T-47: Measurable Results

Ten days of vegetables and water instead of meat and wine; that’s what Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah asked for and were granted. Their request was not predicated upon any desire to lose weight but rather to please God. Yet the test results were to be determined visually by a biased non-believer.

The boys believed that after ten days their countenance would bear out the assumption that God would take care of them. The Babylonian official expected that after ten days he would be able to put them on the king’s rich diet to overcome their emaciated condition.

Our text today reveals the outcome of this dietary experiment. Consider…

Daniel 1:15-16 (NIV)
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
[1]

At the end of the experiment, the God-fearing group of boys “looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.” There you have it; proof once again that obedience to God is good for you.

I cannot say that ten days of vegetables and water will have an immediate and noticeable effect on how you appear. But I can say that a life of obedience has a profound and noticeable effect on your countenance. I also submit that ten days of ‘belly-to-the-bar’ buffets will have a noticeable and undesirable effect on you. Thus, the comparison was between four boys who lived a life of obedience and for ten days were nourished by healthy food as well as God’s word and a group of young men, their peers but not equals, who set aside what they knew to be right and indulged in Babylonian living. That at the end of the ten days, Daniel and his friends would be proven to be right should be no surprise.

Confronted with the stark reality of the effect of a god-honoring diet, V16 tells us that the guard took away all the king’s food, all the temptations and continued to feed the boys on vegetables and water. While this was a practical consideration on the part of the guards, it is also an acknowledgement that God knows best what our bodies need and what will keep us healthy.

I’ll stop short of saying that we live in a modern-day Babylon but I will categorically state that we live in a country that is wrapped up in excess. This passage convicts me of my own gluttony and my own shortcomings in the stewardship of God’s temple; my body. As intended by God, I need to take heed of the example of ‘four amigos’ and take to heart their commitment to God and the good choices they made. I must claim for my own their testimony that obedience to God is always rewarded.


Warm Regards,
Carl
[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.