August 26, 2002
For most of us all we know about the Biblical Daniel is that he was thrown into the lions den and survived. In reading Daniel 6 we find a remarkable story of faith and prayer. In assesing the context of chapter 6 beginning in chapter 1 we read of the deportation of the people of Israel into exile in Babylon. Here the king selected some of the "Israelites of royal family and of the nobility…young men, handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king’s palace," to be trained in the Chaldean culture. Ultimately they were to be stationed in the king’s court. Daniel after refusing the royal ration of food and wine and prospering because of his vegetable diet and because of his God given ability to interpret dreams rose in the king’s favor. However, his three companions fell afoul of the king because they refused to worship a golden idol he had created and were thrown into the fiery furnace. However, they were removed untouched by God’s actions.
Daniel in the meantime interpreted several difficult dreams and surviving 2 Kings while serving the 3rd, Darius the Mede, was made the victim of a plot by others of his governing associates. Again it was by refusing to worship a false God, this time the king, that he was condemned and thrown into the lions den.
The verses at the core of this thought begin at 6:10. "Although Daniel knew the document had been signed he continued to go to his house…get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously."
Daniel was accustomed to prayer and so his response to this crisis was the same as his response to the everyday things of life. To give thanks in prayer to God and to praise him. We don’t need to be threatened by a lion’s den to adopt the same custom. Prayer is natural to all humans even if the God of our prayers is not the same. We don’t pray to that unknown God of the Athenians, but to our God made known by Jesus. In him we find the keys to an abundant life. Ask and you will receive.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
201 Oak St.
Mauston, WI 53948-1333 608-8474555
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