Into the Lions’ Den
Tom Shrader walks through Daniel 6, tracing how Daniel's consistent, God-centered life earned him trust under a new king and ultimately led to his miraculous deliverance from the lions' den. The teaching emphasizes that God's sovereignty over nations and individuals means His people can remain faithful even when culture turns hostile, without being guaranteed a comfortable outcome. Shrader applies this to everyday life, calling believers to a visible, predictable faithfulness that points those around them to the living God who delivers and rescues.
“Nations come and go, and God's work goes on. No nation is really significant when it's set against the backdrop of God's eternity.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Faithful
Recorded: 2012 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 41 min
Themes: faithfulness, persecution, prayer, courage, integrity, trust in god, deliverance, sovereignty, facing opposition at work, feeling pressure to compromise, living in a hostile culture, young adult, new believer, struggling with fear, employee, navigating cultural pressure
Scripture: Daniel 6, Daniel 5:25-30, Daniel 3, Daniel 2, Daniel 1:8, Genesis 39:2, Isaiah 40:7-8, Isaiah 40:15, Exodus 1, Acts 4, Philippians 2, James 1, James 3
Theological Themes: divine sovereignty, providence, biblical faithfulness, eschatology, redemptive history, sanctification, becoming holy, kingdom of god
Full Transcript
God's Sovereignty Over Nations
Open your Bibles to the book of Daniel. If you do not have a Bible, raise your hand and we will get one to you. It is page 478 in a Bible that you can get from us. Today is the last week of our study titled "Faithful" — Part One, the Life of Joseph; Part Two, the Life of Daniel. Humanly, they have been our role models, but as we look at the idea of faithful, it has really been about the faithfulness of God.
I am struck — and I was talking to Neil this morning about this — as you look at Daniel 6, where we will be today, there is a certain repetitive nature to each of these studies. It is really about God's sovereignty, God's control, His call in our lives, and then His faithfulness. Daniel is obviously the key character, but also his companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and we have seen how God has preserved them throughout.
The emphasis last week, and really throughout the book, comes into sharp focus now as we see the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had in chapter two — the demise of his kingdom — come to pass. There is a great deal of emphasis on the sovereignty of God over nations. In his commentary on this section, John MacArthur writes this: "Nations are born, they live, and they die. They rise and they fall with great regularity. In fact, as you study history, you are more and more impressed with the fact that nations rapidly pass off the scene."
MacArthur points to the empires of the Hittites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and now the Babylonians — which is where we find Daniel — followed by the Persians, the Medes, the Greeks, and the Romans. All of them came and went. He then goes on to say: "I see today across America, even around the world, a preoccupation among many Christian people with the preservation of certain nations, even our own. And in a strange way, they are attempting to equalize America with the church, or the church with God's plans."
Nations come and go, and God's work goes on. No nation is truly significant when set against the backdrop of God's eternity. When God sets about to weigh out human history, the nations are not the issue. MacArthur goes back to Isaiah 40:15, which says, "Behold, the nations are like a drop of a bucket." One drop is inconsequential — the nations are drops, they are dust. Back in Isaiah 40, verses seven and eight, they are compared to the grass that withers and fades.
Daniel Stands at the Turn of Empires
God rules history. Nations may come and nations may go, even our own. God's redemptive plan, as unfolded through people, will go according to His schedule. The people of God pass through the rise and fall of nations — they transcend them. That is the great hope for us, and we see it in Daniel.
Babylon has fallen. The head of gold is crushed. The time of the Gentiles has moved to phase two. But Daniel is right where God wants him, and God is unencumbered by the decisions of men. When you think about the fact that Babylon has fallen, it is really remarkable. Nebuchadnezzar had a habit of putting his name on every brick of every building — all I could think of was Nebuchadnezzar Tower, Nebuchadnezzar Casino. One writer notes that we have literally found uncounted thousands of bricks stamped with Nebuchadnezzar's name, evidence of his attempt to build a lasting empire. One brick, now in the British Museum, bears the image and name of Nebuchadnezzar — and over both of them, a dog's footprint. That captures the temporariness of the things we see around us, especially things that appear as though they would be permanent.
