Veggies or Rich Food (What Would You Eat?)

Daniel 1:11 - 14

¹¹ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ¹²“Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” ¹⁴ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.


I despise tests and being tested for anything.  I get nervous, think terribly of myself, and usually second guess everything I do.  I admire Daniel for his confidence.  He knows that the food from the table of King Nebuchadnezzar is not in his best interest and goes against all he has learned.  So he challenges the chief official over him and his acquaintances to a test.  He asks that they be allowed to eat nothing but veggies and water and compare them with the other young men that eat the royal food.  


Now, I like veggies, especially vegetable soups, fresh vegetables from my garden and salsas.  But ten days of nothing but vegetables?  Maybe there is something to that.  I could make this all about how there are too many preservatives in our food and how a lot of us doesn't make anything from scratch anymore, but that is not what this is about.  This is about Daniel showing that his upbringing and faith in God has been instilled in him to the point that he feels it is important to keep.  How many of us would have caved and started to feed from the king's table?  How many of us would have accepted what was happening and went with the flow and not made a stand?  I hope none, but put in that situation, I'm not so sure what I would have done.    I pray that I stay strong in the Lord and always keep his commandments, especially when I am tested.