Faithful in a Foreign Place
Daniel 1:1 – 7
By: JB Hall
Introduction: Sometimes you and I are thrust into a foreign place; without our consent and by circumstances beyond our control. This foreign place can be a foreign land, or it can be a set of circumstances that is foreign to our way of life.
How will we respond when we are called to serve in a foreign place?
Just such a thing happened to Daniel and 3 of his friends.
In Daniel 1:1 – 2 King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, and God gave Jerusalem into their hands. Jerusalem was conquered, and some of the citizens deported to Babylon.
Among those deported were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These were 4 young men whose lives were changed forever in a moment’s time. They were separated from their families, from their friends, from their culture, and from their surroundings.
They found themselves in a place that was foreign, surrounded by people who spoke a language that was foreign, and living in a culture that was foreign. In short, everything they had known and loved was gone, and they were surrounded by everything foreign to their former way of life.
How would they respond?
Well, because they were faithful God protected, promoted, and prospered them even in the foreign place they had been thrust into.
Let’s look at some things that helped them to remain faithful, and see if we can’t learn some things that will help us to remain faithful when we are thrust into a foreign place.
1. They understood that God rules in the affairs of men.
A. These young men understood that God was not confined to their culture or country.
B. They understood that God was not just the God of the Israelites; but that He is the God of the whole world.
C. They understood that just because a people do not acknowledge the one true God, does not mean that He is not in charge and active in the life of that people.
D. But they also knew that though they were in a foreign land, God was still present with them; and that He would still be active in their lives just as He was when they were in familiar territory.
E. This understanding, that God is universal in His presence and reign, gave them confidence to depend upon Him when they were in the greatest trials of their lives.
F. As they were confronted with extreme trials because of the culture they were in that so conflicted with their Godly way of life, they depended entirely upon the God they knew before they were thrust into this place.
G. Because they remained faithful to God, He was able to show Himself strong on behalf of, and in, these young men.
H. They understood that God rules in the affairs of men.
2. They remained committed to God even when that commitment placed them in personal jeopardy.
A. Example #1 – When the king placed these young men into training for palace duty, part of that training involved their diet.
B. Thinking his food was the very best that could be offered; the king commanded that these young men be fed with the diet he had designed for them.
C. When Daniel saw that the king’s diet did not correspond with the diet God had prescribed for His children, Daniel 1:8a states that “…Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat…”
D. This of course placed him in contradiction to the king’s orders; and could have placed him in jeopardy of his life.
E. But handling this conflict wisely and humbly, he depended upon the Lord to make his plan to not defile himself with an ungodly diet, work; and the Lord came through, honoring his faith by having him excused from this diet.
F. Example #2 – When commanded to fall down and worship a golden image in Chapter 3, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), refused because of their faithfulness to God.
G. They did not make excuses because they were in a foreign land and in a situation that threatened their lives, thinking God would “understand” because of the unusual circumstances.
H. This refusal, of course, placed them on a collision course with the king who had commanded that they worship a false image.
I. Though thrown into a fiery furnace, expecting they might die this day, they were faithful until what would have been their end had God not decided to spare their lives.
J. Example #3 – In Chapter 6 the kingdom had been taken by the Medes and the Persians and Darius the Median was king.
K. Having been manipulated by wicked men whose wicked agenda was to destroy Daniel, the king made a decree that anyone asking a petition of any God or man besides the king for thirty days would be cast into a den of lions.
L. This worked perfectly for those wicked men; for Daniel continued to pray each day as he was accustomed to.
M. When this was brought to the king’s attention, though he loved Daniel and was distraught that Daniel was in violation of his decree, he was bound by his decree to honor his word.
N. Here, Daniel’s commitment to God placed him on a collision course with the king’s decree, and his very life hung in the balance.
O. Again, if God had not intervened, Daniel would have died that day when he was indeed cast alive into a den of hungry lions.
P. God, though, honoring their faith, each time supernaturally protected these young men who had determined to be faithful to Him, even when it could have cost them their lives.
Q. They remained committed to God even when their commitment placed them in personal jeopardy.
3. They understood that true wisdom comes from God; not from education.
A. In Daniel, Chapter 1 when King Nebuchadnezzar deported these young men, he immediately gave the order to teach them the Chaldean language, and to reeducate them with a Chaldean education.
