Imagine an alternate reality where another country invades the United States and conquers us. How would you feel? Such an experience seems unlikely to us, but it seemed unlikely to the people of Judah too. In 605 BC, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and took some youths back with them to Babylon. In Daniel 1, Daniel described what happened to him and his friends when they first arrived in Babylon as youths because he wanted the Israelites to remain faithful to God during their Babylonian Exile.
When Should We Trust in God? (Dan 1:1–10)
When Life Is Chaotic or Difficult (Dan 1:1–7)
God had been warning the people of Judah since the time of Moses that he would judge them for rebellion against him by expelling them from the land. After almost 1000 years, the people of Judah were seeing these prophecies as empty warnings. They called God’s bluff, believing that he would never actually let his temple be captured, much less destroyed. The temple was like a talisman that kept them safe from outside forces. In 605, however, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and won. Judah had to be tribute, including handing over articles from the temple and allowing Nebuchadnezzar to take some young men to work in his government. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem a second time in 598 after Judah rebelled again him, resulting in more tribute and deportations. Finally, in 587, fed up with Judah after rebelling against him again, Nebuchadnezzar ordered Jerusalem to be destroyed. This time, the temple and walls were torn down to the ground.
The deportation of Daniel and his friends took place after the first siege, so they were in the first group that was forced to leave Jerusalem. After this first conquest of Jerusalem, King Jehoiakim was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, put into chains, slaughtered, and (according to the historian Josephus) thrown from the top of the wall surrounding Jerusalem. Jeremiah had prophesied that Jehoiakim wouldn’t receive a proper burial because of his sin (Jer 22:18–19; 36:30). The Bible calls him an evil man (2 Kgs 37; 2 Chr 36:5). Rabbinical literature describes him as committing the worst sins, including murder, rape, and robbery.
Nebuchadnezzar also robbed Judah of their future by bringing their best and brightest youths to Babylon. The Babylonians then tried to indoctrinate them, essentially forming them into Babylonians. They were to speak the Babylonian language, know Babylonian literature and history and religion, eat Babylonian food, and dress like Babylonians. They were even given Babylonian names. Essentially, they tried to strip these teenagers of their Jewish heritage and turn them into Babylonians.
To illustrate how devastating this situation would be, let’s imagine that the Russians had invaded America during the Cold War and won. How would you feel? Now, imagine that you were a teenager at the time. What were your hopes and dreams as a youth? How did you envision your life turning out? Where did you think you’d live and what job would you do? Now, imagine that soldiers had taken you from your family and shipped you to Russia. You’ll never see your family nor even step foot on American soil again. In Russia, you’re sent to a Russian school, where you must learn the Russian language, Russian literature, Russian history, and Russian culture. Russia was atheistic during the Cold War, so you’re expected to reject a belief in God. You also must dress Russian and answer to a Russian name. All this occurs so that you can work in the very government that took you from your family and home in the first place. How would you feel?
When should we trust in God? Even when life is chaotic or difficult. Even in a forced deportation, away from family and land, God was still calling these youths to trust him.
When Others Are Not Trusting in God (Dan 1:3–16)
Will the Jewish youths remain faithful to God in Babylonia? Four of them will, which brings us to our next point that God wants us to trust him, even when others are not being faithful. Verses 3–7 describe Daniel and his friends as among a group of Jewish youths, but only Daniel and his friends remained faithful to God. They were living in a foreign land, surrounded by unbelievers. To make matters worse, the other Jewish youths capitulated to the Babylonian indoctrination so that they forsook not only their Jewish heritage but ultimately God too. They chose to fit into their culture, to go along with it, as it was the easier path and what seemed to be the most advantageous and pragmatic. Daniel and his three friends thus had to remain faithful to God on their own, without support from a larger group.
It’s easy to go along with the crowd, to try to fit in, to do what seems most pragmatic or advantageous. Even if we don’t outright abandon God, it’s easy to bend his instructions or avoid doing some commands. It’s easy to think lightly of commands that our world thinks lightly of and only stress the parts of the Bible that are in step with what those around us already believe. The resilience of Daniel and his friends exhorts us to trust in God and his complete Word, regardless of what others around us think or do.
When the Outcome Is Uncertain (Dan 1:8–10)
Finally, we should trust God even when the outcome is uncertain. As the leader of his friends, Daniel led them to determine not to do away with the old covenant commands, including those pertaining to food. Much of what the Babylonians ate wasn’t kosher, like pig and horse. They oftentimes offered meat and wine to their gods before eating too. Thus, if a Jew followed the old covenant, then they had to limit what food they consumed.
It’s not that Daniel urged his friends to rebel against the king and reject everything Babylonian; not all Babylonian culture was immoral. They spoke Chaldean and learned Babylonian history and literature. They allowed the Babylonians to call them by Babylonian names. However, the parts that conflicted with Biblical teaching had to be rejected.
Daniel and his friends illustrate well for us that we don’t have to reject everything American, but we also shouldn’t conflate Christianity with American culture. We can’t wholesale accept everything our culture accepts. The way we think, how we prioritize, what we love, our perspectives, all such things need to be filtered through the Bible first, and we need to reject anything in our culture that conflicts with the Bible.
