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Location: Blogs Soul Spa |
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| Posted by: Soul Spa |
Saturday, April 07, 2007 |
By Julie Gumm
Lessons from Daniel – Chapter 1 (I'm leading a group of ladies through Beth Moore's Daniel Bible Study. These are some of my thoughts.)
Daniel 1 speaks of the capture of the people of Judah by the Babylonians. Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar requested that the strongest, healthiest and best looking men of Judah’s royal family be brought to the palace and trained in the literature and language of Babylon for a period of 3 years. At the end of that time Nebuchadnezzar would select some of the men to become his advisors.
Daniel and his 3 friends (whom you probably know by their Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) were selected. They were to be fed from the king’s own table – his best food and wine.
But Daniel had the courage to stand up for his convictions and to not defile himself with the royal food. (It was considered unclean because the first portion of it was offered to the gods and idols of Nebuchadnezzar). He asked the chief official for permission to eat only fruits, vegetables and grains and drink only water. The chief official feared that he might be punished should Daniel and his friends be found lacking so Daniel said “test us”. So for 10 days Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not partake of the king’s food.
Daniel spoke up. He didn’t rant and rave against how wrong the king’s food was. But he stood up firmly for his convictions. When the chief official raised his concerns, Daniel didn’t rebel and threaten not to eat. He offered an alternative, one grounded in the knowledge that God would bless him for his stand.
The society we live in to day is a modern world Babylon. Everything we could ever desire is available to us. We are a world of over-indulgence.
Isaiah 47:8-10 (NLT) warns us:
8 “Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
living at ease and feeling secure.
You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.
I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
9 Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment:
widowhood and the loss of your children.
Yes, these calamities will come upon you,
despite all your witchcraft and magic.
10 “You felt secure in your wickedness.
‘No one sees me,’ you said.
But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray,
and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’
The NIV version states it as “I am, and there is none besides me.” Is that a dead-on description of our world or what?
Yet, here is where we live. God has assigned us to live in this world, in this time period. Like Daniel, we must resolve not to loose our identity and integrity in our modern culture
Ps 27:4
The one thing I ask of the Lord—
the thing I seek most—
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
delighting in the Lord’s perfections
and meditating in his Temple. |
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