We come to Daniel 5. God has spoken by dreams, once in chapter 2 and again in chapter 4, and in a vision. In chapter 5, he writes on the wall!

Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. (Daniel 5.3 – 5, ESV, emphasis mine)

Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, is the “king” in chapter 5. What to do with this writing? The “…king’s wise men…could not read the writing…” The Queen Mother knew about Daniel:

The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” (Daniel 5.10 – 12, ESV)

Daniel is a man after my own heart: he explains riddles and solves problems! He’s also not afraid to confront authority. He reminds Belshazzar of the events of chapter 4 involving his father, Nebuchadnezzar, and concludes:

He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. (Daniel 5.21 – 23, ESV, emphasis mine)

Therefore:

“…from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. This is the interpretation of the matter:

• MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;
• TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;
• PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Daniel 5.24 – 28, ESV)

Note the word change: PARSIN in verse 24, PERES in verse 28. I was told decades ago that the first one was future, but by the time Daniel read it again, it had happened.

In the narrative of Daniel 5, the city of Babylon was already surrounded by the Medo-Persian army while King Belshazzar was feasting. According to ancient historians like Herodotus, the Persians literally diverted the Euphrates River that very night to march under the city gates.

And the conclusion is inevitable:

That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. (Daniel 5.30, ESV)

The message of Daniel remains clear:

…His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation…and those who walk in pride He is able to put down. (Daniel 4.34, 37, NKJV)

We moved into our neighborhood just over a year ago. A 20-unit complex, and as of a neighborhood picnic on August 29, I’ve met everyone. (There was one lady who NEVER comes out of her house, but she was at the picnic. She was the last one.) The number and length of conversations with neighbors has increased dramatically since we got Paddy the Dog Memorial Day weekend.

I’ve been asking God why we’re here, and a few days ago, Marvin Campbell, US President of The Navigators, shared the game plan. I reproduce it here. It’s a play anyone can run. Marvin writes:

Over the last several years, I’ve had short conversations with one of my neighbors — often standing in the driveway. These conversations were cordial and friendly, but rarely very deep. From time to time, he would share something going on in his life. I would offer to pray, and the next time we crossed paths, I would try to remember to ask how things were going.

Nothing dramatic. No obvious breakthroughs. Just brief encounters over time and an effort to be present and engaged.

Then, a few weeks ago, everything changed.

He experienced what could easily have been a fatal head-on collision while driving on a narrow road. Miraculously, the collision was avoided; he can’t recall doing anything that prevented it. Not long after, he was sitting alone in a hotel room and had an overwhelming sense that Jesus was there with him — and that Jesus was his friend.

Since he knows I follow Jesus, he reached out and asked if we could get coffee.

As we sat together in our local Starbucks, he recounted these events and shared that he sensed Jesus reaching out to him. He wanted to understand what it might mean.

So, on a Starbucks drink label, I drew out The Bridge illustration and had the privilege of sharing the gospel with him. In a few weeks, we plan to meet again to talk through several passages of Scripture he agreed to read.

As I reflect on this interaction, I’m struck by the simplicity of it.

I did not orchestrate my neighbor’s circumstances. I certainly cannot explain everything he experienced, nor do I need to. God is the One who draws people to Himself. My part over these years was much smaller: 

• Be a neighbor.
• Listen.
• Care.
• Pray.
• Remember.
• Follow up.
• Be available when God opens the door. – Marvin Campbell, The Navigators

Marvin closes with two questions:

• Where is God inviting you to notice, care, pray, follow up, and be available more intentionally?
• Who has He already placed in the ordinary spaces of your life for a divine appointment?

Any of us can run this play…and we should. One of my neighbors asked me a couple of weeks ago to pray that she can find a new job that’s less intense than the one she has now. Time to follow up!

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22.36 – 39, ESV)

Permit me one more family- related post…

We are thrilled beyond words that our grandson, Taylor Ewell, son of our oldest, Mark, is a newly minted PhD in Exercise Science from Colorado State University! As this comes out, he and his wife, Marissa, have just moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where he has been awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at Mayo Clinic.

Taylor defends his dissertation, August 25, 2026, title as shown. I don’t understand it either!

Mark summarized Taylor’s journey in a Facebook post:

Is there a doctor in the house?

From his first day at CSU in August 2013, to finishing his doctorate this August 2026, Taylor has spent the last 13 years of his life at CSU. The same amount of time as he spent kindergarten through 12th, and all at one school instead of bouncing around multiple schools and multiple states.

He went from having challenges early on, to finding a path (and mentor) he really liked, to not accepting “no” when he decided to pursue a masters degree, to staying on and earning his PhD.

As a scientist, he has already published a dozen papers, and as the newly minted Dr. Ewell, he is headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to continue his research under one of the top sports scientists in the world (Dr. Michael Joyner). I’m always proud of Taylor’s work, and he has pursued this dream with a focus and determination that inspires me and everyone in the family.