We saw last week, as we looked at Daniel chapter five, the incident where Belshazzar is throwing a party with a thousand of his noblemen present. It is a wild party. I draw attention to verse four of chapter five — they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. I made the observation last week that as messed up as I used to get, it never once occurred to me to toast the god of wood. But this was a wild party, attended by wives and girlfriends alike, and in the middle of it, a hand appears.
The room, if I remember the dimensions correctly, was something like 55 by 170 feet — not unlike this space — with a small area carved out, perhaps where a screen would be, where Belshazzar would preside. In the middle of the festivities, a hand appears on the opposite wall and writes on it. This throws the room into terror. Verse six tells us the king's face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him. None of his noblemen could interpret what was written.
The Writing on the Wall
Finally, Daniel arrives and says he will tell them exactly what it means. This is where we left off last week. Chapter five, verse 25: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin." The interpretation: Mene — God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. Tekel — you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. You have been measured, and you need to know this is over, and it is over soon.
Belshazzar then gave orders to clothe Daniel in purple, place a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation that Daniel would hold authority as the third ruler in the kingdom. That was the promise Belshazzar had made to anyone who could interpret the writing on the wall. And then that very night, Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of 62.
A New Kingdom, the Same Faithful Servant
Chapter six, verse one: "It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom that would be in charge of the whole kingdom." There is a new ruler in place.
Daniel's Rise to Prominence
Darius comes in and puts together a new organizational structure. He divides the kingdom into 120 areas with individuals overseeing each, and then, as verse two tells us, he appoints three commissioners over all of them — Daniel being one — so that the satraps might be accountable to them and the king might not suffer loss. He is a new king entering a hostile environment, and he wants to make sure that all the revenue, all the goods, and all the value due him is coming his way. The presumption would be that he divided the 120 areas equally among the three commissioners, putting roughly 40 under each.
What is remarkable is that the king reveals his motive plainly: self-preservation and financial security. Yet within a short period of time, one of his top three go-to men is Daniel. The king is new in town, and he almost certainly did not have time to personally interview everyone in the kingdom, so this appointment had to be based on reputation — and probably on personal contact as well.
This pattern should take us back to Genesis chapter 39 and the life of Joseph. Joseph is taken into Egypt under the care of Potiphar, and verse two tells us, "The Lord was with Joseph, and he became successful, and his master saw that the Lord was with him." There was something visible in Joseph's life that Potiphar recognized. Then Joseph is thrown into prison, and the chief jailer sees the very same thing.
The application made there fits perfectly here in Daniel's life: when we begin to live a life that models what God would have us do, believe, think, and act, the people around us will take notice. In the marketplace, Christian faith is not a liability — it is an asset. On the first day of school, students and teachers alike should see something different about you. If you are a new employee or a new boss, those around you should recognize something distinct.
An Extraordinary Spirit
Once Daniel is on the job, verse three tells us what happens: "This Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and the satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit." There was something about him that was above and beyond. He was not merely a man who worshiped the one true God — that faith translated into intelligence, giftedness, and the kind of leadership that earned respect and drew followers.
One commentator reflecting on this passage put it well: God put Daniel right where He wanted him. God allowed Darius to recognize Daniel's capability and to place him in a strategic position of influence. What God has done in our lives, and the gifts He gives us, are not obstacles to effectiveness in the world — they are the very source of it.
The Search for a Flaw
Seeing Daniel's rising influence, the other commissioners and satraps begin trying to find grounds of accusation against him in government affairs. Verse four tells us their investigation comes up empty: "They could find no grounds of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him." This is very similar to what happened back in chapter three with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where men of Babylon looked for reasons to bring accusations against them.
These officials go looking for what we might call the three Gs — girls, gold, and glory; money, sex, and power. They find none of it. Daniel is not guilty of commission or omission. He is doing everything he should, and he is not doing the things he should not. After exhausting every avenue, they reach one conclusion: if Daniel has a weakness, his weakness is God.
Years ago, a man running for president challenged the press to follow him after accusations were made against him. Twelve hours later, they caught him on a boat called Monkey Business. He could not withstand the scrutiny. Daniel, by contrast, is being scrutinized in every possible way, and the verdict is verse five: "We will not find any ground of accusation against Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God."
