The Favor of Self-Control (Part 1)

3/3/2022

Daniel stared down at the plate of meats in front of him, its steam wafting enticingly. His mouth began to salivate, and his stomach tightened uncontrollably. Looking up, Daniel stared around him at the other young nobility, conflicting thoughts racing through his head. Surveying the room, he saw each of them reaching hungrily for the plentiful varieties of cheeses, meats, fruits and wine.
The richest of the king’s food, from the king’s own table, would now be provided for each of the captives. Royal heirs of each of their distinct yet conquered lands, they had been hand-selected to serve the great King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the ruling emperor of the farthest reaches of the known world.
They had just begun their three-year training period, where they would be trained in all wisdom, magic arts, and languages. Only those eminently qualified to learn, those without any physical or mental defect, would be qualified to serve the king personally.
Daniel’s eyes stopped as he caught the agonized stares of his relatives, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. They too, he thought, must be wondering the same thing he was. In a land far from home, with false worship, false gods, and cultures that could not conform to all-encompassing worship of Hashem, the one true God, they had each been given new and idolatrous names to reflect what was decided by others to be their new allegiance to Babylon. His own, Belteshazzar, was meant to change his identity from “God is my judge” to “Bel will protect him.”
Daniel looked down again, pondering the effect of his next choice. They had so very little control. Their time, their food, their career training—it was all decided for them. Even the possibility of spousal relationships had been removed from their control. The control over their lives extended to worship, clothing, and even their very lives. There wasn’t a choice left for them to make, it would seem.
It was understood that they were to forget their homelands, gods, cultures and families, and become one with the diversity of the melting pot of the world. Eating from the king’s table, consuming the meat sacrificed to the idols of Babylon, would, in effect, be their own, individual entering the rituals of the pagan rites and becoming one with them through that worship.
In a moment, Daniel knew what he must do.
He was Daniel: a worshiper of YHWH, a son of Abraham. It was a value and identity worth more than any life he could have in Babylon. He resolved that he would never defile himself with the idols of the nations. Praying quickly for Hashem’s protection and wisdom, Daniel got up and approached the head of the eunuchs.
Smiling at Daniel’s approach, Ashpenaz greeted Daniel warmly, “Belteshazzar! How can I be of service to you?”
“Ashpenaz, I appreciate all that you do for us! We wish to serve you and King Nebuchadnezzar with the best of our abilities, according to what Hashem, God Most High, has given to us. But as followers of Hashem, we will not have His blessing or wisdom in order to bless the King if we participate in the sacrifice to other gods. King Nebuchadnezzar will only benefit from Hashem’s wisdom through us in his court if we keep ourselves from other sacrificial worship according to Hashem’s law.”
As Daniel spoke, he watched Ashpenaz’ face. The smile faded, and anxious creases formed above his eyes. As Ashpenaz absorbed the information, a look of panic swept over him as he realized both the enormity and impossibility of this situation. For the king must have the wisdom of all the gods! But if Belteshazzar and the others refused to eat from the king’s table and grew weak, he, Ashpenaz, would be blamed. His punishment would be unmerciful and unnegotiable. He would be killed for dereliction of duty.
His face ashen, Ashpenaz turned pleading eyes to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you!”
Daniel’s face softened with compassion. This man, as much as he seemed to control every aspect of Daniel’s life, was himself a pawn in a much broader and destructive game. He himself was controlled, not by his own choices, but of that of another.
Surely Hashem would not value ceremonial laws above one of His own created people! There must be a way to walk in obedient worship while still caring for others.
An idea came to Daniel. “Ashpenaz, Hashem values you and your life and family as well as the king and our people. He will make a way to bless all of us through our worship of Him. Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but plant food to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”
A look of relief spread over Ashpenaz’ features. Smiling again, his eyes gratefully acknowledging the wisdom and care Daniel had shown, he nodded vigorously and agreed to the arrangement.