In addition to remaining faithful to God’s Word, we also see that God was already working in Daniel’s life because God had already led Daniel’s supervisor to have a positive view of him. Just as God was working ahead of Daniel; he works ahead in our lives. Paul Miller in his book A Praying Life notes that oftentimes we don’t notice God’s answer to prayer because he was working to answer our prayer before we even faced the problem. The dominos of our lives fall into place, but we don’t stop and ask who set up the dominos in the first place. Before Daniel had even seen the problem and determined to ask for a favor, God had already worked in the heart of his supervisor, leading him to view Daniel favorably.
However, the problem was that the request was dangerous. You’ll find people promoting something called the “Daniel Diet” to help people lose weight. However, the point of this chapter is not to teach how to lose weight but to show how God miraculously preserved the health of these youth, keeping them from wasting away under an unhealthy diet. As far as Daniel knew, his request was going to make them unhealthy and frail.
Daniel’s request could even be deadly, not just for Daniel but for his supervisor too. Daniel and his friends were training to work in the Babylonian government. Any rejection of Babylonian culture could have been viewed as treason. The accusation was even more likely to occur if Daniel and his friends grew thin and weak because of their request. Their diet could have been interpreted as a form of protest and an attempt to weaken the Babylonian government by weakening themselves. We are aware that Daniel and his friends survive this episode because there’s eleven other chapters in the book of Daniel. However, Daniel and his friends didn’t know what their future held. As far as they knew, their request was like asking for the death penalty
When the outcome is uncertain, even if the outcome doesn’t look good, God still calls us to trust him. Daniel and his friends trusted in God, even though it looked like their trust was going to lead to frailty and death.
How Should We Respond? (Dan 1:11–21)
Remain Faithful to God (Dan 1:11–14)
Therefore, how should we respond in difficult times? First, we remain faithful to God. Daniel, his supervisor, and his friends could expect the diet to turn out poorly. At best they would grow weak; at worst they would be executed. However, Daniel and his friends decided that they would remain faithful to God amid their terrible circumstances and despite the potential dangers.
When Daniel’s supervisor initially declined his request, Daniel didn’t throw a tantrum or start making demands; he didn’t make a scene. He instead put forth a test. This compromise, combined with his favorability, lead the supervisor to be willing to grant Daniel’s request for 10 days. Feed them only kosher food for 10 days. If they look sick, then his supervisor could do whatever he wanted with them, including throwing them under the bus and seeing them executed. If he required them to eat Babylonian food, Daniel and his friends would have to decide between breaking God’s law and starvation.
Like the more dramatic story in Daniel 3 involving Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Daniel was essentially saying that they would remain faithful to God. If God chose to save them, then glory be to God. If he chose not to save them, then they would face the consequences. Either way, they would remain faithful.
We must determine now that we’ll remain faithful to God. When difficult times arrive, we can cling to that decision with the bravery of Daniel and his friends.
Rest in God’s Sovereignty (Dan 1:15–16)
Daniel not only remained faithful to God but also rested in his sovereignty. Even after getting the supervisor to agree with his request, Daniel didn’t know what was going to happen. He could expect that they would grow weak and face death for remaining faithful to God. Miraculously, after 10 days, Daniel and his friends were healthier than the other Jews who were eating Babylonian food. Hence, the supervisor felt confident that he could let them eat and drink how they liked without fear of reprisal.
The ending of this story teaches us that we can rest in the sovereignty of God during times of chaos or difficulty. We can’t read the conclusion to this story or any story in Daniel (like Daniel and the lion’s den in Daniel 6) as guaranteeing some sort of health and wealth gospel. Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. Take heart; I have overcome the world.” Many of God’s people had suffered even before Daniel. According to Jewish tradition, Isaiah was sawed in half. Daniel and his friends as youths already knew about trouble since they were forcibly removed from their homes, despite their faith. The Bible doesn’t teach that bad things won’t happen to those with faith, but that God is with us during our troubles, that he is a comforting God, and that nothing is ever outside his power.
Daniel wanted the Israelites to rest in God’s sovereignty, to trust him even during the Babylonian Exile. Likewise, in our troubles, we can rest in his sovereign power and trust him.
Recognize God’s Blessings (Dan 1:17–21)
Finally, Daniel teaches us to recognize God’s blessings. Even amid a tragic situation, having been forced to leave family and country to work in a foreign government, Daniel looked for God’s blessings. Looking back as an older man, Daniel acknowledged that God had blessed them with knowledge and wisdom, giving Daniel the prophetic ability to interpret visions and dreams. While remaining foreigners clinging to their religion and ways, God led the king to view Daniel and his friends favorably so that they rose to high levels in the government. Daniel eventually became leader of the magi. He had such an impact upon that group that 500 years later magi traveled from Persia to see the Messiah Jesus as a young boy (Matt 2:1–12). Verse 21 notes that Daniel never saw his homeland again but worked for a foreign government for 70 years. He even worked for the Persian government under Cyrus after the Persians conquered the Babylonians in 539. Despite never seeing his homeland again and routinely facing opposition in Babylonia because of his faith, Daniel learned to notice God’s blessings.
When we are facing trying times, let’s consider our blessings. No, life may not be all roses. Yes, we face very difficult circumstances. However, when we learn to see the good and not just the bad, recognizing the blessings that we do have, we learn to trust God in whatever circumstances we face. Our blessings stem from a God who never leaves us, even in trying times.
Summary
Remain faithful to God in difficult times, even if surrounded by unbelief. When should we trust in God? When life is chaotic or difficult, when others are not trusting him, and when the outcome is uncertain. How should we respond in difficult times? Remain faithful to God, rest in his sovereignty, and recognize his blessings.
Dr. Forrest Mills