IS OUR WORLD UNRAVELING?

Does it seem to you that things around us are unraveling more quickly than ever? I’m not talking about just the economy and international affairs but about how quickly the world around us changes. On Thursday, July 7, I went to bed without having checked the news on TV and didn’t know that our world had changed because of an event right here in my hometown. I’m speaking, of course, of the killing of five policemen and the wounding of nine more.

Dallas is reeling under the vicious impact of these senseless killings, and the impact has spread across our land. One of my longtime friends e-mailed me a few days ago and said what a lot of us are feeling about the shootings: the events are “so unsettling and frightening.”

As I have wrestled with my own feelings and what should be my focus as a Christian, as a father and grandfather, to what is going on around us, I have found myself frequently thinking of Daniel 1:8:

“Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.”

Daniel and his friends had been kidnapped and taken from their homes in Israel to live in Babylon and were being prepared for life in the court of Nebuchadnezzar.  

There are two words in verse 8 that we need to be familiar with. The first is resolved, which is translated “purposed” in older versions of Scripture. The use of the word here means that Daniel had an opinion or a philosophy that was firm, well established, immovable. The second word is defile and it means to be polluted or stained.

Daniel’s resolve was not about food and wine. I repeat—this was not about food and drink but about the godless lifestyle that they were symbolic of. Daniel was not down on Nebuchadnezzar nor was he advocating a specific dietary structure. Daniel was making sure that he did not get entangled in a philosophy of life that would destroy his relationship with God.

I believe that Daniel’s resolve was birthed out of his concern: “How do I maintain my life with God while living in this pagan community?” The conclusion Daniel arrived at is valuable for us today.

While our society is unraveling and becoming more violent and volatile, it continues to become increasingly secular, and the invisible pollution of secularism intensifies. This is the air we breathe every day! How do we continue breathing this and not be polluted?

Daniel saw what was going on around him and came to a point of resolve. He and his friends chose to put the Lord first in everything, but that choice would not be without its challenges. Daniel ended up being thrown into a den of lions because he would not compromise his desire to honor God. His friends were thrown into the fireplace because they refused to worship at the feet of the prevailing idols of their day. However, all these young men experienced the protection of God that was released unto them because they chose to honor Him and put Him first in their lives.

Daniel and his friends continually saw the favor and blessing of the Lord upon their lives while they lived in Babylon. Their testimonies were not destroyed because they dwelt in a hostile environment; in fact, the opposite was true.

These Jewish immigrants lived their lives honorably and made an impact in the Babylonian culture. Nebuchadnezzar made this statement when the three Hebrews walked out of the fiery furnace unscathed: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His angel and delivered His servants, who trusted in Him,and set set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God” (Daniel 3:28, ESV).

I believe the key to Daniel’s success is found in Daniel 1:8. Had Daniel and his friends not made this commitment of spirit unto the Lord, there would have been no success in the fire pit. Instead, there would have been three kosher charcoal briquettes, Daniel would have been lunch for hungry lions, and the prophecies of Daniel would never have been written.

Daniel purposed/resolved to honor God as first in his life and it unleashed the plan of God for his life was unleashed. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, ESV). When this Scripture speaks of “the kingdom of God,” it is referring to His kingly rule in our lives; “righteousness” means that we seek to do that which pleases Him. In response to this “resolve,” He pledges with covenant faithfulness to respond to the seeker. The toxic savagery of a world system falling apart cannot destroy the purpose for which God created you, and honoring Him and living fully in His plan for you brings His hand of grace and protection.