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Daniel’s Life Illustrates Sanctification, March 13
So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten
days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.”
Daniel 1:11, 12
, N.K.J.V.
Daniel might have found a plausible excuse to depart from his strictly temper-
ate habits; but the approval of God was dearer to him than the favor of the most
powerful earthly potentate—dearer even than life itself....
Daniel requested that the matter be decided by a ten days’ trial—the Hebrew
youth during this brief period being permitted to eat of simple food, while their
companions partook of the king’s dainties.... The Lord regarded with approval the
firmness and self-denial of the Hebrew youth, and His blessing attended them....
The life of Daniel is an inspired illustration of what constitutes a sanctified
character. It presents a lesson for all, and especially for the young. A strict com-
pliance with the requirements of God is beneficial to the health of body and mind.
In order to reach the highest standard of moral and intellectual attainments, it is
necessary to seek wisdom and strength from God and to observe strict temperance
in all the habits of life.
In the experience of Daniel and his companions we have an instance of the
triumph of principle over temptation to indulge the appetite. It shows us that
through religious principle young men may triumph over the lusts of the flesh and
remain true to God’s requirements, even though it cost them a great sacrifice.
What if Daniel and his companions had made a compromise with those hea-
then officers and had yielded to the pressure of the occasion by eating and drinking
as was customary with the Babylonians? That single instance of departure from
principle would have weakened their sense of right and their abhorrence of wrong.
Indulgence of appetite would have involved the sacrifice of physical vigor, clear-
ness of intellect, and spiritual power. One wrong step would probably have led to
others, until, their connection with Heaven being severed, they would have been
swept away by temptation.
God has said, “Them that honour me I will honour” (
1 Samuel 2:30
). While
Daniel clung to his God with unwavering trust, the Spirit of prophetic power came
upon him. While he was instructed of man in the duties of court life, he was taught
of God to read the mysteries of future ages and to present to coming generations,
through figures and similitudes, the wonderful things that would come to pass in
the last days.—
The Sanctified Life, 21-24
.
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