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Counsels on Diet and Foods
[
The Strength of Temptation to Indulge Appetite Measured by
Anguish of Christ During His Fast—298
]
Daniel’s Example in Overcoming
241. Temptations to the indulgence of appetite possess a power
which can be overcome only by the help that God can impart. But with
every temptation we have the promise of God that there shall be a way
of escape. Why, then, are so many overcome? It is because they do
not put their trust in God. They do not avail themselves of the means
provided for their safety. The excuses offered for the gratification of
perverted appetite, are therefore of no weight with God.
Daniel valued his human capabilities, but he did not trust in them.
His trust was in that strength which God has promised to all who will
come to Him in humble dependence, relying wholly upon His power.
He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the
portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank; for he
knew that such a diet would not strengthen his physical powers or
increase his mental capability. He would not use wine, nor any other
unnatural stimulant; he would do nothing to becloud his mind; and
God gave him “knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom,” and
also “understanding in all visions and dreams.”...
Daniel’s parents had trained him in his childhood to habits of strict
temperance. They had taught him that he must conform to nature’s laws
in all his habits; that his eating and drinking had a direct influence upon
his physical, mental, and moral nature, and that he was accountable
to God for his capabilities; for he held them all as a gift from God,
and must not, by any course of action, dwarf or cripple them. As
the result of this teaching, the law of God was exalted in his mind,
and reverenced in his heart. During the early years of his captivity,
Daniel was passing through an ordeal which was to familiarize him
with courtly grandeur, with hypocrisy, and with paganism. A strange
school indeed to fit him for a life of sobriety, industry, and faithfulness!
[155]
And yet he lived uncorrupted by the atmosphere of evil with which he
was surrounded.
The experience of Daniel and his youthful companions illustrates
the benefits that may result from an abstemious diet, and shows what
God will do for those who will cooperate with Him in the purifying