The Daniel of the Daniel Diet

In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord let King Jehoiakim of Judah fall into his power, as well as some of the vessels of the house of God. These he brought to the land of Shinar, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his gods. Then the king commanded his palace master Ashpenaz to bring some of the Israelites of the royal family and of the nobility, young men without physical defect and handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king's palace; they were to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the royal rations of food and wine. They were to be educated for three years, so that at the end of that time they could be stationed in the king's court. Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, from the tribe of Judah. The palace master gave them other names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine; so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself. Now God allowed Daniel to receive favor and compassion from the palace master. The palace master said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king; he has appointed your food and your drink. If he should see you in poorer condition than the other young men of your own age, you would endanger my head with the king." Then Daniel asked the guard whom the palace master had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: "Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. You can then compare our appearance with the appearance of the young men who eat the royal rations, and deal with your servants according to what you observe." So he agreed to this proposal and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was observed that they appeared better and fatter than all the young men who had been eating the royal rations. So the guard continued to withdraw their royal rations and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. To these four young men God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom; Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams. (Daniel 1:1-17)

A happy and blessed Friday to you, dear Friend! My podcast, pimplesandwrinkles.org, is geared to help us find the life, love, and levity we find in the Bible. The pimples and wrinkles, dimples and scars refers to the honesty we can find in the pages of God's love letter of people like you and me. We may try to cover up our pimples and seek solutions to wrinkles, but as we know from the stories in the Bible, sometimes the best thing is just to expose the truth behind what we may be trying to hide. To that end, if you have been trying to hide a "pimple" or a "wrinkle" in your life, one that no one even knows about, why not get a postcard, and without identifying yourself, write down your secret or wrinkle on that card and mail it to P&W, P. O. Box 52, Seguin, TX 78156. Again, please do not sign the card nor use a card that might give you away. I pray it blesses you to unload that wrinkle from your life.

The other day on one of the late night talk shows, an actor came on who was introduced as having lost significant weight by following The Daniel Diet. It turns out this actor is a man of faith and felt that God would bless him if he followed the diet we have read above. It made me glad that a known celebrity made public his faith in God. He shared how his pastor led him in this diet and study.

The star of this story is Daniel. He and his friends were taken by force from Jerusalem to this foreign city, where they would be forced to serve the king who took them prisoners. The sense on the part of these men, as well as the author of this book, was that because of Judah's unfaithfulness, God allowed it to happen. And while it was not a pleasant situation, the resolve of these young men was to stay faithful to God. It was also the hand of God that made those in charge choose these three as those who would personally serve the king. They had passed a test of knowledge and insight, and were found to meet the physical requirements of being "without physical defect and handsome." Now being selected by the king, they were to be fed like kings, and would be educated in all the ways of this new country.

Daniel felt in his heart that he should not eat from the king's table. As you know, Jews have very strict dietary laws, and to simply sit and eat what was presented to them might bring them into violation of those laws. One can only imagine what a king would eat. It might be easy for him to request pork loin, pork chops, shrimp, lobster; all the no-no's from the Bible's pages. Daniel approached the palace master and requested that he and his friends be exempt from eating the things served to them. He proposed instead (here's the diet) that only vegetables and water be served to them. The palace master is hesitant as one might imagine, and says so, his fear being that they might be in worse shape than the others who would eat the king's rations. At the end of the trial period, Daniel and his friends were in better shape than the others. I should mention there is a book by that same name which you can order by clicking on the link below the devotional.

The faithfulness of these men even in the midst of severe challenge, was rewarded by rich blessings. The passage ends with these words, "To these four young men God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom; Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams." Please note and remember the names of the friends, for they will come back in a significant role. Their new names for me are easier to remember; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Men of wisdom, courage, and faithfulness.

The lesson here is that trust in God exceeds and beats truth even in a king or any ruler of any kind. These young men could have been executed for their disobedience to their new ruler in their lives, but they knew that their Ruler, God, would never let them down. Such should be our obedience as well. No matter the promises or gains we think we can get from someone or something other than God, we will always lose. This story is the first of many of the tremendous blessings of faith in these young men as they trusted the Lord. Your story and mine is still being written. Write it with the ink and hand of God.

PRAYER: Loving God, come and bless us with an abundance of faith and life. I seek to bless You and Yours. And this we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Show someone your trust in the Lord today.

Blessings of love,

Eradio Valverde

Here is the link to the book, The Daniel Diet, 40 Days to A Healthy Life! https://amzn.to/2PI19M5