A Difficult Trial (Dan. 1:4b-7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2013 8:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  A Difficult Trial

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Daniel 1:4b-7

            Message of the verses:  “and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. 5  And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. 6  Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: 7  Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.”

            I suppose that we could have entitled this section “The Brainwashing of the Men from Judah.”  The reason I say this is because this is what the people in charge of these young men from Judah were trying to do, they were trying to indoctrinate these young men into the ways of the Babylonians.  There is little difference between what was happening to these young men in Babylon than what is going on in our countries colleges and universities today to young believers.  I don’t remember the exact statistics of how many young “believers” today who do not return to the church after leaving for college, but it was staggeringly high. 

            One of the ways that this brain washing was happening was to change their names, and now I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary to show how this worked.  “The name Daniel means ‘God is my judge,’ but it was changed to Belteshazzar or ‘Bel protect his life.’  Hananiah means ‘the Lord shows grace,’ but his new name, Shadrach, means ‘command of Aku’ (the moon-god). Mishael means ‘Who is like God?’ and the new name, Meshach,’ means ‘Who is as Aku is?’  Azariah means ‘The Lord is my help,’ but ‘Abednego’ means ‘Servant of Nebo (Nego).’ The name of the true and living God replaced by the names of the false gods of Babylon; but would we expect unbelievers to do anything else?”

            These young men had to learn a new language and receive new names, which was a part of the brainwashing process they had to go through, and they did not really object to these things, but when it came to what is contains in verse five where it states “The king then ordered that they be served from the same menu as the royal table—the best food, the finest wine (Dan. 1:5A The Message).”  This was against the Law of God that is contained in the book of Leviticus.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “God gave them opportunities to show that their Jewish faith was superior to the faith of their captives.  But when their course of training required them to disobey the holy law, they had to draw the line.”  What we could say of these young men is that they would not compromise, which is something difficult to do in that age and the age we are living in now.  There have been many people of faith who have lost their lives because they refused to compromise and we will see later on in this book that both these three young men and Daniel were tested to the extent where they could have lost their lives, but because of God gracious protection they did not.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I pray to my God that I will never compromise my principles that I am learning from the Word of God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to keep me true to the faith.

Memory verses for the week:  Psalm 32:1-6

            1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!  2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD dose not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!  3 When I kept silent about my sin my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.  4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as the fever heat of Summer. Selah.  5 I acknowledge my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hade; I said “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”;  and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.  6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.

Turning Points Wisdom for Today:  “If we ignore divine directives, we cannot enjoy God’s blessing.”  (David Jeremiah)  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the Law of the Lord , and in His Law he meditates day and night.”  (Psalm 1:1-2)

3/10/2013 9:27 AM