In Daniel chapter 1, we find the story of Daniel and his friends who were brought captive by King Nebuchednezzar to Babylon to serve in the King’s palace after Nebuchednezzar had overthrown the city of Jerusalem. Now, the King had brought these and many other young men back to Babylon to train them in the literature and language of the Babylonian empire. He had one of his masters pick the best of the children of Israel specifically for this purpose. And when they were brought back, they were given some of the kings fine delicacies and wine on which to feast and drink. However, since the food that was placed before them had been offered as sacrifices to the Persian gods and was unclean, the Bible tells us in Daniel 1:8, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank…” Daniel and his friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) refused to eat this food that had been laid before the Persian gods before it was placed before the young men to eat and partake of.
This was the same food that was placed before the King of Babylon. This wasn’t some nasty food that one would think might be reserved for slaves, no this was the “good” stuff. HOWEVER, the food had been offered to idols and therefore to eat of it would not be honoring to Almighty God. Now all of the children of Israel who had been taken to Babylon weren’t like this. Many of them said, “Wow…this is some good food! Let’s dig in!! Who cares if it was offered to idols!” And, if you know the story, you know that at the end of 10 days, Daniel and his friends were in much better shape physically, mentally, and spiritually than the rest of the young men who ate the food. Why? Because they chose to do what was right and pleasing to God.
Many people read this story and think, “What’s wrong with eating food offered to idols? It’s still just food?” The problem is, it doesn’t honor or please God. And in today’s world, when people go about their Christian life, they think “What’s wrong with doing this… or that…?” And when they are making decisions and choices about what to do or not to do, they only focus on not doing the stuff that is obviously wrong. They don’t stop and think about “is this honoring to God?” when making decisions.
However, like Daniel and his friends, we should purpose in our hearts NOT to defile ourselves and ruin our lives by doing stuff that is NOT honoring to God. The Bible may not specifically address some of the stuff, but we can know in our hearts what pleases and honors Him when we seek with all of our hearts to do so! He WILL guide us!
I’m sure the choice Daniel and his friends made wasn’t easy. I’m sure all of that food that had been offered to the Persian gods looked delicious. After all – it was the same food that the KING of Babylon ate! But it’s not a matter of whether something looks fine or is “fun”. It all boils down to DOES IT PLEASE GOD???
If we TRULY want to know Him and have Him work in our lives in amazing ways – we HAVE to please Him in EVERYTHING we do!!