(Read Daniel 1:3-20)
Have you ever wondered what living in exile is like? Being outcast, without freedom to live your life as you want to?
That may be pretty much what many people are now experiencing in this season of isolation and quarantine that is caused by Covid-19. Different circumstances will cause different individuals to experience various degrees of “exile” but there is a sense of imprisonment nonetheless.
I find the exile of the Israelites in Babylon to be most similar to the “exile” we are facing now. Despite being unable to worship and congregate the usual way, the Israelites had access to choicest food. Babylon being an advanced kingdom in that era, could also offer them education and information that was considered modern.
Much like we live, confined in our homes, having access to online food services and gigabytes of information, we are like Daniel, living in a time where we’re unable to worship and congregate in the usual methods. So, there are 2 lessons we can learn from this account of Daniel that could help us get through our “exile”
1. Appetite
Daniel did not compromise his conviction in God, and that resulted in him and his friends trading away their appetite for extravagant food to a simple diet. Unlike of what we know of a diet today, the goal of their diet was to train their appetites and yearnings. They turned their yearning for food to become a yearning for God.
Perhaps we are tempted to give in to simple comfort or laziness because he are home bound. Perhaps we have been so used to our lifestyles of variety and choices for food and activity that we find simplicity and repetition difficult to adapt to. Daniel used the way appetite works to his advantage, he trained it by feeding it less, instead of more.
2. Comfort & Satisfaction
Daniel and his friends also recognised that they were about to be indoctrinated with a belief foreign to that of God’s. They chose not to solely depend on information that was available to them, but they went an extra mile to seek wisdom from God. At the end of 3 years of supposed indoctrination, the king instead found them to be wiser than the existing “professors” of their time.
Many of us access information daily and this information expires and evolves so quickly that it can overload us. Information overload works to our disadvantage, because, though relevant information does gives us a certain satisfaction and comfort, it is our drive to have satisfaction and comfort that causes us to want to know more. Feeding our appetite for information will cause confusion, remove peace and we soon find that we are indoctrinated to find comfort in the knowledge of the world, rather than rely on God’s wisdom to obtain comfort.
A simple point to illustrate this is the fact that until now no one can be truly sure if wearing a face mask will protect you from Covid-19. Some information say it is airborne. Others say it can enter through the eyes. You don’t even reach a point of fear and you will already be in doubt because of the confusion information overload causes. Instead, if you choose to find comfort in God’s wisdom, you can “walk through the valley of shadow of death and fear no evil”, regardless of what ever might befall you because, “God is with me, and His rod and staff comfort me”. Psalm 23:4
As we think on these lessons from Daniel, let us also reflect on them in context of God’s beautiful illustration of our soul yearning for God, being like the deer that pants after water (Psalms 42).
As Easter approaches, let us also reflect on the words of our Lord, that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4 ESV
And as we journey on in this time of “exile”, not knowing when it may end, but we can know that we are truly comforted and satisfied in our appetite for God when we find that our appetite is for His kingdom and righteousness. Seek it and all other things will be added to you.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6 ESV
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