October 27, 2021
Author: Pastor Bernard Ibrahim
October 27, 2021
“It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be
throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three high officials of whom
Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the
king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above
all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit
was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for
complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find
no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no
error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, ‘We shall not
find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in
connection with the law of his God.
Then these high officials and
satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, ‘O King Darius,
live forever! All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and
the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king
should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever
makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king,
shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the
injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed,
according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be
revoked.’ Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.”
Daniel 6:1-10
There are many applications for us in this passage. But there are
two things I want everyone to mediate on. One thing is Daniel—we see
details in v. 1-3. Think about Daniel’s job. He is an Israelite slave,
brought by the Babylonians. He was brought in as an intern and brought
up through the ranks. We don’t now what happened to the rest of his
family, the Scripture doesn’t tell us: he was kind of alone. Then after
a few years in a position in that government, that government was
overthrown and the Medes and Persians are now in charge. They don’t
kill or imprison him. They actually put him in their government. He is
now working in their government. He has actually been elevated in
their government, as we see in this passage. He is neither a Babylonian
nor a Persian.
It is amazing to realize how Daniel must have conducted himself, of
course the Lord helping him, in his attitude toward government. So that
he with a clear conscience would do his work well and be so
distinguished that he is working for a, you could say evil and
idolatrous and evil, anti-God government, and he is a part of that
government and he is seeking to rule well, to administer well. He is
seeking to do a very good job for his leadership and authorities. Not
only is he submitting to them and honoring them, he is serving them. We
see there, he is serving them with an excellent spirit. We see a good
attitude, good heart, good outside appearance, and what must be
excellent work that is doing for them. That just comes out of the page.
God prospered his work.
This often is a question for us, “how are we to live in this world?”
How are we to serve ungodly rulers, ungodly governments? How are we to
submit to or relate to ungodly managers, those whom God has put over
us, those that God has put over us. The Scriptures are clear. You can
look at Romans 13:1 “Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God…” Or you can
see I Peter 2:12 “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so
that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good
deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” So that is Daniel and
his work and how God blessed his work and preserved him through two
conquering empires and not only did he survive but he was blessed and
now he is elevated. He is elevated to the point that these other men
want him out of the way. They are envious of him, and envious of his
position—that King Darius would think to put him over the kingdom.
So, when this bad law comes out, obviously with Daniel as the target.
There is evil intention to get Daniel killed by execution, legally by
the law. They knew he would be faithful to his God. Daniel doesn’t
take a second thought. This is the instruction for us. Daniel didn’t
have to struggle in making this decision. If you look at v. 10, “when
Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house
where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got
down on his knees [not in defiance, not in a dare, but] as he had done
previously.” This is to me more amazing than him being elevated by the
Babylonians or Medes or Persians. He had no conflict with submitting to
the idolatrous, evil king. Doing his job that God had given him, doing
it well, doing it with an excellent spirit. But he also did not
hesitate when he was called upon to choose between serving God as he
knew he should, and in this case his commitment to prayer, and obeying
this new law. We can see throughout his life, he, with few exceptions
(maybe Daniel 1), did not ever deviate from following or obeying the
government’s laws and doing what they asked him to do.
I find it instructional for me, for us, that faithfulness whether in
the work that God has given us with respect to those that He has put
over us, or when there are times that we find ourselves in
conflict with our commitment to God, which is superior overall, and what
others ask of us. Daniel doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t say, “I’m
worried about my position” or “I’m worried about career growth” or
“maybe I can hide at this time.” He trusts God. You can see that. It
is not just implied. Where does this resolution come from? It is
actually stated, if you jump down to Daniel 6:23. “Daniel was taken up
out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him.” There was not a
scratch, not as if there were some kind of partial tooth marks in him
and the lion let go. Not even a scratch from the drop into the den. It
was because, v. 23, “… he had trusted in his God.”
This, to me, is an explanation of his resolution and his ability to
be faithful to King Darius and be faithful to the laws of the kingdom he
had to serve and to be faithful to God. He was called upon to resist
this new law that came out, seeking to harm him in particular. His
resolution was to do what he did every day with respect to his God,
because he trusted God as to the outcome. Whether he would survive or
not was not the really the question in Daniel’s mind. He did not know he
would not get eaten by lions. He trusted his God. That, to me, is
encouraging, instructional and gives us direction for how to live our
lives. By faith, in a world where we are also aliens, sojourners, and
where in many ways we are not in our home.
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