A GENERATION SET APART FOR GOD

written by Thai Lam

“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it… Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time, they were to stand before the king”
–Daniel 1:1,3-5 ESV

In the days of Nebuchadnezzar and Israel’s exile to Babylon, four Jewish teenagers, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, are brought into Nebuchadnezzar’s school of leadership to be trained in the language and pagan literature of Babylon. Part of the training was a daily regimen of the king’s choice foods. What was Nebuchadnezzar’s objective in taking a handful of young leaders from a slave nation and giving them a full-ride scholarship to Babylon’s “Ivy League” university—including room and board in the king’s palace and dining hall? I think Nebuchadnezzar desired to cultivate an appetite in these future leaders for Babylonian comforts and pleasures, to erode their resolve to preserve Jewish heritage and their zeal to be set apart according to Jewish law, and to dull their resistance through imbibing the spirit and culture of Babylon.

“Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself”
–Daniel 1:6-8 ESV

With their admission to the University of Babylon, these four Jewish teenagers were also given Babylonian names: Daniel, whose name means “God is my judge,” is renamed Belteshazzar, meaning “Lady, protect the King”; Hananiah (“Yahweh has been gracious”) is renamed Shadrach (“I am fear of god”); Mishael (“Who is what God is?”) is renamed Meshach (“I am despised, contemptible, humiliated”); and Azariah (“Yahweh has helped”) is renamed Abednego (“Servant of Nebo”). Nebuchadnezzar wanted to redefine their identity.

Like Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, Satan, in the modern context of our secular and humanistic universities, desires to dull our zeal for holiness and wholeheartedness to Jesus and to erode our resistance to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. The same holy prescription applies to college students and young adults today as it did for Daniel and his comrades in the days of Babylon: these young leaders gave themselves to a consecrated lifestyle of fasting and prayer.

“At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom”
–Daniel 1:15-20 ESV

They voluntarily chose to forego the pleasures of the king’s fine dining and embraced a prayerful lifestyle of fasting on vegetables for the three years they were at the University of Babylon. In learning to refuse the legitimate pleasures of food, favor, and comfort, they grew in grace and strength to refuse the illegitimate pleasures of compromise, pleasing man, and selfish ambition. By allowing the Lord to operate on the appetites of their bellies through a lifestyle of fasting and prayer, God set them apart and gave them “learning and skill in all literature and wisdom” TEN times better than their peers, and they became leaders in Babylon with understanding from heaven that shifted history.

May the Lord do it again in our day! Let’s pray for this next generation to be a generation set apart for God!

1. Pray that God would set apart youth like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from an early age with a hunger and zeal for God, with their identities rooted in Christ, who would be fully surrendered to His purposes in their generation.
2. Pray for God to raise up young leaders who would set their hearts to grow in love and intimacy with God, in a lifestyle of fasting and prayer, and in wisdom and understanding of God’s ways.
3. Pray for revival amongst teens, college students, young adults, and prodigals who grew up in the Church, and for spiritual awakening amongst the lost, the broken, and the hurting who have yet to encounter Jesus.

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO END HERE!