Predictable Faithfulness
What his enemies are saying, in effect, is this: Daniel's one weak point is that if God says do it, he does it, and if God says avoid it, he avoids it. He is absolutely predictable. There are no exceptions, and they can count on it.
Every commentator, as you would expect, seizes on this and asks the obvious question: would you love to have that said about you? Is this what people can count on seeing in you? Not that there are things you should not do that you do anyway, but that when it comes to God, there is simply no flexibility. If God says it, that settles it. That kind of life is not subject to shifting cultural opinions or the pressures of the moment.
The Gap Between Cultural and Transformational Faith
There is a couple in a group I meet with during the week who started a business four or five years ago and decided — and I thought it was semi-foolish at the time — to hire only Christians. Their idea was to create a Christian environment in the workplace. They would come back and share with us the utter disappointment they had experienced. We don't always have the Daniel experience that people should have, but we don't. You have a lot of people who wear their Christianity on their sleeves when they're applying for jobs, or trying to connect, or somehow use their faith to open a door — but then when you bring them in, you realize that faith is more cultural than it is transformational. All of a sudden, the values that ought to be present in a person's life simply aren't there.
What these men see when they look at Daniel is something different. They see that his God, his faith, and his work all connect. We talk about it a lot — that our relationship with Christ is indeed a very personal issue, but it is not a private issue.
Faith in the Marketplace
I did something this week: I turned on the television to discover how bad Chick-fil-A was. I didn't realize that until this week. I saw the mayor of Chicago — who I found interesting, given that just last week I saw him asking gang members to take their gun battles back to the alley because they were shooting children — declare that Chick-fil-A does not share Chicago's values. I thought, well, I don't know what Chick-fil-A's values actually are, so I went to their website. Here is what I found: Chick-fil-A is a family-owned, family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblical principles to managing his business. For example, they believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free, and devoting a percentage of their profit back to the community makes them a stronger company and a stronger family. I thought, how could anyone be opposed to that?
These people at Chick-fil-A were painted as radicals. Yet thirty-one states have dealt with the question of same-sex marriage, and in every state but Arizona, the answer has been no — people want traditional values. That is not, to me anyway, a far-right position. It was the same position the president held until ten or eleven weeks ago. It is not a radical position. You could perhaps look at Chick-fil-A and wonder why they inserted themselves into that discussion, or how they got pulled into it at all — but to say, this is what our faith teaches us, and then to take that into the marketplace, and then to have the government in both Boston and Chicago step in to respond to it, that raises something worth addressing.
There is a place for us to understand that there are values we need to stand for when it is appropriate. And as we do, we need to understand there is often a cost associated with it. That is particularly true with the social issues we face. I can tell you that as we address those issues from the front or make any comment about them, the moment we do, you are painted as something less than a kind and gentle person — as though taking that stand is somehow unkind. I was struck by it. I was struck by the language. When I heard the Chicago mayor say "we don't share Chick-fil-A's values," I was stunned, and I wanted to know what those values actually were. As I said, operating debt-free might not be a bad idea for the city of Chicago — or for government in general.
Daniel's Stand
Daniel takes his stand, apparently, simply in the way he does business. At this point in the text, we are going by reputation — I assume built through ongoing interaction with him. In verse six, these commissioners and satraps came together by agreement before the king, wanting to trap Daniel, wanting to get rid of him. They said: "King Darius, live forever. All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects, the satraps, the officials, and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions' den. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which may not be revoked."
Their law was that once a law was in place, there was no changing it, no amending it. So they want this law passed, and their entire intent is to get Daniel, to trap him. They think they have succeeded. The appeal to Darius would have been quite attractive — his own people coming to him and saying they don't want anyone praying to a god or a man other than him. They appealed to his pride, and Darius signed the document.
Praying Just As He Had Always Done
When Daniel knew the document had been signed, he went into his house. In his roof chamber, he had windows open toward Jerusalem, and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before God — just as he had done previously. In homes of that time, there was frequently an upper room, or a room added on the roof. There would be no glass in the windows, perhaps a lattice to allow air to pass through. It would be a place where someone would pray regularly, visible to those outside.
