Last Sabbath we continued our spring revival series, Boot Camp for the Last Days, with a look at the connection between spirituality and health. Rewind to Daniel 1:1-6. Here we see that Nebuchadnezzar’s strategic plan was to take the best and the brightest of Israel and make them into something they were not.
The conversion process, or “basic training,” was to last three years (vs. 5), with these objectives: 1) change the thinking of these Jews by giving them a Babylonian education; 2) change their loyalty by changing their names; 3) change their lifestyle by altering their diet. “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way” (Daniel 1:8).
Daniel knew he was a sacred vessel and would not allow himself to be defiled. And though he and his friends were being forced to go to Nebuchadnezzar’s boot camp now, they had been to Yahweh’s boot camp first. The purpose of Nebuchadnezzar’s boot camp was to get God’s people into Babylon. The purpose of God’s boot camp is to get His people out of Babylon.
Because we, like Daniel, live in hostile territory, we are to take care of our body temple in such a way that God’s Spirit, not the spirit of Babylon, can reign there. Daniel practiced “Defensive Dining,” (see Dan. 1:12-14) and left us an example of how to relate to appetite in hostile territory. Defensive Dining Principle #1: Don’t just eat everything that’s put in front of you” (Prov. 23:1-3).
Food is essential for survival, but if appetite controls you, where is God?” The first sin recorded in Scripture deals with appetite—the emotional desire to please oneself and to elevate oneself. Food is essential but it is not to take the place of God in our lives.
Daniel and his friends also refrained from wine and strong drink. Rewind to Prov. 20:1; 23:29-32. Why do we abstain from alcohol and strong drink? Because we’re in boot camp for the last days! We’re in hostile territory and we need our wits about us to be able to discern truth from error. Because when the mind is fuzzy, everything looks right, sounds right, feels right. And with the clock ticking down, Satan is putting on a full-court press to do everything possible to hijack our frontal lobes so we can’t see past the plate or the bottle to the battle that’s raging all around us!
Defensive Dining Principle #2: Know whose boot camp you’re in.
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple [Sacred vessels] and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple” (1 Cor. 3:16). If what we consume makes us sick and tired, we’ll be too weak to pray, and be confused as to whose camp we belong to.
“Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer and the searching of the Scriptures, will be overcome by his attacks. Therefore he invents every possible device to engross the mind” (GC, 519). Not so with Daniel. [See Dan. 1:15-20.]
God appointed Daniel to be the interpreter of dreams and visions to help a pagan king understand the truth about the future and the sovereignty of God. Like Daniel, we have been entrusted with prophetic understanding for these times—called to interpret the apocalyptic dreams and visions of Scripture to help an increasingly pagan society know the truth about the future and God’s plan for their lives. But if our minds are confused, will we be able to shine the light for others to find their way, or will we be in the dark with them?
How to practice defensive dining:
- Resolve to obey God. Merely wanting or preferring God’s will and way is not enough to stand against temptation. Like Daniel, we must resolve to obey God.
- Decide ahead of time to choose God. Daniel and his friends had already made up their minds to be faithful long before they were faced with the Babylonian diet. You’ve got to know where you draw the line before the line is staring you in the face.
- Stand up for God. (Even in “little” things) (Dan 1:9) How we respond to the big pressures to come depend on how we deal with the little pressures today.
I challenge you to feast on the Bread of Life, and not wash it down with the wine of Babylon. And do it all for the glory of God (see 1 Cor. 10:31). –Pastor Randy
