WEEKLY SUNDAY
SCHOOL LESSON
An international
Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday February 1, 2015
Over 72,000
readers worldwide
larrydalexander.blogspot.com
FEARING
GOD MORE THAN WE FEAR MAN
(Being
faithful requires discipline and devotion)
Daniel
1
The book of Daniel was written in
the sixth century by the prophet Daniel who actually lived through all of the
events that are recorded in its pages. At the age of sixteen Daniel was taken
captive, along with many other elite young men of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar,
and held in exile after Babylon’s first invasion of Jerusalem in 605 B.C. They
were then set apart and taught the language and literature of the Babylonians.
Early on, the king also
sought to place this group of elite young men on a special diet consisting of
food from his own table. However, most of those foods were forbidden for any of
the Jewish people to eat at any time. And so, now, Daniel and his friends find
themselves faced with their first religious dilemma since being forced to leave
their homeland of Judah.
As far as GOD is
concerned, the obverse of “love” is always “obedience”, and the obverse of “privilege”
is always “responsibility”. We, as privileged Christians, are responsible to
GOD to show our love for HIM, through, our obedience to HIM. In Daniel chapter
1, the young prophet, Daniel (Belteshazzar), Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael
(Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego) are all faced with a choice of either obeying
GOD, or, obeying man, and disobeying GOD. It is a dilemma that many professed Christians
often face in today’s society, and perhaps, more often than not, we choose to
obey man, and disobey GOD.
This form of
disobedience can often be seen on our jobs, for example, where we may have been
told that we must work seven days a week by the boss, and we know GOD says we
must work no more than six days a week. If we choose to disobey GOD, it is an
action that sends a clear message to GOD that we fear man, or, are more
concerned about pleasing man, than we are about pleasing HIM, WHO is the
CREATOR of man.
Daniel and his friends
all made up their minds that they were going to obey GOD, no matter what
happened to them as a result. They loved and feared GOD more than they feared
their earthly captors. Their desire was to please GOD in all that they did, and
they resolved that, even though they no longer lived in their own homeland, or
culture, they were still bound by the laws of a sovereign, omnipresent GOD, whose
sovereignty knows no geographical boundaries. They knew that their GOD, was and
is, GOD everywhere, and rules over all things, because HE created all things
everywhere.
With that in mind,
Daniel boldly asked to be excused from eating and drinking the food and wine of
the pagan king of Babylon. The chief official was reluctant to grant Daniel’s
request because the king held him responsible for their well-being. If they
didn’t eat, they could fall into bad health, and the king would perhaps, punish
him severely.
However, GOD intervened
and moved on the heart of the official to show favor to young Daniel and his
friends, and he allowed them to eat their own traditional diet of foods, on a
trial basis, for ten days. And sure enough, at the end of the ten days, Daniel
and his friends appeared to be even healthier than those who remained on the
king’s regimen, and as a result, they were allowed to continue on with their traditional
diet.
GOD always intervenes
on behalf of those who obey, trust, and keep their faith in HIM, especially
during difficult situations. Compromise oftentimes seems like the easy way out,
and sometimes we are only too eager to fit into situations that may be
rationalized as being “not that bad”. One might reason, “Why make a fuss about
something as simple as a diet, or, violating GOD’s Sabbath Day law for that
matter?” We can easily rationalize that “nobody will be hurt if we don’t obey
that commandment just this once”.
Such thoughts may have
even crossed Daniel’s mind also, however, ultimately we see Daniel did the wise
and right thing and made doing GOD’s Will, his priority. No amount of
rationalization can justify disobedience to GOD, no matter how small a thing we
convince ourselves that it is. This is something that every Christian, who
desires to live a GODly life in a secular society, must come to terms with.
I also realize that
some Christians can seem totally obnoxious to others when defending, or taking
a stand for their faith, and perhaps we can all benefit from this lesson by
noting how respectfully young Daniel handled his situation with pagan royalty. Here
in this passage, we see that he did not demand that his captors do anything,
but rather, he asked permission. He respected the position of the Babylonian officials,
and how his request could jeopardize the lives of himself and his friends.
In the final analysis,
we should earnestly seek ways by which we can always put GOD first, and still
show respect to those around us. And if there is any way to satisfy both, that
would be the wise route to take. But remember, never let your obedience to man,
throw you into conflict with, or disobedience to, GOD.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
No comments:
Post a Comment