What struck me is not only what Daniel did, but what Daniel did not do. Daniel did not call CNN and Fox News and say, "Come watch this protest." Daniel simply did what Daniel had always done.
James Montgomery Boyce writes this: we need more Daniels. We need—
Opening: The Cost of Public Faith
More people need to be willing to bring their awareness of God and His laws off the reservation — willing to open their windows and honor Him before a watching world. Understanding that people are watching you is a big part of this. I always try to tell our kids that, and I try to tell the people at Priority Living: when you go into your office and you invite people to a noonday study and they ask what it is, ultimately it is a Bible study. Once people hear that of you, they will look at you with a new level of scrutiny.
They will hold you to a standard that is, in all likelihood, higher than the standard you have for yourself. If you are a boss running a company and you have that Bible there and you appropriately talk about it, you will get a lot of people listening to you about your faith. You need to understand you will be held to a criteria that accompanies that.
Daniel's Quiet Defiance
Daniel is in this process where they say no praying, and Daniel, as I said, does not make a big deal of this. He simply does — and this is the key part of verse 10 — what he has always done before. He does not say, "I am ninety, I could use a thirty-day sabbatical from prayer." He does not say, "It is not a big deal, I will just hold off."
There is that conflict in there, and we encounter it often in terms of questions about civil disobedience and authority. The general rule of thumb is: if the government commands you to do something God forbids, or forbids you to do something God commands, those would be the exceptions. We see them in Exodus 1, Acts chapter 4, and here in Daniel chapter 6.
Daniel is saying, "I cannot do this. I have my prescription to pray to the one true God, and I am going to do it" — and in Daniel's mind, I assume, in about the least offensive way possible. He does what he has always done.
The Trap Is Sprung
"These men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before God. Then they approached and spoke before the king about his injunction, and they said, 'Did you not sign an injunction that any person who makes petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, will be cast into the lion's den?' The king replied and said, 'The statement is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.'"
That is exactly what they did, that is exactly accurate, and there is no way the king can amend it. So they said, "Well, we have a problem here" — verse 13 — "and our problem is really simple. His name is Daniel." Notice again the prejudice that surfaces: "Daniel, who is one of the exiles of Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps making petition three times a day."
The King's Anguish
"Then as soon as the king heard this statement, he was greatly distressed and set his mind not on punishing Daniel but on delivering Daniel. Even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him." Now he has the best and the brightest looking for loopholes. Somebody once asked W.C. Fields, "Do you read the Bible?" His answer was, "Only for loopholes." That is what Darius is looking for — an exception, something that can be changed.
"These men came by agreement to the king, verse 15, and said, 'Recognize, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king has established can be changed.'" You are stuck. There is nothing you can do.
A King's Unexpected Confession
"The king gave orders and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lion's den, and the king spoke to Daniel." Look at verse 16: "The king said, 'Your God, whom you constantly serve, will Himself deliver you.'" Where did he get that? He could not have known Daniel for very long — by reputation, probably, and by this encounter. And through it he had heard of the one true God.
I love two aspects of this. First, and you have to ask it by application: would the people around you see that living God in you and draw that same conclusion? Second, the God that Daniel served is the God that you and I serve, and He delivers us too. That God has given us everything we need pertaining to life and death, and the fullness of life itself is found in Him.
The application that is teed up here is that as God places us in situations that look perilous, like Daniel's, God is there to deliver. That does not always necessarily mean He is going to get me out, but He is there to strengthen me at moments when I am not sure I could handle another moment, another instance, another pressure — whether it is relational, financial, personal, physical, whatever it might be. Your God is a great God. He is a God who delivers.
The Sealed Den
Daniel is now put in the lion's den. A stone is brought and laid over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his signet ring and the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel. Most people believe this was a kind of hollowed-out cave with an entrance divided into two areas. They would separate the lions, keeping one side where they might clean or feed, and there was an opening at the top. Daniel is placed in the midst of this.
Obviously this is a form of capital punishment, and the signet ring now binds it, declaring that if anybody breaks this seal or tampers with it, they will face the full wrath of the king and of the nation.
