Our world is very divided right now. Right. Left. Conservative. Liberal. Gender fluid. Against Gender fluidity. The list goes on and on and on. The thing is though, here in the States, we still live in a fairly free society where you can believe what you want and follow the practices of those beliefs without being in a situation where you’d be killed for it. You can make arguments that some of these beliefs are coming under fire and people are currently being prosecuted for those beliefs, but we are still a bit far off from our government coming directly to our houses and firing on us without warning. 

But what if that is the reality soon? Will you have enough resolution to stick by what you believe, even if that means certain death?

This is scary to think about, but as I was listening to a commentary on the book of Daniel, I realized that our society may slowly slip into a scenario where we will have to make tough choices on the things we believe. 

The book of Daniel is about a resolute man of God as he grew up in Babylon, a pagan nation. Daniel was captured as a young boy from Israel and had to grow up away from his country and way of life. 

I’ve been thinking about this concept a lot lately because wars and rumors of wars are so abundant right now. What if another country decided to invade the States, and they beat us, and they took some of us into captivity in their country, forcing us to live their way of life, giving up our traditions, relearning language and customs. Can you imagine how intimidating that would be? And if you resisted, getting rid of you would not be a hard choice because really you aren’t a real citizen of their nation anyway. It’s truly a terrifying reality, one that has happened throughout the generations.

And it was what happened to Daniel. He was taken from his home, and because he was very intelligent, the Babyonian King knew he would be useful if they “retrained” him into the Babylonian way of life. The King was so impressed with Daniel and some of the other boys from his tribe, that he paid for their reeducation himself at their prestigious university and even fed them from his own table. 

Now we don’t have a monarch here in the States, but it would be like the President taking special interest in you and having you at his beck and call and taking care of your needs. That is a pretty high position, especially for a captive, but Daniel was special, and the King could see that. 

Now, if you were a captive in another nation, your main goal would probably be to stay alive, and to do that you would probably yield to whatever your captives asked of you. Sure, there are many things that you could change about your life if it were in danger, but sometimes there are things about us that we could never change and changing them would feel worse than death. 

Well, maybe not a lot of things in our current society, we can be pretty flip floppy when it comes to things upsetting our comfort, but I think if you really thought about it, you could find a thing or two that you are resolved about. 

Daniel was absolutely resolved to being obedient to God. 

While listening to the commentary about the first chapter, I was struck by how amazingly obedient Daniel was, even in the face of death.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

Daniel 1:8-16 NIV

I overlooked the importance of this passage when I read it last, but after this time around, and with the help of the commentary, I was so humbled by Daniel’s courage. Daniel knew what the laws were from his religion, including eating certain foods, and he did not want to disobey God. Disobeying God was more of an upset to him than the consequences of disrespecting the King. A King who could kill you at any moment without a trial, without witnesses, he could just do it because he was King. Going against that took huge faith. But you see, God was with Daniel through it all. Not only did God have the chief official show Daniel favor, but he also physically strengthened him without the need of the King’s food. God knew that Daniel’s resolution would be true and faithful and blessed him because of it. Not that it was easy, still Daniel obeyed. 

I think we, as Christians, can learn a lot from Daniel. Especially in these uncertain times. We need to stick to our resolutions. We cannot let ourselves be swayed by fear or oppression. Let’s face it, there may come a time when our country will no longer be free. We will have to decide whether we obey God or the world. It won’t be easy. It’ll come in ways you won’t suspect. You might even have to decide between an easy life or an uncomfortable one. Are you ready to go to prison for your beliefs? Are you ready to lose your job for your beliefs? These are excessive scenarios, but it may be our reality someday. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12 NIV. 

I don’t want you to feel disheartened by this, but rather encouraged that there were many people before us, like Daniel, who were resolved to obey God and were blessed because of it. 

God is with us always; he will never leave. He gives us strength. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26 NIV

Be emboldened, friends, and resolute to your convictions. When life is hard, remember Daniel who stood up to one of the fiercest kings in history. And have faith that God is with you always.

“So the last will be first, and the first last.” Matthew 20:16 ESV