June 3, 2002, Joyce Cutting, Prestatyn, UK

A good reason to eat your greens

If you have been attending 'Explorers on Sunday' recently, you will know that we have been telling you stories from the Old Testament book of Daniel. We told you how the Israelites had been disobedient to God so that He allowed King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army to conquer them and take them into captivity. This happened in 605bc. (That is 600 years before Jesus was born, and 2542 years before my birthday) One of King Nebuchadnezzar's bright ideas was to take some of the clever young princes of Israel and to have them trained to serve him in his palace, as advisers and administrator's (that's a long word, so if you don't understand it, ask your family). Four of these young men were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The first thing that happened was that they were given Babylonian names, which were: Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar. Hananiah was renamed Shadrach. Mishael was renamed Meshach. Azariah was renamed Abednego. Next, they were told that they were to eat all the 'goodies' from the Kings' table, very rich food and wine (Yum, Yum). They were also to be trained in Astronomy (the study of the heavens), literature, history and the 'sciences'. But Daniel and his friends were true followers of God and knew that this royal food would be wrong because some of this food was forbidden by God, so Daniel spoke to the Chief Official and asked him if they could have just vegetables to eat and water to drink. Well! This put the official in a quandary, because if these young men looked worse than the Babylonian young men the king would be very angry and he knew what that meant (Chop!). Daniel persuaded him to give it a ten day trial period to see what happened, and would you believe it, after the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the other young men, so that , to their horror they too were put on vegetables and water. Not only were they looking better but they also outshone the other young men in their studies and were gifted in learning the Chaldean language (a special Babylonian language) and the other subjects. When the King sent for them to test them, to see if they had learned well. He found that they were so outstanding (the Bible says "ten times better") that he took them into his service immediately. This is another example of how God takes care of those who love Him and trust Him.