Bobby and Sarah had gone over to Uncle Jeff’s to get some oranges off his tree. They were really big golden ones, and very sweet. So they filled their plastic bag up and then wandered inside where Uncle Jeff was reading his Bible.

“What are you reading about, Uncle Jeff?” Bobby wanted to know.

“Well, actually I was reading the story about Daniel and his three friends,” Uncle Jeff replied.

“Oh, I know that story,” said Bobby, “Daniel got thrown into the lions’ den, and they didn’t eat him!”

“Well, there’s a lot more to the story of Daniel than that,” Uncle Jeff said, “What do you know about him Sarah?” he asked.

“I know there are a couple more stories, but I’m not sure how they go,” she said, “Didn’t he have some friends with him in some of them?”

“Well, let’s start at the beginning,” said Uncle Jeff, “Daniel and his three friends (as well as a lot of other people) were all taken off to a far away country to the big city of Babylon by the conquering king, Nebuchadnezzar. These boys were all part of the royal family of Judah, and when the king was taken hostage, they were too. Have you any idea why God allowed this to happen?”

“I guess it was because the people had left God out of their lives”, Sarah said.

“That’s right,” said Uncle Jeff, “But there were still some who did believe in God as we shall see from Daniel’s story”.

“They must have often wondered why this was happening to them then,” Sarah said thoughtfully.

“It must have seemed funny to go to a strange land where they couldn’t understand the language,” Bobby said, entering into the story.

“They were smart boys,” said Uncle Jeff, “and it didn’t take them long to pick it up. In fact, the king decided he wanted a bunch of these boys from the captive royal family to be part of his court. But first of all they had to learn how to behave themselves  in his court, and also learn a whole heap of other things like astrology, and science and things like that.

The other things they noticed strange were the statues of different idols all around the place. They could see the food that was placed in front of these statues, and asked what happened to it seeing the idols couldn’t eat. The other ones in their class laughed and said that it was probably what they were given themselves later!

Daniel was horrified, and went to the man in charge and asked if they could be given just vegetables to eat and water to drink instead of this other fancy food that had been offered to the idols first.”

“What did the man say?” asked Bobby.

“Didn’t he say he would get into big trouble if they didn’t look as fit and healthy as the others in the class?” asked Sarah.

“That’s right”, said Uncle Jeff.

“What happened next?” asked Bobby.

“The man agreed to do it for ten days and then give them a check over. And you know what? At the end of the ten days they were more alert and fitter than all the others who had been drinking the king’s wine and eating the fancy food all that time!”

“Wow!” said Bobby.

“Yes,” said Uncle Jeff, “And the point for us today is that Daniel had made up his mind that he was going to follow God’s ways no matter what! Daniel was still only a teenager when all this happened you know, so it just shows that it doesn’t matter how young we are, we are still able to decide what we will do that honours God.”

“They were honouring God.” Sarah said slowly and thoughtfully, “ and then God honoured them later didn’t He Uncle Jeff?”

“That’s right Sarah,” said Uncle Jeff, “When they were taken for their test before the king, he found they were smarter and better trained than any of the others in their class, so he promoted them and gave them top places in his court. It didn’t seem to matter what the king asked them, they knew the right answers.

But I think that’s enough for now, we’ll have another story about Daniel next time! Let’s go and put the kettle on and have a drink!”