Daniel 1 - Compromise
Over the next few months, our morning gatherings will be working through the book of Hebrews, and our evening gatherings through the book of Daniel.
Readings for this week May 1 - 5
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings
Day 1 – Beginning the Book of Daniel
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 1:1-2
This term we will be making our way through (most of) the book of Daniel. The book follows the story of Daniel, and his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, in captivity in Babylon after the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and his armies have invaded and conquered the kingdom of Judah and carried off its citizens into exile and servitude. The first half of the book focuses on Daniel and his friends as they are pulled from among their people, the Babylonians marking them as the so-called ‘brightest and best,’ and find themselves faced with being squeezed into a new mould by an alien society that wants to break them down and recreate them in its own image.
Much of our focus throughout this series will be on what it means to live under a foreign regime determined to squeeze its subjects into a shape of its choosing; to remain a follower of God in a world that does not know or acknowledge him, a world that has its own intentions and agendas that cut across those of God and his people. The question, as asked in Psalm 137:4, is “How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?” This is the quandary Daniel and his countrymen faced: how to remain faithful to their God and his purposes while held captive in the midst of a hostile empire. Should they compromise in order to survive? How do they resist? Is God still with them? Will he remain faithful and rescue his people?
Questions to Consider
What parallels do you see between Daniel’s position in Babylon and our position today? Why?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, speak to me through your word. Show me what it meant then and what it means for me today, here, in this time and place, as I seek to be a faithful servant of yours, just like Daniel was. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – The Squeeze is On
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 1:3-7
Daniel and his friends are soon chosen by their new masters to be trained to occupy prominent positions within the Babylonian government. In verse 4 we read that they are to be “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace.” While there is nothing inherently wrong with each of these traits, it is interesting to contrast them with, for example, the way in which Samuel chose the youngest and most inconsequential son (David) to be king, or the very ordinary, flawed men that Jesus chose as the Twelve. What God looks for in people is not necessarily what the surrounding society values.
The king immediately sets about trying to indoctrinate them in Babylonian societal values. He struck at a central pillar of their identity by giving them new (Babylonian) names (which, just as the book of Daniel does, I will continue to use to avoid confusion). He tried to change their food, the nature of the physical sustenance with which they strengthened themselves. And he tried to change what they fed their minds and the way they looked at the world, by altering their environment and forcibly immersing them in the Babylonian language and culture. Nebuchadnezzar’s aim was to indoctrinate his new ‘subjects’ in the ways of their new masters, so that whoever they were before and however they lived (and worshipped) when free, would be replaced with a new mind and soul, shaped by and centred on the Babylonian worldview.
Questions to Consider
How does our society and its worldview squeeze us into its mould and shape us anew? What areas of your life are particularly vulnerable to this?
Prayer
Lord God, give me wisdom to see when I am allowing myself to be shaped more by the world than by your Spirit so that I can turn back to you. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – Not Buying It
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 1:8-10
One of the recurring themes throughout the book, and something that we see Daniel having to think about many times, is what it means to be resolved to stand firm in God and not compromise on what following his ways requires – in other words, what stance must he adopt in each situation in order to be able to continue ‘singing the Lord’s song’ in, and with, his life? In today’s passage we see the first of many resolutions Daniel will make throughout his life in Babylon – his long life in Babylon as we will see at the end of this chapter – about how he would serve and worship God in captivity. Daniel makes the decision not to defile himself with the food and drink offered by the king.
Now it might seem natural to us to think that being offered the royal food, from the king’s table, is a good thing, a sign of God’s favour, a sign of God’s blessing upon Daniel and his friends. A selfish world that pushes us to seek our own prosperity would insist that the food should be gratefully grasped and eaten – it must be God’s will. But the writer doesn’t attach the idea of favour to the offering of the nicer food but to the official’s reaction to their refusal to eat it. God looked kindly on their resolution not to eat. The blessing was in the refusal to accept the food. How would we react in a similar situation to Daniel? Would we necessarily have the eyes to see behind the food to what was really at stake in this situation? Or do we only judge things on the surface, or on how we might benefit?
Questions to Consider
When have you resolved not to take a seemingly easy/beneficial decision? What happened?
Prayer
Gracious God, help me take a second look, show me how to think again and view things from your perspective. Easy isn’t always best. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – The Talk and the Walk
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 1:11-17
Now I know that the parable is actually a comment on the priestly leadership of Israel in contrast to the lives of the base and outcast and forgotten, but Daniel’s situation put me in mind of the parable of the two sons, and the (non-)performance of the second son, the one who said he would go out and do the work his father asked of him (see Matthew 21:28-32). His word contradicts his performance. His actions belie his intentions. What he had resolved to do he did not do. He talked a good game, but then never even took the field to play. Daniel and co. talked a good game too – would they have the courage to put their convictions into action?
Our convictions require actions to back them up or else our convictions are worthless and of no consequence – and, however sincere we may be, the world remains unchanged. Daniel and his companions had to follow through. Their resolve needed actions to back it up. Through their actions, God was able to work. They still grew in their understanding of culture and literature, but they did it without compromising their faith, through skilful negotiation and through their resolve not to unthinkingly follow the dictates of their masters or their masters’ culture. It was God who gave them the tools and knowledge they would need in order to faithfully navigate their way through the alien minefield of Babylonian culture and society, because their first allegiance – the allegiance that determined all subsequent thoughts and actions – was to him. They talked the talk, and then walked the walk, with God as their guide on the road.
Question to Consider
How do we make sure we back up our words with the right actions?
Prayer
Loving Father, help me be bold and faithful not just in my words and resolutions but in my actions too. May people see you and your kingdom in what I say and do and may the two match up in faithfulness. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – God’s Constant Faithfulness
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Daniel 1:18-21
In yesterday’s reading we saw that it was God who gave Daniel and his friends “knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning.” Thanks to God’s faithful guidance, when they were presented to King Nebuchadnezzar, it quickly became obvious that there was no one better than Daniel and his companions in the whole kingdom. Daniel shows us that even in hard, oppressive circumstances, we can still be faithful to God in what we say and do. Daniel and his three friends were ordinary people serving an extraordinary God who was with them all the time, who never forgot them or abandoned them. When things are difficult, living faithfully can see us not only survive, but thrive as well.
And lest we think that things are now sweet for Daniel and his friends – that life as the king’s advisers will now be easy and comfortable for them from this time on – we need to remember that, as the rest of the story will soon show us, they are still captives in a foreign land, oppressed by a foreign power that constantly pressures them to compromise their faith in God, to the point of giving it up entirely; that belittles their culture and traditions and enslaves their countrymen; and that keeps them in captivity for decades. Daniel and his friends would end up serving under four Babylonian kings over a period of more than sixty years, more than enough time to witness repeatedly the brutality of tyrants and be subject to that very brutality themselves. Life would not be easy for them. Their faithfulness would be tested. But their God would be with them.
Questions to Consider
How was God with Daniel? How has God been with you in difficult times?
Prayer
Almighty God, help me live faithfully in hard times. Give me the strength not to compromise my reliance on you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)