A Sleepless Night
The night falls and the king goes off to the palace. He spent the night fasting, no entertainment was brought before him, and his sleep fled him. Here is a king in great anguish over Daniel — no television, no Olympics, no food.
"Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lion's den. When he came near the den, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king said, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to —'"
Daniel's Deliverance
Daniel cried back, "Oh king, live forever. My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was innocent before Him, and also toward you, oh king, I have committed no crime." Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken from the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatsoever was found on him, because he trusted God.
This is very similar to what we saw when we looked at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego back in chapter three, when they were put in the fire. It was almost the same scenario where they said, "King, we will not bow down before you. Our God is able to save us and deliver us, but even if He doesn't, it is the authority of God." Daniel connects here in verse 23 the faith and trust that he had in God with God's delivering him.
Trusting God Does Not Guarantee Deliverance
We have been up in Flagstaff, and the house we are in has about twelve religious stations. It is interesting to receive that much bad theology all at once. It is a constant flow of "God wants you healthy, God wants you wealthy, God is concerned about prosperity."
One author writes this, and I want you to know something: it does not always happen the way it did with Daniel. Isaiah believed God too, but he was sawn in half. Paul believed God too, and he laid his head on a block and an ax flashed in the sun and severed it from his body. Peter believed in God and he was crucified upside down. Believing in God does not mean the lions will not eat you. There have been martyrs throughout all of history — men and women who have believed God and died for it.
The issue is that we accept God's will. If it is to live, it is to live. If it is to die, it is to die. In either case, we are never defeated. In fact, if Daniel had been eaten by the lions, he would have been in the presence of God.
James Montgomery Boyce captures the same idea: God is calling some of us to win by living, and others are called to win by dying. But in life or death, God rules and we are called to serve Him. The world needs those who know God and who will live for His righteousness, even when the entire culture ferociously turns against them. That is the lesson.
The Purpose of the Lion's Den
One of the objections I always encounter as we teach Daniel is that in the lion's den, in the fire, these men get out. That troubles me in the sense that we easily make the human leap that because Daniel trusted God, if we trust God, we will get out of our equivalent of the lion's den. But it does not always work that way.
God puts us in the fire. God puts us in the lion's den. God puts us in those places where perhaps we least want to be, and He does it for His good, for our good, and for His glory — for our own individual building up. "Count it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." As I see God work, as I see God stretch me, His faithfulness becomes more and more real to me.
Consider the stories that Daniel and the others carry. Here we are, some 2,500 years later, looking at the life of Daniel and looking at the faithfulness of God. I would encourage you to stand in awe as you look at Daniel, but make sure you understand that what makes Daniel special is the same power and Spirit that is available in your life.
The Same Spirit Available to Us
There is nothing extraordinary in Daniel in and of himself. He is a man of incredible integrity, but he is empowered by that same Spirit that you have. Jesus says, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments," and right after that He says, "And I will send you a Helper, the Holy Spirit" — a Spirit that, according to Philippians chapter two, gives you the desire and the will to do the things that God would have you do. To live in a way that brings honor and glory to Him. To cause us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
The world grows more and more hostile. I became a Christian in March of 1980, and even then the cries were loud that the country was in trouble and the world was hostile — and it seems to me that hostility has only ramped up more and more since. It feels as though the one group of people who are considered fair game, about whom anything can be said, are born-again evangelical Christians. As you begin to live out your faith, as you begin to say, "Here is what God says about the world, about relationships, about marriage, about sexuality, here is what God says in His Word," the opposition grows fierce.
The Fate of Daniel's Accusers
Daniel is delivered. If you want to have some fun, read the liberal commentators on this passage, because they come up with all sorts of explanations for why this did not happen, for why Daniel was not eaten. Some suggest the lions had been fed beforehand — that part of what Darius did was feed the lions so they were not hungry when Daniel arrived. Others suggest Daniel was somehow able to hide in a certain area of the cave. Whatever explanation is offered, these lions got over their apparent satisfaction very, very quickly.
