Daniel was a man who could have easily stopped trusting the Lord. He was captured from his home people, and might have even prayed to the Lord for protection. He was a talented and attractive young man who was being groomed to be a lead official in the most powerful country at that time. Few Jews back home and even fewer here were truly diligent about seeking the Lord. The Babylonians had no respect for God. Daniel could have easily allowed himself to slip into the Babylonian ways without more than a few passing thoughts about God.

Daniel refused to do this. Instead he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. He made a decision that no matter what happened, he was going to follow God. This dedication served him well throughout his entire career, and was what helped him through this test. Daniel was not going to eat the King’s food because it would defile him. His first move was to go and ask the administrator to feed them something else. The adminstrator said no, knowing that to do so was would be to risk his own life. Daniel could have shrugged his shoulders and said, “Oh well, I tried.” Instead he kept pushing until he found the way of escape that the Lord provided.

As Christians we need to follow Daniel’s example. Satan is going to attack us from every angle, pushing us to fall. We can be our own worst enemy, desiring things that we know are not God’s will for us. When we face battles, we need to decide once and for all that we will not defile ourselves. We need to be willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to do it. If our first attempts are rebuffed, we keep trying like Daniel did. But the battle starts in our hearts and in our minds first. If we do not dedicate those to victory, we are setting ourselves up for failure.