“But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.”
Daniel 1:8
Since telling people that I am moving soon to California, people have been really excited for me and I’m very thankful for all the support. However, almost every person adds the fact with a grin on their face that I am fortunate to be in California, the sunshine state.
I can only smile politely, but in my heart, there’s a war waging inside.
It is the war of fighting not to love the things of the world. I have never been to California, but I am constantly told how great the weather is all year around, how cool the people are, how good the food is, etc…
I am reading Daniel these days and soon as I read this passage, it reminded me of my own journey to California. Now granted, Daniel did’t choose to go into exile with the Babylonians, but despite his location, he had resolved to maintain a life of consecration before the Lord.
It said here that “he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.” Notice that there is nothing wrong with the king’s food, or with the king’s wine. But it was Daniel’s attitude of maintaining a lifestyle of prayer and fasting and living consecrated before the Lord that drove him to that resolution.
And so I am confronted the the food from the king’s table of California.
They are excellent and delicate, but I am convicted today to make a decision to live a life of radical holiness and consecration to the Lord. To not look or act like I’m from California, but to look and act like I am a citizen of the kingdom of God. To not love or speak longingly for the things of California, but to love and to speak and long for heavenly things.
I want to be as Daniel, in going to a foreign place, maintaining a life of fasting and prayer before the Lord, and like Daniel, to be used by the Lord for great and mighty things. Not that that lifestyle earns anything from the Lord, but it positions me to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
So Lord, deliver me from the love of California, and direct my heart to the love of God!
