GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
DANIEL 1:15-16
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15 At the end of ten days they looked better than any of the others, and they were healthier than the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their special royal food and the wine they were to drink, and he gave them vegetables.
Daniel’s proposal was brought about by his desire to obey God’s commandments. For Daniel and his companions, this included laws that are no longer in place for us today, having all been fulfilled by Christ. In this case, these laws were the various dietary regulations that would certainly have been violated by eating the royal food. There were also potential problems with the mixed royal wine, and no child of fourteen or fifteen would be worse off to abstain from drinking alcohol in any case, whether it was the custom of the region or not.
God’s hand made Daniel flourish; he and his companions looked better. In the manner of speaking in the Babylonian court, their “look was good” and “their flesh was fatter / sleeker” than the others. Here again there is an echo of the account of Joseph in Egypt. In this case, Daniel remembers that in Pharaoh’s dream the fat cows were “sleek” (bari, בָּרִיא, Genesis 41:2), and he uses the same term for himself and his friends. And yes, it is also the word for the “very fat” Eglon in Judges 3:17. Our various opinions of beauty or health should not challenge our understanding of the account in its historical and Scriptural setting.
This first incident in the captivity of Daniel teaches us a valuable lesson about the will of God which also relates to faith. But without the one lesson, the other tends to fall flat. For the Christian might well ask, when will I encounter a moment as absolutely black-and-white as this one in Daniel’s life, when it was a question of doing the will of God, or completely disobeying the will of God, while facing a murderous despot who will show us just how mad for blood he could be in the very next chapter. The answer of course is that we face troubles that may not seem so severe, but they are no less serious in our lives of faith. This historical incident, 2,500 years in the past, teaches us about God’s holy will and about our obedience.
God will is God’s endeavor to realize what he has recognized as good and to hinder what he has recognized as evil. By “realize,” we mean “to bring about;” it is not simply a synonym for “recognize.” What God commands that we should do, he also sets in our path to do. And what God demands of us, he also gives to us. He wants us, for example, to worship him, and he gives us reasons and opportunities to worship. Sinful man can reject or ignore both the opportunities and the reasons, but he cannot say that God has not given what he commands.
It is God’s will that believers walk in good works; and that truly good works are only those that God himself prescribes and commands in his Word. Truly good works are not done by a person’s own natural powers but only after a person has been reconciled to God through faith and renewed through the Holy Spirit, or, as St. Paul says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
So here in Daniel chapter 1, we see a good work that God wanted Daniel to do, which was to observe his laws about forbidden foods. We also see that God made the official involved well-disposed toward Daniel enough to listen to the young man’s request, and after a good idea about a test was carried out, God made certain that Daniel and his friends looked good and fine and well-nourished. God gave them the deed to accomplish, and made it possible for them to accomplish it.
God does this in our lives, as well. Our problem is refusing to trust in him or to listen to what his word says. We sinners have a habit of doing what we want rather than what God wants. These constant rebellions anger him, but he also graciously leads us to repentance and faith. He gives us more chances to follow his path, his will, and his way. And he promises to give us help along the way. God our Father has more than one goal in store for you. All of them are there on the same path, but they are there for our eternal benefit:
1, God wants the sinner to grasp that Jesus is the Savior. This isn’t possible without the kindling of faith (1 John 5:1) so that our sin is forgiven and we are justified (Titus 3:7) and having become children of God, we enter into his kingdom (John 3:3-5).
2, God wants us to live a life of sanctification, our response to being saved and being brought to faith. He would have us live with pure souls, to obey the truth, to live in brotherly love (1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 4:7), to do what is right (1 John 2:29), to abstain from sin (1 John 3:9; 5:18), to overcome the world (1 John 5:4) and to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).
3, God wants us to have eternal salvation (Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:4).
4, God is glorified when all of these things take place (1 Peter 2:9).
The last two points are the ultimate goal God has in mind for us, and perhaps there will be some believers who are saved and who come to faith only in the final moments of life and seem to be brought to the goal without those hardships and troubles that the rest of us go through, like the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). But we must remember that, like the workers who began their labor only at the eleventh hour (Matthew 20:6,9) they receive the same reward that all other believers receive, and this should not be a point for jealousy or indignation. Let us rejoice, rather, at God’s great goodness and his mercy. That anyone at all is saved is a miracle. That we are saved, that I am saved, is no less a miracle. Let us always acknowledge: God has saved me! How wonderful that he has saved all of his dear children!
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Daniel 1:15-16 Doing God’s will with God’s help