Dan 1:1-2 (CSB)—In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. The Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of Babylon,, to the house of his god, and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.
The year is 605 BC, and King Jehoiakim is king of Judah and King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king of the day, is king of Babylon. Jerusalem had been attacked many times in the past by other kings and nations, but this time, the outcome was very different. In the past, God had always intervened and thwarted those attacks, but verse 2 says this time, the Lord handed over Jehoiakim to Nebuchadnezzar.
I’m sure many in Jerusalem were scratching their heads, wondering where God was in all of this. They were God’s people, and He had always protected them. This was probably the most significant crisis God’s people had ever faced.
Not only did Nebuchadnezzar take articles of worship from the temple. Look at verse 3:
Daniel 1:3-5 (CSB)—The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility—young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the Chaldean language and literature. The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to attend the king.
In addition to defiling the articles of worship from the temple, He kidnaps their children for the purpose of turning them into good citizens of Babylon.
This is the same Babylon that, in Gen 11, tried to build the Tower of Babel to oppose God. This was a nation whose history was founded on opposing the God of Israel. Now God had allowed Judah to be conquered by their king.
To say this is a crisis for the people of Jerusalem is an understatement.
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I know we have all found ourselves there from time to time, wondering where God is in the chaos and in the crisis. God, why are you letting this happen? God, I thought you loved me. This doesn’t feel very loving.
In the case of King Jehoiakim of Judah, he had been warned if he didn’t stop worshipping false gods, the very thing that happened would happen. But for many of us, we see bad things happening to good people, and we wonder why.
I don’t have simple answers for that, but what I do know is that, despite our circumstances and what we see around us, God will not leave us on our own to figure out how to move forward. Even in the worst circumstances, we are not orphans. We are still sons and daughters of the God of the universe.
As we worship God, honor Him, and follow Him, despite our circumstances, we will find unexpected blessings, peace, and hope.
This is exactly what we see in the lives of four of the young men who are carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. Not only does God bless them in the midst of their circumstances, but this crisis reveals a character quality they may not have had the chance to demonstrate were it not for their situation.
The character quality is courage; courage that is the result of their faith and trust in God. This is the title of our sermon series for the next six weeks as we examine the first seven chapters of the book of Daniel.
Courage by Faith
The title for today’s sermon is: Courage to Draw Lines
Let’s read about Daniel’s courage to draw lines:
Dan 1:6-8 (CSB)—Among them, from the Judahites, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The chief eunuch gave them names; he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah. Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself.
The king’s plan was to re-program these young men; to get them to think like Babylonians and behave as Babylonians, that way, the best and brightest from Jerusalem would support and serve the King of Babylon. So, they give them new names, begin to “re-educate” them, and instruct them in Babylonian culture. Part of their training was eating the food from the king’s table.
But this is where Daniel draws the line in the sand.
It says, “Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank.”
I like the way the King James translation says it:
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.”
These young men had been forcibly removed from Jerusalem and forcibly enrolled in this re-education program. These were all things they had no say in, but here, in this one thing, Daniel draws his line in the sand, and he purposed in his heart to take a stand, and he says no!
That kind of purposing in the heart doesn’t come as a whim. That kind of courage doesn’t just show up overnight; it doesn’t spring up in the moment of a crisis or difficulty.
Courage chooses its convictions before the crisis.
It may seem like eating from the king’s table should not be such a big deal, but eating food offered as a sacrifice to idols was a very big deal to Jewish people, and these foods most likely were. Dietary laws in the Old Testament were very specific and this food did not meet those dietary laws. The decision not to eat the king’s food was not a dietary one; it was a matter of honoring God.
This moment in time revealed something that had been developing in Daniel over a long time.
He was committed to honoring God. That wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing. So when he is confronted with a situation that may very well cost him his life, instead of backing down and acquiescing, he draws a line.
I wonder how many times he had rehearsed such a response? I wonder how many little decisions in Daniel’s life had led to this moment in time, where, because it was his practice to honor God in his heart, it was not a stretch for him to do it in this moment when the stakes were so high.
Crisis doesn’t create courage, it simply reveals your courage, and public courage is built on everyday, small private decisions.
Did you catch that? Public courage is built on private decisions!
I know we are a long way from Babylon today… or are we?
Things are going on all around us provide abundant opportunities for compromise. There are times when we just want to go with the flow.
A dead fish flows with the current, but it takes a live fish with conviction to swim against the current. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are going to swim against the stream. They have drawn their lines in the sand, and they will not cross them.