Excerpt Fictionalized from Daniel 1

ἐγκράτεια
egkráteia --en, "in the sphere of" and krátos, "dominion, mastery") – properly, dominion within. "Self-control" – proceeding out from within oneself, but not by oneself. True mastery from within. 1

Love Resolves in Self-Control

As we conclude our series on Galatians 3:22-23, self-control is perhaps, more than any other fruit of the Spirit, the quality I find most difficult to practice. In my mind, it often seems unachievable, illusive, and unquantifiable.
Studying the book of Daniel, I found myself really drawn to the principles that the Holy Spirit began to uncover. For me, I think sometimes my struggle with self-control may be in jumping straight to a resolution but neglecting the first two principles that Daniel displays in this passage: remembering and recognizing.
Remember. One of the fundamental elements of battle over control over our hearts and lives is this issue of identity--who we are. It is the key to unlocking our God-given heritage and freedom in Christ (Rom. 6). Daniel was given wisdom by God to understand the nature of using this key to exercise self-control in his choices, but from the very beginning of time, the enemy has called our identities into question.
In the garden, the battle over self-control was one of identity—Eve had already been created to be the “mother of all the living--” (Gen. 3:20) in God’s own image, in His likeness, as His own daughter (Gen. 1:27). She had been created to reign and have dominion over all of God’s kingdom as nobility (Gen. 1:28).
As such, Eve had been given everything she needed for “life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3, Gen. 1:29). Every single fruit-bearing tree was just as desirable and good as was the one tree that could harm her (Gen. 2:9).
From the beginning of our creation, we find the elements of our God-given identity and what He has lovingly provided for us in Christ Jesus. We were created to:

Be loved (1 John 1:1-4, 3:1)
Be known by God (Gen. 3:8, 2:22)
Know God (Gen. 3:8)
Resemble God in our spirits (Gen. 1:27)
Reign as kings and queens over God’s creatures (Gen. 1:28
Be blessed (Gen. 1:28)
Multiply (Gen. 1:28)
Have everything good for our needs (Gen. 1:29, 2:9, 2:18)
Be very good in Him (Gen. 1:31)
Be complete in Him (Gen. 1:31, Gen. 2:1-2)
Be favored (1 John 3:21-22, 5:14-15)

It was this identity that the enemy attacked while claiming that Eve was incomplete, insufficient, improperly provided for and unlike God. It was only when her identity and God’s care as being sufficient was put into question that she coveted the wrong tree.
In contrast to Eve, the first thing that Daniel did in his love for God was to remember his identity in God. Though his enemies had tried to remove his identity and to give him a new name, new culture, new worship and new loyalty, Daniel remembered who he was. Daniel remembered who God had made him to be. When Daniel chose to retain his Hebrew name, Daniel, or “God is my judge,” 5 he chose faith in God as his king and rewarder above all earthly monarchs.
Unlike Eve, when Daniel chose to revert to plant-based foods I believe he was returning to the idea of complete dependence upon and provision by God for all his needs. It was a lifestyle statement that there was nothing lacking in what God had provided. He had no need for anything more that could be offered, because his relationship with God completed him in his identity and satisfied him fully.
This characteristic of satisfaction in God alone reverberated through his entire life and character and permeated his choices in other areas as well. As we see throughout his story in the book of Daniel, he had no personal craving for ambition or power. When offered, he declined the prestige, wealth, authority and honor (Dan. 5:17) when it was not in the service of love.