In the Facebook post, Mark didn’t mention that when Taylor’s college experience didn’t start out so well, he joined the Marines, serving in the reserves for five years.

Discipline, persistence, success. Well done, Taylor! We’re proud of you.

A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul. (Proverbs 13.19, NKJV)

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. – Calvin Coolidge

Happy Labor Day! The Labor Day blog came out yesterday to make room for something more important:

It’s our 58th wedding anniversary!

I usually post a picture from one of our August hikes, but this year, a local magazine treated us to a professional photo shoot to be used in an article coming out next spring. So here we are at Glen Eyrie, home of The Navigators’ Conference Center, standing near the castle with Queen’s Canyon in the background.

OK, I’ll throw in one pic from Rocky Mountain National Park. She doesn’t look 80, does she!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1.17, ESV)

Happy Labor Day…one day early. Tomorrow, I have to write about something else.

If you’re a regular reader of the Ewellogy, you know I admire work in all its forms. This year, I want to focus on tools. A few months ago, one of my neighbors moved out, and they used “U-Boxes” to do it. I regret I didn’t get my own picture. This one comes from the U-Haul site.

The U-Box is like a PODS container, only smaller:

I was fascinated with the process. Six U-Boxes were dropped off in my neighbor’s driveway. I watched them load the last couple of units. Then, the interesting part. A lady, just as in the U-Box picture above, drove a flat-bed trailer up and using a forklift, picked up each container and put it on the trailer. Six units, one lady, and a special forklift. If you’re wondering where the forklift goes when the trailer is loaded, she just pulls up behind the trailer, inserts the forklifts’ blades into a special slot, and the forklift lifts itself up and rides behind the load.

Amazing. The pickup lady I watched was 63 years old. The Labor Day lesson? The power of tools. One person of no special strength or ability (other than training, of course) with the proper tools – a flat-bed trailer and a forklift – loaded and transported a whole houseful of belongings in a very short time.

In India I’ve seen labor without tools. I’ve seen small men carrying 100-pound sacks of potatoes on their backs. Bless them for their effort, but it takes a long time to move potatoes that way.

I saw guys in India laying a foundation for a house by hand using 50-pound sacks of concrete. It might take a month to build that small foundation.

By contrast, my friend, house-builder Gary, poured a 3600-square-foot foundation before lunch with four men, a caravan of cement mixer trucks, and a device that pumps that cement through a pipe directed by one guy to exactly where he wants it. (Not a picture of the process I saw, but they used a machine like this one.)

Tools: the labor multiplier.

We are blessed in this country with tools, built by labor assisted by yet other tools. I give thanks for the men and women who invent and build tools. A huge factor in our productivity. And, of course, thanks as always to the folks who use those tools to serve us.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1.31, ESV, emphasis mine)

Last Sunday our church celebrated its annual picnic in the park service with an emphasis on enjoying God’s creation. Scripture included:

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1.24, 25, ESV)

During our recent time in Estes Park, Colorado, we saw our share of “beasts” as well as birds, beginning with the turkeys: mamas and their offspring…

…deer and their offspring…

…cow elk on the road into town…

…and finally, on the day we left, the dog and I were walking up to the chapel to drop off a key, and there he was – exactly where I needed to go.

We waited… Fortunately, he kept going.

And when we got home, this spider had built the most intricate web under the light outside our garage. I’m impressed:

Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor? Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? (Job 39.9 – 12, ESV)

As we move into Daniel 4, we’ll get another lesson supporting the main theme of Daniel. If you understand nothing else, you’ll be OK if you remember what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2:

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2.44, ESV)

God is making sure that Nebuchadnezzar gets the message. In chapter 1, his best guys are those who worship the God of Israel:

And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. (Daniel 1.19, 20, ESV)

We saw the message from chapter 2. In chapter 3, this God delivers men who refuse to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image:

Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” (Daniel 3.28, 29, ESV)

But the king still doesn’t fully grasp the message until the events of chapter 4, narrated mostly by Nebuchadnezzar himself.

The chapter opens with the conclusion:

King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4.1 – 3, ESV)

And how did he come to this conclusion? It started with another dream:

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. (Daniel 4.4, 5, ESV)

He saw a great tree that was cut down:

“I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches…” (Daniel 4.13, 14, ESV)

The language changes from “it” to “he”:

But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. (Daniel 4.15, 16, ESV)

Seven years…until he learns what lesson?

The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ (Daniel 4.17, ESV)

Essentially, the lesson from chapter 2. And Daniel interprets the dream as a warning. “This will happen to you, king…Best you change.”

Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity. (Daniel 4.27, ESV)

But after a year, pride kicks in:

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4.28 – 30, ESV)

Oops. All the predictions of the dream kick in:

Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. (Daniel 4.33, ESV)

And we come full circle to the end of the story, forecast in verse 3:

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4.34, 35, ESV)

“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation…” And…

…those who walk in pride he is able to humble. – Nebuchadnezzar, quoted in Daniel 4.37)

That final lesson applies today…to kings, dictators, presidents…business leaders, religious leaders…the rest of us.

We come to Daniel 3, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which every kid that ever attended Sunday School knows. (Although few would be able to tell you the historical context or whether the event was before or after, say, Samson or David and Goliath.)

Anyway, we’re here in the exile, Daniel and his three friends are captives, subjects of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to whom God had given a vision. Apparently Nebuchadnezzar missed the part about “the God of Heaven” and heard only:

You are the head of gold (Daniel 2.38, ESV)

So chapter three opens:

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3.1, ESV)

90 feet tall! And the command went out:

And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. (Daniel 3.4, 5, ESV)

And you all know what happened next. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to play:

“There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3.12, ESV)

…

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3.16 – 18, ESV)

This, of course, is the most important paragraph in this story. The deliverance from the fiery furnace is nice and the presence of the fourth man “like a son of the gods” is encouraging, but what if there’s not miraculous deliverance? “…if not, we will not…worship the golden image…”

This is the choice that faced Alexei Navalany in Russia who was murdered for exactly the same crime. Refusing to bow to the king. And his testimony was clear:

Faith makes life simpler… are you a disciple… of the religion whose founder sacrificed himself for others…? If you can honestly answer yes, what is there left to worry about? – quoted by Joseph Nangle, October 26, 2024

There have been many…

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised… (Hebrews 11.35 – 39, ESV)

Daniel 2 is long and a lot of fun…

Two stories in one.

• Daniel gets a vision of the king’s dream.

Nebuchadnezzar wanted the wise men to tell him the dream, then interpret it!

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. ”The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. (Daniel 2.1 – 5, ESV)

The Chaldeans were wrong:

The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (Daniel 2.10, 11, ESV)

No doubt no king had ever demanded such a thing, but a man can meet the king’s demand because God does dwell with people!

Daniel doesn’t presume. He goes to prayer:

Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. (Daniel 2.17 – 19, ESV)

And Daniel praises God.

To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter. (Daniel 2.23, ESV)

• Daniel explains the dream to the king

First he explains who God is.

Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. (Daniel 2.27, 28, ESV)

Then he tells the dream. First, the image:

• The head of this image was of fine gold,
• its chest and arms of silver,
• its middle and thighs of bronze,
• its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. (Daniel 2.32, 33, ESV)

Second, the destruction of the image:

As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces…But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2.34, 35, ESV)

Then he interprets the dream: four kingdoms

• Nebuchadnezzar – gold
• An inferior kingdom – silver
• Another inferior kingdom – bronze
• A final, strong but divided kingdom – iron and clay

And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. (Daniel 2.40, 41, ESV)

And finally, the exciting part, and in my opinion, the theme of Daniel:

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2.44, ESV)

The iron kingdom? Rome! And in the days of that Kingdom, Jesus! …will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1.14, 15, ESV)

What was Jesus’ first declaration?

• The time is fulfilled
• The kingdom of God is at hand
• Repent and believe this good news

God reveals the dream, Daniel interprets the dream, Jesus fulfills the dream. Amen.

.

Many Christians in the US seem poised to take on a variety of issues from county clerks not processing same-sex marriage documents to what books should be included in school curricula. How do we decide? Do I boycott Starbucks as one brother encouraged me to do because of their support of same-sex marriage or do I applaud Starbucks for their use of ethically produced coffee beans?

Daniel was a captive in a foreign land. It would be like Russia taking our best and brightest and putting them in service to Putin in Moscow. What issue(s) did Daniel take on?

• “Literature and language of the Chaldeans”

Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1.3, 4, ESV)

• “Daily food that the king ate”

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. (Daniel 1.5, ESV)

When I was growing up, if I were faced with that choice, I’d said, “I’ll eat your bacon and pork chops, but don’t pollute my mind with your pagan literature!” With Daniel, however, it was the opposite. Jewish dietary laws anchored him to his Jewish heritage.

Daniel chose to battle over the food while excelling in the education program:

As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. (Daniel 1.17 – 20, ESV)

Yet he handled the food matter with wisdom and humility:

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself…Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” (Daniel 1.8, 11 – 13, ESV)

The plan worked:

At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. (Daniel 1.15, 16, ESV)

And the chapter ends with a matter-of-fact summary:

And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. (Daniel 1.21, ESV)

A lifetime of service to foreign governments. Daniel was most likely a teenager in chapter 1. When we get to the Lion’s Den episode in chapter 6, he’s probably 80. Thankfully, God has people everywhere, May we choose our battles carefully and fight them with wisdom and humility.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3.17, ESV)

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2.13 – 17, ESV)