“I will honour him who honours me?” Says God. Daniel chose not to compromise.

Jerusalem had been sieged. Daniel and his friends had been taken into captivity to Babylon. They were thrown into Babylonian Culture which had different traditions, values and worshipped other gods and not the God of Daniel.

This was going to be a real test for them. The question was were they going to conform and give into the values of the culture they were pushed into? Or would they stick by their God?

Daniel and his friends made up their mind and chose not to give into the cultural values of the country in which they were placed or worship their gods.

The King ordered Ashpenaz chief of the court official to bring to him some of the Israelites from the royal family. The King ordered these men had to be physically fit, intelligent, and quick to learn and fit to serve in the King’s palace. There were to be trained for three years before they could serve in the Kings Place. The King assigned them the best food and wine from his table.

Among the three chosen were Daniel, Shadrach and Abednego. Daniel chose not to eat meat or drink wine from the Kings table. This may have been because the meat may have been offered to idols. Daniel and his friends were prepared to trust God then to do what they felt was wrong.

Daniel approached the guard said to him, “I cannot eat this food.” The guard said to Daniel, “The king will have me killed if he sees that you and your friends are not fit as the other men if you do not eat meat and drink the wine.”

Daniel said to the guard, “let us try for ten days, we will only eat vegetables. If you find us less fit than the other men. We will eat as you have requested.” Daniel found favour with the guard because of God. The guard agreed.

For ten days Daniel and his friends ate only vegetables. After the ten days they were tested with the other men and were found to be more fit, cleverer than the of the other men in every department. The King was so impressed that he had all the other men also put on a vegetable diet.

Daniel and his friends trusted God and God honoured them. Today, there are pressures on us to compromise to the values of the world we live in. The challenge for us is are we going to listen to the voice of God and obey him? Or are we going to listen to the voice of this world which says put ourselves first.

To listen to the voice of God. We have to switch off the televisions and mobile phones. It is learning to put God first in the small things of life. God will then trust us with with the bigger things.

God honours them that honour him. The values of this world don’t bring us happiness but the values of God do.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I want to honour you with my life,

Please help me to put you first

In my life.

I ask in Jesus name.

Amen

07/12/2018