Once And For All Series

knew he would be violating the Mosaic law and the teachings of Moses, and so he didn’t want to

eat it. There are several variations on that theme, but what we know is this: that he decided, you

can push me and push me, but this is as far as I go. And what’s so cool about this—because if

you grew up in Sunday school, you know how this story ends. It ends pretty good for Daniel.

This is the challenge for you and for me: Daniel made up his mind before he knew how

his story ended. Daniel made up his mind, and he hadn’t read the book of Daniel. And see, this is

the part we can’t even begin to imagine, because we’ve never been in this environment. He’s a

teenager away from home, surrounded by the most powerful people in the world. By saying no,

he’s essentially going to lose his life, and here’s the amazing thing. He uses—two times—he

uses the word defile. Imagine what an insult this was to his host; to eat your king’s food is to

defile my body. Hey, hold on, Cowboy. You know there are some people in this city who don’t

have anything to eat. We’re offering you the best there is, and you think it’s going to defile your

body? Well, aren’t you somebody special? This was a total insult to Nebuchadnezzar and his

entire household. He’s not going to defile himself.

He made a decision before he knew the end of the story, but let me tell you why he made

this decision before he knew the end of the story. He made this decision because he could predict the end of his story if he didn’t. He made the decision because he didn’t know the end of the story; he made the decision because he could predict the end of his story. Because he, like you and like me, he knew where this was leading, and so he made up his mind.

So, he asked the chief official for permission. Here’s what he did: He went to Asphenaz.

He said, “Asphenaz, look, me and my guys, me and my posse, me and my boys, we don’t want

to eat this food and drink this wine, and I know this is going to be a problem, but we just don’t

want to do it.” Now, look at this next verse. This is kind of the game-changer for everybody.

Look at this.

Daniel 1:9 (TNIV)

9 Now God

Now, here’s why this is so important. You see, as you’re evaluating your guardrails

and—Am I going to do this? I’m going to miss out. People are going to think I’m crazy. The

guys at work are going to go, What? But you always did this before. You’re not going to go there

anymore, you’re not going to drink anymore—however this lands for you. The problem is, as

you would think about your life, and your future, and what people are going to think, and what

you’re going to miss out on, and why even go on Spring Break—all that kind of stuff that goes

through your mind, here’s the part that you forget to factor in. And here’s the part that somehow

Daniel knew to factor in. It’s called the “Now God” part. It’s the “Now God” part. The “Now