But I want you to see how they go about standing their ground.
Dan 1:9-10 (CSB)—God had granted Daniel kindness and compassion from the chief eunuch, yet he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and drink. What if he sees your faces looking thinner than the other young men your age? You would endanger my life with the king.”
Daniel isn’t loud, or rude, or obnoxious when he goes to the chief eunuch. Obviously, Daniel had earned some favor with him. Daniel had been acting in a way that had given him the right to ask such a thing without losing his head, even though the chief eunuch says no because he doesn’t want to lose his head.
Daniel doesn’t jump up and down and scream and demand his human rights. He simply goes to the next guy who can make the decision he is looking for, but look how he goes about it.
Dan 1:11-16 (CSB)—So Daniel said to the guard whom the chief eunuch had assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and deal with your servants based on what you see.” He agreed with them about this and tested them for ten days.
Courage confronts with wisdom, not arrogance.
When Daniel publicly took a stand, he did it with something I call winsome persuasion. He was smart about the way he convinced the guard to consider his request. He didn’t demand, and he wasn’t rude; he used winsome persuasion.
To be winsome means to be pleasing, agreeable, or attractive. Winsome is charming, sweet, kindly, and gracious.
In our culture, where every issue seems to be tied to politics, it is difficult to have civil, winsome conversations. But, if you choose to take a stand on a controversial issue, you should be able to defend that conviction with facts and logic that don’t include insults and slurs against the people who will disagree with you. I’m not saying they aren’t wrong, I’m saying be mindful in how you communicate the facilities in their beliefs. Be winsome.
This is how Daniel drew his line.
No insults, no name-calling, just quiet resolve and results that spoke for themselves.
We see the results of Daniel’s courage starting in verse 17:
Dan 1:17-21 (CSB)—God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind. At the end of the time that the king had said to present them, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they began to attend the king. In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them ten times, better than all the magicians and mediums in his entire kingdom. Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
This is the last thing in chapter one that we see about courage:
Courage trusts God with the outcome.
The most important thing about taking a stand and drawing a line in the sand is trusting God with the outcome. For Daniel, taking a stand to honor God was the right thing to do. But that meant he had to trust God for what came next.
There are three times in this chapter when we are reminded who is in control of all these circumstances.
- In verse 2, it was the Lord who handed King Jehoiakim over to Nebuchadnezzar.
- In verse 9 it was God who granted Daniel kindness and compassion from the chief eunuch.
- In verse 17, it was God who gave these four men knowledge and understanding.
Daniel was not in control of the outcome, and even though he thought he was, Nebuchadnezzar was not in control.
At the end of this process, I’m sure King Nebuchadnezzar thought he had done a great job re-educating these young men, but what the king didn’t know was that God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—was in control. God was in control of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’s relocation, God oversaw their re-education, and God granted them resolve and grace as they took their stand. God took them into Babylon; God was with them in Babylon; and (as we’ll see) God would use them in Babylon.
Courage through obedience is our responsibility; the results are God’s.
This is a good reminder for us to exercise courage and draw lines in the sand that we will not cross, trusting God for the results, whatever they might be.
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Church, every generation has its Babylon, and every follower of Jesus eventually faces a moment when silence feels safer than obedience.
Daniel didn’t wait for the pressure to ease. He didn’t wait for permission. He resolved in his heart and drew the line.
So here’s the question we cannot avoid:
Where is God calling you to draw a line in the sand?
Not tomorrow. Not when it’s easier. Today.
- For some, it’s a line of integrity at work—no more cutting corners.
- For others, it’s a line of purity—ending a compromise you’ve justified for too long.
- For some, it’s a line of faith—finally saying yes to God even if it costs you comfort or approval.
- For families, it may be a line around what shapes your home and your kids.
Let’s be honest—courage will cost you something. But I believe, with all my heart, that compromise will cost you far more.
You may not know how others will respond and you may not know what the outcome will be, but you can know this:
God will not leave you on your own because you are no orphan, you are a son or daughter of God.
I’m not saying you should be louder, angrier, or better than anyone else—but to be courageous because you trust God.
Here are some final questions to ask yourself:
- Has God been putting His finger on an area of your life where you need to say no?
- Is there a line you’ve been drifting past?
- Are you ready to stop going with the flow and start standing firm?
Settle it in your heart today. Resolve it now. Draw the line and then trust God with the outcome.
Chris Hankel 
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