniel determined that he would not defile himself by eating the king’s food or drinking his wine, so he asked the head of the palace staff to exempt him from the royal diet. The head of the palace staff, by God’s grace, liked Daniel, but he warned him, “I’m afraid of what my master the king will do. He is the one who assigned this diet and if he sees that you are not as healthy as the rest, he’ll have my head!”
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
When Timothy began to “wind up” and whirl around yesterday afternoon, squealing and yelling at a shrill high pitch, I knew that he was approaching “the wall” and needed a nap. As his “meltdown” ensued and we lay down on his bed, he kept pointing to the door and saying, “But I want to get up.” Timothy must have told me 2 dozen times that he wanted to get up… that he didn’t need to rest. But his body language and demeanor indicated otherwise. This was one time when I had to be the grownup and choose what was best for him. It’s not that his choice was necessarily wrong… it just was not in his best interest – or the best interest of anyone else in the household! In this passage from Daniel, things were the other way around…the king’s choice was not necessarily wrong… but it was not best for Daniel.
The king wanted even the prisoners to be fed exactly what he ate. Quite literally, they were to “eat like royalty” – the king’s idea of keeping everyone healthy and fit. But Daniel’s diet was not the same as the king’s… most likely for religious reasons. He told the steward that he wanted only vegetables and water. He probably did not eat meat – in particular, pork. Nonetheless, his choice was not wrong… just different. If you continue reading beyond verse 10, you will see that Daniel and the other captives were indeed served only vegetables and water for ten days. At the end of that time, they were still perfectly healthy. In fact, they were in better physical shape than others in the king’s court! The steward continued to feed only vegetables to Daniel and his fellow prisoners afterward. The scripture says that… “God gave these four young men knowledge and skill in both books and life.”
There were two decisions here: 1) Daniel’s choice not to eat what was served; and 2) the steward’s choice to allow Daniel a period of ten days to prove himself. Both were risky…both decisions involved a lot of faith and wisdom. And I believe both were orchestrated by God. There are times in our lives when we have options… many of which may have their merits. It would have been so easy for Daniel to say, “I’m in a bind here (quite literally), and I think I will just eat what is served and not complain.” It would have been understandable for the steward to say, “Look, I have to serve what the king tells me… and you have to eat it.” Both would have been plausible options.
There may be times when we feel as though it would be easier just to go along with the crowd… to make excuses or cover for a friend who isn’t exactly doing the right thing (but it isn’t necessarily so bad, either – think “Don’t tell So-and-so I’m here!”). We may opt to put up with the foul language from a co-worker, coach, teacher, parent, relative, friend or boss… to stand in silence when someone is saying or doing something we disagree with rather than make a scene… or to allow a 4-year-old to get back up and skip his much-needed nap. These choices don’t necessarily make us bad people.
But there are times when we have to listen to the voice of God nudging us to take a stand… to do the right thing… to speak up and out and say, “I must choose differently.” We have to trust that God will orchestrate the outcome… that He will make a way where none seems possible. We have to “stick to our [Spiritual] guns” and make the choices that God indicates to us are the right ones – those that honor and please Him. In my case, I had to wait out an overly-tired 4-year-old who said he didn’t need a nap and trust God to bring sweet sleep and much-needed rest… and He did!
If you read the book of Daniel, you see that he had an extraordinary relationship with God. But the neat thing is that we can have this relationship, too. We can cultivate a deep and abiding faith in hearing from our Heavenly Father… and trusting that He will work in ways we cannot even fathom. We can ask Him to guide every single one of our choices… and trust Him to know best how things should go in the end. There is a tremendous peace and confidence in this…as well as an opportunity to grow and cultivate our courage and “faith muscle.”
Are you ready to trust God in the choices you are making? Are you ready to stand up for what you decide… and believe that He will handle the outcome? Will you take the easy way out and go along with the crowd… or are you ready to let God speak through you – to make what can sometimes seem like very difficult – and unpopular - decisions? The choice is yours… how will you decide?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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