B. This Chaldean education, born of the Chaldean culture, would have of course been from the Chaldean perspective which involved the worship of false gods.
C. Verse 17a though, says, “As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom…”
D. Regardless of the quality of one’s education, true knowledge and skill in learning and wisdom only comes from God.
E. Job 12:13 says, “With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding:”
F. Because these young men did not depend upon a proper Chaldean diet, nor a proper Chaldean higher education for their wisdom, but upon the God Whom they served with their whole heart, Daniel 1:20 says, “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.”
G. We must remember that education is only good when the tenets of that education correspond with the word of God.
H. When social engineers begin to insert information that is contradictory to the word of God into our curriculums, calling the curriculums education, they in fact destroy the value of education.
I. They make education nothing more than a propaganda mechanism they wish to use to change the morals and values of the culture whose citizens they are supposed to be educating.
J. Some examples of this hijacking of our education system by those intent on changing our culture into one that rejects God and His word are the teachings of evolution as science; and inserting the so-called gay agenda into curriculums, calling it multi-cultural tolerance training.
K. Though we have not been deported to a foreign land, we are entering into a cultural shift that is very much foreign to Biblical values and morality.
L. As parents and concerned citizens, we must be careful to recognize, expose, and counter this misinformation with Biblical truth.
M. Only when a child is taught truth can he develop true wisdom and understanding.
N. Though these young men were in a foreign land, being given a foreign education, they understood that true wisdom comes from God; not education.
4. They understood that God requires humility, even in dealing with arrogance.
A. What could have been more arrogant than informing them that their education and their diet were not up to par; and that they would be reeducated and given a better diet?
B. However, instead of meeting arrogance with arrogance, Daniel approached this attempt to make him defile himself with a diet that was forbidden by God, in humility.
C. Chapter 1:8 says, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
D. Rather than being confrontational or offensive, Daniel, in humility, requested that he might not defile himself with the king’s prescribed diet.
E. When Melzar, the prince of the eunuchs, informed Daniel that to allow him to decline the king’s ordered diet would place his (Melzar’s) life in jeopardy, Daniel maintained his humility, and came up with an alternative plan.
F. He told Melzar to test his plan for ten days; after which Melzar could make a decision as to what he would require of him.
G. Daniel’s plan was for Melzar to feed him and his friends, beans; then, after ten days, he could examine their appearance.
H. If they looked as healthy as the others, then perhaps he would allow them to continue their diet of beans instead of the diet the king had prescribed.
I. After all, Melzar’s job was to have the young men presentable to the king and his court; not just to have them eat a particular type of food.
J. Verse 15 says, “And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.”
K. God had honored Daniel’s humility that had been driven by his faith; for after all, what had caused him to come up with this alternative plan and test was his determination to follow God’s instructions instead of the king’s.
L. So we see here that God always honors what He commands.
M. They understood that God requires humility, even in dealing with arrogance.
5. They understood that service to God does not depend upon one’s station in life.
A. A most often used excuse for not serving God is that we will do so when things are better or different.
B. For these boys, things were not going to be different.
C. Had they taken this approach, they would never have served the Lord.
D. They were destined to serve, perhaps their entire lives, in a foreign place.
E. Also, they did not spend their entire time seeking a way of escape, but rather determined to serve their Lord where they were stationed.
F. They bloomed where they were planted.
G. Notice, that with each event they were confronted with, they seized the opportunity as one where they could be faithful and glorify God in.
H. They didn’t dismiss these opportunities as irrelevant, thinking they were just going to wait until they escaped their circumstances to serve God.
I. Had they done this, they would have wasted the opportunities God presented them with to honor Him; and would never have served Him.
J. When thrust into a foreign place, our circumstances may change, or they may never change.
K. We have no way of knowing what the future holds.
L. Either way though, if we squander the opportunities presented to us in this foreign place, we may never have equal or greater opportunities to glorify God.
M. We must not waste the opportunities presented to us to glorify God while waiting on better or easier times to do so.
N. Regardless of our station in life, regardless of when and where we are called to serve, regardless of how difficult the circumstances we are called to serve in, we must serve.
O. When you are thrust into a foreign place, this is your station and your place of service, until or unless you are released from it.
