Good Morning Friends,
“Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his
court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and
the nobility -- young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing
aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and
qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and
literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and
wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after
that they were to enter the king's service. Among these were some from Judah:
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to
Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, 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.” (Daniel 1:3-8)
Not all pain and hardship is physically
trying. It would seem like such an honor to be chosen to be among the best and
the brightest. These young men were taken into the palace. They were given
privileges that most of the Hebrew slaves would never enjoy. They ate the food
of the king and drank of his wine, the best in the land. The education they
received would have been the finest available in Babylon.
But though it was physically pleasant, it was
spiritually hard. The food and wine of the Babylonian king would have been
objectionable to a Hebrew who was intent on following the Law of the Lord. To
eat and drink from the king’s table would have been spiritually defiling for them.
These young men were faced with a serious
challenge: they could give in to the luxuries of the king and enjoy life, or
they could be faithful to the God they served and face unknown consequences and
certainly miss a good deal of pleasure. They were at a crossroad, a decision point.
One part of the fork before them was labeled self-fulfillment and pleasure. The
other part of the fork was labeled faithful to God.
We face forks like that in our own lives,
almost every day. Daniel chose God over his own pleasure. Which road are you
walking down?
His, by Grace,
Steve
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