11-07-22 ENG.

A CRISIS OF WORLDVIEW
 
Proverbs 10:14
Wise men store up knowledge, but with the mouth of the foolish, ruin is at hand.

The prophet Daniel faced a crisis of worldview when he and his three Hebrew friends were carted off to Babylon as teenaged captives (Daniel 1). Israel had departed from God and were then turned over to a secular society named Babylon. The secular society took the young people and reeducated them in the thinking, literature, and culture of Babylon. Their aim was to take the best, brightest, and finest young men from Israel and reorient them in the worldview of Babylon. Essentially, they removed them from any influence of their theistic values and placed them squarely in the midst of Babylonian values. As a result, Daniel suddenly found himself in a secular culture that was a far cry from the God-centered culture he knew in Israel. 

He was immediately dropped into a state-run educational system that did not hold to a God-centered view of the world. The crisis came when Ashpenaz, the chief of the king’s officials, was ordered to give Daniel and some other choice young Hebrew men a royal diet as part of their Babylonian education. Daniel refused to submit to this part of his reeducation because it meant violating his God-centered worldview. The agenda was, very simply, to prepare Daniel and his friends to serve in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. In fact, their names were even changed to Babylonian names that reflected the names of pagan gods (vv. 6–7). Every aspect of Daniel’s education and identity was designed to remind him that he was now serving in Babylon and needed to operate from a Babylonian worldview. There were some things Daniel learned, such as the language and literature of the culture (v. 14). But the rest of the book makes it clear that Daniel never compromised his spiritual principles. 

REFLECTION: How much of this story sounds like issues we face today? How do we know which issues are culturally neutral and which require a stand like Daniel took? Pray and ask God for wisdom to discern—especially in regards to your children. There are multiple worldviews in competition, Lord, in our country today, and I pray that Your worldview—of Your kingdom and Your values—will dominate our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.