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Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
No matter where you and I have lived our lives, I can safely say we have each and all experienced a good bit of indiscretion among leaders, am I right? What type of Leaders? Leaders in business, education, health care, politics, law and order, even religious organizations. Why? Because it’s the world in which we and all humanity have lived our lives.
On rare occasions perhaps you’ve had the privilege of working for or living your life under the influence or authority of a wise, honest, God honoring leader.
Join me again in the year 539bc, in the conquered city of Babylon, which is undergoing a dramatic restructuring under the new ruler “Darius the Mede”, as Babylon assimilates into becoming another conquered city in the great Medo-Persian empire. The account is written for us by old Daniel, the man God has strategically positioned, once again, to be God’s reliable man in the senior leadership of this new government. (Daniel 6:1-3)
Yesterday we saw that King Darius the Mede was so impressed with Daniel, he had a leadership re-organization plan: “Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that King Darius planned to set him over the whole kingdom.“ (Daniel 6:3) That is nothing short of unimaginable. Daniel had been brought to Babylon 6 decades before as a Jewish teenage captive, but God’s hand had been upon Daniel, and he continually rose to whatever challenge was before him and he served with excellence and integrity.
King Darius had evidently shared his plan with others in his royal court and some were not in agreement. The records say: “At this the administrators and satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find NO corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.” (Daniel 6:4)
If you and I pause to reflect back on our life journeys, no matter our age, our gender, our nationality… what words would fairly describe you and I as compared to Daniel? It’s important we remember Daniel had, ALL his adult life, served the kings who destroyed his hometown Jerusalem, the Temple of his God, and conquered his country.
Yet his resume and his reputation were spotless and continually qualified him for promotions into higher responsibility & authority roles. I think we might consider “Prime Minister” to be the role King Darius was contemplating for Daniel!
But darkness filled the hearts of many other officials in the leadership group of King Darius and Daniel chapter 6 is the remarkable account of how they schemed to urge King Darius to declare a new law in the land, a law similar to what King Nebuchadnezzar had done perhaps 50 years before, do you remember? Nebuchadnezzar had a 90ft. gold plated statue erected of himself and demanded all the leaders of Babylon bow in worship before the statue or be incinerated in the furnace! (Daniel 3)
Now with Darius his advisors used these words: “The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have ALL agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next 30 days, EXCEPT TO YOU, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lion’s den…” (Daniel 6:6,7)
Have you noticed my friends how pride can cloud our thinking, fog our brains, distort reality, so that we lose our ability to reason with wisdom? Their statement was a lie, of course, because Daniel had not been consulted and was totally unaware of this plan, even though they had told the king ALL the leaders had been a party to this recommendation. We don’t know what Darius knew about Daniel’s spiritual life nor the similar event which happened with King Nebuchadnezzar, so many years before.
We do know that in those years the “Law of the Medes & the Persians” was very clear. Any law issued by the king was irrevocable and unalterable! (Daniel 6:8) Once the document was signed and sealed by the king it was the law of the land, applicable to each and every person unwaveringly.
We don’t know how long King Darius considered this recommendation, which was made by many of his trusted leaders, but we do know the king did sign the document, and it became immediately the irrevocable, unalterable law of kingdom.
Word of it came to Daniel and Daniel had only one response which he had developed over his lifetime in Babylon… prayer to God, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, his hometown, from which he had been taken as captive, more than 60 years before.
Daniel records that historic moment with these words: “When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” (Daniel 6:10)
Is your heart as challenged by that as I am my friends? Daniel’s pattern of seeking God had not changed in more than 60 years of living in Babylon!! How do challenges, disappointments, frustrations affect our normal patterns with God?
Daniel’s confidence in God, Daniel’s gratitude to God, Daniel’s hope that God Himself would be the ONLY source of the answer Daniel needed, did not waiver despite this preposterous new law that had been passed, and so to his knees he went, with windows facing west to Jerusalem, seeking God’s guidance.
Finally, did you notice Daniel’s prayer discipline was not a bedtime prayer, not a mealtime prayer, but rather three times a day, on his knees, facing Jerusalem, primarily THANKING God and then listening to receive what God would say to him!
We need to pause right here and consider Daniel’s example, and I’ve found another great worship song that expresses what Daniel was probably thinking and maybe singing… and I’ll be waiting right here for you tomorrow and we’ll see what happened next to Daniel.
Today’s Scripture: Daniel 6:1-10.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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