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In our world we are surrounded by a lot of pressure to go along with the crowd, even when we know we shouldn’t.
However, when we are pressured to compromise our faith, God strengthens us to live with integrity.
When was a time you felt pressured to conform to something others around you were doing?
What motivated you to either go with the crowd or choose a different way?
This Week’s Focus
We have all experienced peer pressure at some point or another.
This might be in small ways, like wearing certain clothes or talking a certain way, or in bigger decisions like underage drinking and compromising who you are.
Whether it is peer pressure from friends or just trying to keep up with the culture around you, sometimes it can feel like a pressure cooker.
At times, it can also feel like we have to lay aside our faith to have a seat at the table.
Jesus warned us that the world would hate us for our faith in Him.
Daniel and his friends experienced that as they were subjected to Babylonian rule while trying to remain faithful to their God.
They were an example that when tempted to compromise our faith, God strengthens us to live with integrity.
Central Truth
even when we are tempted to compromise our faith, God helps us live with integrity
CONTEXT | How did Daniel get here?
Daniel and some other promising young people were taken to Babylon as Israel was defeated and then exiled from their land.
The Lord had long warned His people that if they failed to remain faithful to His covenant, this very thing would take place (Lev.
26:33,39; 2 Kings 20; Isa.
39).
In the generations preceding Daniel, God’s people had continued to walk in disobedience, and now they were feeling the effects of God being true to His word.
Taken captive in the king’s court, Daniel and his friends would have their faith tested as King Nebuchadnezzar sought to undermine their identity in Yahweh and their commitment to His covenant.
1.
How do you think it felt for Daniel and his friends to follow God faithfully while serving under a king who didn’t worship their God?
2. Why did Daniel and the others refuse the king’s food?
Daniel 1:8 (ESV)
8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank...
After Babylon conquered Israel, Nebuchadnezzar sent for some of the young Israelites to come serve in his palace.
He would train them up for three years and educate them in Babylonian wisdom.
But things didn’t quite go as Nebuchadnezzar planned.
Daniel and his friends didn’t follow blindly where he told them to go.
While they weren’t hostile, they intentionally refused to obey the king or adopt a Babylonian lifestyle in ways that would dishonor their God.
Having been invited into the service of the king, Daniel and his friends probably felt an understandable tension.
On one hand, they were in a position to gain favor from King Nebuchadnezzar.
After all, the king had recognized their potential, skill, and wisdom.
If they continued to gain his favor, they could have great influence for their people who were under Babylonian oppression.
On the other hand, there was the possibility of becoming so indoctrinated to the ways of Babylon that they strayed from the one true God and His commands to Israel.
They had been deported from their home and then called on to serve the enemy who conquered them.
Undoubtedly, they felt pulled in different directions.
3. How was God protecting Daniel and his friends and showing them favor?
We don’t know all the reasons why they refused the meat and wine.
Perhaps it had been offered to idols or they feared it to be unclean by Jewish standards.
Regardless, Daniel was convicted that it would defile him—either spiritually or physically—to partake.
So, he asked to eat only vegetables and water.
He suggested that if after ten days he and his friends were just as strong as those eating the king’s food, then they could continue in that way (v.
11).
From the start, we see God extending His covenant faithfulness (kindness) to Daniel through the chief eunuch.
He agreed to Daniel’s test, even at great risk to himself.
4. How did Daniel find a way to remain faithful to God? How did he show wisdom with his suggestion?
5. How did God provide for Daniel, even as he was being tested?
Daniel asked the guard for a ten-day trial.
If they could be sustained on their vegetable diet, with no physical impairments, they should be allowed to continue without having to eat the king’s food.
Their guard agreed, and the four young men passed the test.
The fact that Daniel and his friends were stronger and healthier at the end of the ten days isn’t necessarily a biblical endorsement of a vegetarian diet.
It was a reminder that God was providing for His people at every step.
What God provided was better than anything the king had to offer.
We see in Daniel’s approach a certain wisdom and strategy.
He didn’t cause a riot or throw his food out at dinner.
He found a way to be faithful, while also protecting everyone who was at risk.
The chief eunuch had made it clear that his own life was on the line (v.
10), and Daniel didn’t want him to suffer.
He also avoided causing great insult to the king.
He would have lost his favor and position if that had been the case, forfeiting any ability to represent God and speak His truth to the unbelieving king.
While that doesn’t mean his choices would have been easy to make, it does show humility and integrity at every step.
Daniel and his friends were seeking to be obedient, even when they were under pagan rule.
God honored their faithfulness by giving them strength.
Perhaps the young men themselves needed to be reminded and reassured along the way that God would indeed provide all they needed.
We might not find ourselves in this kind of situation, but we too need to be reminded of God’s faithfulness, even in hardship.
We need the reminder that God is always making a way for us, even in the small choices we make in our daily lives.
6.
What are some ways that God enables us to have integrity, like He did Daniel and his friends?
Be Vulnerable
Consider sharing with the group about a time you found it challenging to be faithful.
Did you experience pressure from those around you? From the culture or social media?
How have you seen God provide, even in those difficult circumstances?
Share some examples as a way of encouraging your students.
7. How did God provide for Daniel and his friends as they served under the king?
8. What do these verses tell us about God’s ability to sustain us, no matter the circumstance?
HISTORY | Why would Nebuchadnezzar want to assimilate the young people into Babylonian culture?
The leaders of the Babylonian empire wanted to take a group of young Hebrews and train them up in Babylonian culture and practices.
It was the ultimate power play—to strip the young men of their homeland, identity, and religion and convert them to the ways of Babylon.
Even the new names given to the boys were to honor false gods that were celebrated in Babylon (v. 7).
Over the course of three years, they would become well acquainted with the history, language, and religious practices of this foreign power.
Not only did God protect the young men physically, but He grew them in wisdom and skill so they might be promoted by the king.
He even gave Daniel an understanding of dreams and visions (v.
17).
This would be central to Daniel’s role in the palace.
It is also one of many reminders to come that God’s hand was upon His people, even in the midst of their oppression.
Even while King Nebuchadnezzar was seeking to tame the young Hebrews, God was strengthening them in body and spirit.
After three years in the king’s service, the young men were brought before him once again.
They passed Nebuchadnezzar’s tests with flying colors.
No one compared!
Any time the king called on them for wisdom and insight, they far exceeded all of the “wise people” (magicians, enchanters, etc.) in the kingdom.
Their wisdom was only from God and would ultimately be used in God’s timing.
It couldn’t have been easy to settle into their lives in Babylon.
Even though they were in a palace, their circumstances were, by nature, challenging.
They were far from home, away from their families, and being trained to serve a foreign king.
They likely had to figure out on a daily basis how they would remain faithful.
Yet, Daniel and his companions are examples of what it looks like to be faithful, even in the midst of suffering.
They offer hope, even to believers today who find themselves in circumstances that challenge their faith.
If God was faithful to give Daniel and the others exactly what they needed to be faithful, He can do the same for us.
Central Truth
even when we are tempted to compromise our faith, God helps us live with integrity
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