P. Do not allow the difficulty of your station to suppress your zeal to serve your God.
Q. Rather, view your circumstances as God’s calling for you, and seize the opportunities presented in these circumstances as unique chances to be faithful to Him.
R. Just remember, service does not depend upon station.
S. We are called to serve regardless of how familiar or foreign our circumstances are to us.
T. They understood that service to God does not depend upon one’s station in life.
6. They understood that the fate of lost people often depends upon God working through His children.
A. In Chapter 2 King Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed a dream that bothered him, but he could not remember what the dream was.
B. He demanded of his wise men that they remind him of what he had dreamed, and then interpret the dream to him.
C. When none knew what he had dreamed and was incapable of determining what the dream was about, the king in his fury gave a command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
D. As Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, was on his way to slay all the wise men, Daniel intervened and asked him why there was such haste to kill them.
E. Arioch told Daniel the reason, and Daniel went to the king to ask for time and told him that he (Daniel) would give him the interpretation.
F. Again, Daniel had to depend upon God for the answer.
G. Daniel, like the other wise men, was just a man, and could not have known the dream any more than they.
H. But again, God came through and revealed to Daniel not only what the dream was, but also the interpretation of it.
I. When Daniel returned to the king to deliver the content and interpretation of the dream, he was careful to give the credit for this knowledge to God.
J. Chapter 2, Verses 27 &28 say, “Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers, shew unto the king;”
“But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these:”
Then Daniel began to reveal what God had revealed to him concerning the king’s dream.
K. By Daniel going to God, and God revealing to him the dream and its interpretation, all the wise men, even those who did not know God nor serve Him, were spared certain death.
L. In much the same way, what lost people do not know today can destroy them.
M. Often times the intervention of a wise child of God with information available only to him/her will be the only possibility of their being spared certain destruction.
N. The wisdom and knowledge revealed to the child of God is often the critical information needed to save even lost people from something that is about to destroy them.
O. When death is at the gate, often the child of God is the only one who can stay its hand.
P. Had Daniel’s faith faltered at this critical juncture, the fate of him, his friends, and the lost so-called wise men of Babylon would have been dire indeed.
Q. The fate of the lost wise men of Babylon rested in Daniel’s faith in, and faithfulness to, the one true God.
R. These boys understood that the fate of lost people often depends upon God working through His children.
7. They understood that God preserves those who are faithful so that their influence continues to bless others.
A. Daniel 1:21 says “And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.”
B. Now we know that Daniel lived even after the first year of Cyrus for Daniel 10:1a informs us that “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel…”
C. The statement in Daniel 1:21 that Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus lets us know that Daniel continued to serve in the administrations of kings in Babylon throughout the Babylonian captivity until the decree was given by Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem.
D. Ezra 1:1 – 3a say, “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,”
“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”
“Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem…“
E. My point is that throughout the Babylonian captivity of the children of Israel, God preserved Daniel so that he might continue to be a Godly and wise influence, not only to his own people, but also to the kings’ administrations that ruled over the children of Israel in their captivity.
F. So, God preserves the faithful so that they can continue to be an influence over His people, but also over those whose authority and influence impacts His people.
G. These young men understood that God preserves those who are faithful so that their influence continues to bless others.
In Review:
Daniel and his 3 friends found themselves in a place that was foreign. They had been thrust into a place where everything they had known and loved was gone, and they were surrounded by everything foreign to their former way of life.
They responded in faithfulness in this foreign place; and because they did, God protected, promoted, and prospered them so that they could continue to influence their own people; but also so that they could continue to influence those who ruled over their people.
What helped these boys to remain faithful in such a foreign place?
1. They understood that God rules in the affairs of men.
2. They remained committed to God even when that commitment placed them in personal jeopardy.
3. They understood that true wisdom comes from God; not from education.
4. They understood that God requires humility, even in dealing with arrogance.
5. They understood that service to God does not depend upon station in life.
6. They understood that the fate of lost people often depends upon God working through His children.
7. They understood that God preserves those who are faithful so that their influence continues to bless others.
In Conclusion:
Sometimes you and I are thrust into a foreign place; without our consent and by circumstances beyond our control. This foreign place can be a foreign land, or it can be a set of circumstances that is foreign to our way of life.
How will you respond when you are called to serve in a foreign place?
