A Buffet-table or Vege-table?

It’s a wrap for the week  and I hope everyone has had a fantastic working week so far. The Message Bible version in Psalm 19: 2 says God's glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening. Nature teaches us the glory of God, everything we see around us shows us the mightiness of this God. We are to live with a quest of knowing Him the more. The works of His hands are always revealing His greatness to us .

So today, I will like to share an inspiration I got yesterday as I read through Daniel chapter one. It happened that the King of Babylon had plundered Jerusalem and taken captives young men with the aim of training them to become magicians and fortune tellers in the palace. Daniel and His friends were part of the slaves and they had just been handed the opportunity of enjoying “the life of their head” with the assortments the palace was willing to offer them which included a Royal diet, Assorted meals, Choice drinks, etc. The interesting thing was that their menu was going to be the same as the King Nebuchadnezzar's who was unarguably the wealthiest and greatest king of his time. He was a man of affluence and he must have had a great taste for food as well. This was the opportunity for Daniel to have a swell time and most fulfilling time of his life.He probably had never been to the palace before, he was just a slave from one remote part of Jerusalem, unknown to many.

I am certain a lot of us have been a part of an exotic buffet before. Oh my, it is usually a display of all sorts of glamorous delicacies and you had better not attend one of those functions when you are fasting. It requires discipline of the highest order not to overeat or taste almost everything on display. On a daily basis, morning, noon and night, Daniel and his three friends were being “tempted” by the buffet table, day in day out but let's look at what Daniel did.

Daniel 1: ( Message Bible Version)-10 But Daniel determined that he would not defile himself by eating the king's food or drinking his wine, so he asked the head of the palace staff to exempt him from the royal diet. The head of the palace staff, by God's grace, liked Daniel, but he warned him, "I'm afraid of what my master the king will do. He is the one who assigned this diet and if he sees that you are not as healthy as the rest, he'll have my head!"

11-13- But Daniel appealed to a steward who had been assigned by the head of the palace staff to be in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: "Try us out for ten days on a simple diet of vegetables and water. Then compare us with the young men who eat from the royal menu. Make your decision on the basis of what you see."

14-16 The steward agreed to do it and fed them vegetables and water for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked better and more robust than all the others who had been eating from the royal menu. So the steward continued to exempt them from the royal menu of food and drink and served them only vegetables.

Vegetables and water only?...... Wow! Vegetables made Daniel and His friends fatter than their contemporaries. What! And they looked far better than the other men who had been feeding on the royal menu. In those days, I want to imagine the kind of vegetables they ate. Might have been the contemporary vegetables like carrots, corn, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes and cucumbers or it might have been our own fluted pumpkin known as ugu, the green okra known as okro or the other leafy greens like tete or shoko as we have them in the western part of my country.…..Whatever it was, they decided not to eat the food that will ordinarily make them look good, they chose to stick with the basic items because they counted on the God factor. So on my way home yesterday, I stopped at the local market and decided to buy some vegetables. I just wanted to visualize again what the raw vegetables look like and I took the picture of the woman who sold to me in the process. 

The secret to their looking good was not in what they consumed but in Him whom they believed. Our God is beautiful and He majors in beautifying His own. Isaiah 27: 2-5 says "At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear. There's something to sing about! I, God, tend it. I keep it well-watered. I keep careful watch over it so that no one can damage it. I'm not angry. I care. Even if it gives me thistles and thorn bushes, I'll just pull them out and burn them up. Let that vine cling to me for safety, let it find a good and whole life with me, let it hold on for a good and whole life. God is the one who is able to nourish us and make us look good. There is something called the beauty of the Lord. He is able to enhance our lives in and out in spite of where we live or what we do. Psalm 90: 17 says “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” Whilst food and the necessary beauty regiment have their part to play in making a person beautiful, the secret is that true beauty comes from God. Don’t forget the story of Moses when He went into God’s presence and the bible recorded that when he came out his face so shined that the Israelites could not look at him; He had been with God.

Another interesting story to corroborate the fact that true beauty comes from God is the life of Esther. Her case was similar with that of Daniel as she had been taken into slavery with her uncle during the times of Nebuchadnezzar just like Daniel and she was being considered amongst many ladies for the position of the Queen. When it was her turn to go in to meet with the king, she took only what the person in charge gave her. She probably knew that all she needed was the hand of God upon her life and of course, she got the position, by Favour. Esther 2: 15 When it was Esther's turn to go to the king (Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter), she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the harem, had recommended. Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her.

Isn't it amazing that God is interested in our looks and truly there is a divine nourishment and enrichment that can differentiate us from others? I used to have a bad acne condition few years ago and there was no product I didn't try out all to no avail. I prayed about it at some point and today, I can’t even remember the details of the grueling days of shame because of pimples I had all over my face. Friend, God is interested in the nitty-gritty of our lives and out of His bounty, we can be made whole and get healing for anything ravaging our appearance. I remember this minute the story of Naaman in the bible. Naaman was a rich, influential man but he was leprous. He was referred to Elisha who instructed him on what to do and the bible recorded that his body became like that of a little child…. His skin was healed; it was like the skin of a little baby. He was as good as new (2^nd King 5:14 b). Have you ever wondered why babies look so beautiful when they are newly born with amazing soft and beautiful skin with no specks and spots most times ? It is because that is the order in Heaven. With God, excellence, exquisiteness, fineness and daintiness is what you get. It shows me that heaven will be a place of beautiful people.

 When God created everything; He saw that they were beautiful! This is an encouragement for anyone having a problem with his/her appearance. Daniel looked robust and fairer than others as a result of consumption of vegetables only. It was actually a combination of vegetable and the hand of God, the beauty of God. When you are connected to God and you are conscious of His presence with you, you will see a difference no doubt! Moses was said to be beautiful at birth, David had a beautiful countenance. Joseph was said to be handsome, Sarah was beautiful even in old age. Saul the king was a handsome man. God made use of beautiful people just like He is interested in you too.

On a final note, the most important lesson we should learn from Daniel and Esther’s stories is that godliness with contentment is great gain. When you are content with what you have, God makes you different and above all, He makes more room for you. In Daniel was found an excellent spirit, He was knowledgeable than all the magicians and enchanters in the whole of Babylon. There was a buffet table, but God was in the vegetables he chose. Whatever we do, wherever we are, no matter how obscure it may be, when God is there, we will always be shoulders and head high above others. You are beautiful just as you are because you are the child of a beautiful God!

Have a faaaaabulous weekend friends. You will start to shine exceptionally from today in Jesus name!

I leave you with this song by Sinach….

You make my life so beautiful
As you are you have made me on earth
There’s nothing greater than this 
That is why I will love you evermore

Chorus 
I want more of you 
I want more of you Jesus 
Cause the more I know you 
The more I want to know you
Jesus More of you

© 2006 Osinachi Kalu Okoro

  

The Pen………