Daniel purposed in his heart

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; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. - Daniel 1v8

I have always admired the young men in the book of Daniel. If there was ever a time when young men might be tempted to sacrifice their standards and principles it would be these men. Their nation was in ruins. They had been taken captive and transported about 800km to the enemy capital at Babylon. The king had seen something in them that motivated him to invite the four young men to some type of advisory council on how to deal with the Jews.

The combination of disappointment in the destruction of their land, being so far from home, and pride at being chosen for this council surely worked in their hearts. Here was a good chance to shake off the shackles of the oppressive Law and be somebody.

The king’s servant came to them to tell them that they were free to avail themselves of all the king’s food and wine. In fact, the king instructed them to eat it.

It would seem like a very hard decision to make. What do you do when you know you have the customs of your people, but the king orders you to eat the very best food and drink the very best wine available?

But Daniel showed great character. He had already decided what to do. He would not be drawn in to the Babylonian way. He had ‘purposed in his heart’ that he would not allow himself to be defiled with the ways of the world no matter how tempting they were.

That is amazing in itself. I think I might even be more impressed with the way he dealt with the king’s servant. He didn’t act like a sanctimonious jerk, he didn’t get hackles up and take on a spiritual arrogance. Instead, we read that he ‘requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.’

I love that. While taking a stand he still submitted himself to authority. We will see more of that later in Daniel. He politely and respectfully pointed out what he had to do.

It is possible to stand for Christ without being arrogant and offensive. We seem to have forgotten all about that.

Our testimony for Christ is important. We cannot afford to ‘defile ourselves with the king’s meat’ any more today than they could.

But we don’t have to be a jerk about it.