Recognize. There were many things in Daniel’s life that he could not control. Scholars surmise that it is possible or even likely that he was physically made into a eunuch. 6 Regardless, since there is no record of his being married, we may at least conclude that he was a eunuch in some capacity, even if it was through a commitment to a single life of celibacy.
At this juncture in Daniel 1, Daniel had no control over his time, his education, his food, clothing, or even life itself (demonstrated through the dangerous encounters he had, see Dan. 3, 6). A virtual slave, though an elevated one in the king’s palace, he may easily have felt that self-control was simply not an option for him.
Instead, Daniel evaluated what he could control: Firstly, how he self-identified: throughout the book of Daniel, we always see Daniel self-identifying with the name and identity he had been given by God; his responses; his attitudes; his respectful appeals to authority; his worship; and especially the way he treated others in love (Gal. 5:22-23). None of these were without risk, but they were under his own control.
Regardless of what we do NOT control, there are always areas we do control. The distinction of Spirit-led self-control in those areas lies in whether we are controlled by sin (Gen. 4:7, Rom. 6:12-16) or choose to follow the Spirit’s leading. You see, sin will master and control us if we allow it (Gen. 4:7), but the Spirit will never force us. The Spirit of God is gentle and constraining (2 Cor. 5:14), but since the beginning of Creation He has never been forceful (Gen. 2:9, Deut. 30:19).
Sometimes the things we think are “self-control” are not as important as the things we don’t realize are included in “self-control.” We typically think of self-control as diet and exercise. Sometimes we may extend our thoughts to holding our temper when someone makes us angry, or even not purchasing that new blouse that we would like but know is not in the budget. But self-control really starts with much smaller things.
Perhaps income is not under our control to earn, but how we spend what comes in is. Maybe our health is suffering, and we must spend more time resting than we would like—but our brain is still active. We can’t always choose who we live with, but how we respond to them is our choice. Perhaps life is full of suffering on many fronts, but we can still choose to praise and obey God.
All day, every day, we have the opportunity to exercise this gift in order to grow in it. If we intentionally discern-- with the help of the Holy Spirit-- those areas in which God wants us to choose to exercise obedience, He will guide and empower us to grow in those areas!

Resolve. In Daniel’s story we find him making a very inspiring resolution: “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine” (Dan. 1:8a). I don’t know about you, but for me the daily details and decisions to exercise self-control can be overwhelming at times. In fact, when I measure my conduct and success without the grace of God added in, I always come up short.
My father-in-law has a great yearly tradition of setting goals: his “new year’s resolutions.” Without fail, he asks me what mine are. I smile. I am a planner, but my goals are lofty and unattainable if they are measurable at all. When I try to set measurable goals with due dates, I find myself consistently “failing” and wanting to give up. It has made me shy away from those kinds of yearly resolutions for fear of failure.
When I was looking into the Hebrew verb for resolve, however, I was excited to discover something that I felt brought Daniel’s actions into a proper perspective. In the Hebrew, the word for “resolve” that is used is in a Hebrew grammatical imperfect aspect, 2, 3, 4 meaning that Daniel’s resolution was continuously in the process of being acted upon, and was never a finished process. Though Daniel’s decision to remain faithful only to his God was certainly made or begun at specific point in time, it was also a continuous decision that he would have needed to readdress time and again throughout the course of his time in Babylon.
For us, this is good news! Self-control isn’t a one-time proposition that ends in failure every time we neglect to follow through. Rather, it is a lifestyle of behavior emanating from a continuous decision to keep going back to that core belief.
Because the love of Jesus permeates us as we walk in the Spirit, the lifestyle of choices that we put into practice will increasingly reflect the love of God toward others and even toward ourselves. As we practice these choices, we grow stronger and more discerning about how to use this Spiritual gift in our daily decisions. The love of Christ becomes the controlling factor underlying our thoughts, attitudes and desires, and spills out continuously in loving choices toward ourselves and others:

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Cor. 5:14-15

As we remember our identity in Christ, recognize what we have been given to control and resolve continuously to walk in a lifestyle of love (Part 2, coming soon!) and obedience, the favor of God will rest on our lives (Part 3, coming soon!), and our relationship with Him will grow! I’m excited to see how God will change my habits and lifestyle as I put these principles into practice. I would love to hear how the Spirit is giving you grace to walk out self-control in your lives!

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