Eat Your Vegetables!

Daniel 1 begins to tell us the story of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem. One of the king’s first actions was to take young men in to captivity in order to train them as civil servants. These handsome, intelligent men of nobility were to be taught the language and literature of the Babylonians. They were to change their names as each of their names contained the name of God. Finally, these young men were to eat the fine food of the Babylonians. Daniel, whose name means “God is my judge”, refused to eat the royal food as this was a sign of pagan living. He asked that he and his friends be given only vegetables and water for ten days. At the end of these days, Daniel and his friends were healthier than their peers. They were given “knowledge and understanding” by God. Daniel was given the ability to interpret visions.

Satan wants us to learn the ways of the world and give up anything that connects us to God. It is Satan’s desire that we absorb what the world feeds us and allow ourselves to become just like everyone else. 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 further develops the idea of ‘watching what we eat.’ To a Christian, simple practices can become an act of compromise or demonstration of conformity. Simple phrases spoken in anger, what music we listen to, or the jokes we laugh at can all be signs of our compliance to worldly standards. We need to live separate and set apart as Daniel did, doing all things for God’s glory. We have an example to set for the world so we don’t “cause anyone to stumble.”