Daniel declares in verse 22 that an angel shut the mouths of the lions. Verse 23 records that the king was very pleased and gave an order for Daniel to be taken from the den, and no injury was found on him. Then verse 24 tells us that the king gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel and cast them — their children and their wives — into the lion's den. They had not reached the bottom before the lions had overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
The law of the Medes and the Persians had some interesting injunctions. One we have already examined was that once a law was issued, it could not be revoked. There was another segment of the law that said that on account of the guilt —
God Who Delivers and Rescues
Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language who are living in all the land: "May your peace abound. I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. He is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom is one which is not destroyed. His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heavens and on earth. And He also delivered Daniel from the power of the lion's den." So Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
He delivers and rescues and works signs and wonders and miracles. He is the God who works in your life and mine today, delivering and rescuing us — beginning with salvation, deliverance from sin, the consequence of our sin, and the penalty of our sin — and allowing us to lead a life in communion with the one true God. Each person who prayed as we began today started with that word: Father. There is a relationship with Him. It would never have occurred to those ancient Jews that there would be that intimate relationship — this God who spoke the world into existence and who holds it together, you can call Him Father. You have a unique and special relationship with Him, and the God who delivered Daniel and rescued Daniel is the same God who today delivers and rescues us.
The Consistent Life of Daniel
I took this and made a long list of things I see in the life of Daniel. I keep going back to Daniel chapter one, verse eight, where Daniel made up his mind, where Daniel resolved, where Daniel determined. We see in Daniel a consistent life from start to finish — a life of virtue, a life of integrity, a life that was not for sale. Daniel was both envied by many and hated by some. He was condemned and commended all at the same time, and his faith did not make him a bad citizen, but one of the best in the entire kingdom. The same is true as we look at our own lives.
Daniel served faithfully. There is a silence in Daniel as the satraps come to the king — no record here of Daniel registering any protest or objection. He does not defend himself; he trusts God to handle that. His faith is strengthened, God receives the glory, and God is the one who avenges him.
A Second Adulthood
I keep coming back to Daniel's age, and maybe that is because I feel I am getting a little older myself. From 1850 to 1900, life expectancy in this country was about age 51. Today it is about age 75, and they say that number is increasing. If you are a woman today in reasonably good health who does not get cancer, your life expectancy is 94.
I look at Daniel at 85 or 90 and then look at us and say: what has God done? God has essentially given us a second adulthood in these last hundred years — from 51 to 75 — and called us to live in it purposefully. That has very practical application: you have an opportunity to be a leader. I used to talk to my girls about this, even pushing them around in the stroller when I was not sure they fully understood English yet — talking to them about being a leader and what it meant. It does not mean you have a title. It means that in your peer group, people are watching you. You have an opportunity to stand out, to be distinct, to be different.
The Commodity of Integrity
There is a commodity we see in Daniel's life that I believe is developed through repetition, discipline, and faithfulness — the idea of integrity, and the predictability that comes with it. Think about what makes a human relationship work. How difficult is it, gentlemen, if you come home each day and are not sure what you will find — what the attitude at home will be? Or ladies, your husband is coming home and you are not sure who is going to walk in the door that night. With Daniel, there is a predictability: if God says it, he does it; if God says do not, he does not. The flaw that Daniel has is not women, money, or power. His flaw is God, and that is what we can stand on.
There is an opportunity all around you, every day, to practice and display your priorities. Throughout this study I have returned to the sentence: we should not be surprised when God intervenes and delivers us, but we should not be disappointed if He does not. What Daniel was called to do — and I will use this phrase — is to infect his world, not necessarily the whole world. God has placed you strategically wherever you are: in that classroom, at work, wherever it might be, for a reason. He has given you a history, a relationship, and marching orders, and then He has given you the power to carry them out.
Your God, Whom You Constantly Serve
There should be, in the people around you, a sense of awe as they see you live. We should be hearing things like, "I don't know how you handle that," and "I don't know how you can endure all that." And you have the privilege of answering just as Darius answered — it is the one true God. It is your God, whom you constantly serve, who delivers you. Your God, whom you constantly serve, who rescues you. He is a great and holy and mighty God.
We look at the great truths of the New Testament as we study the doctrine of His faithfulness and the strength of the Spirit, and so often we see those truths applied in the life of Daniel and the life of Joseph. God is a faithful God. God is to be trusted. He is the God in whom you have put your faith.
God's Faithfulness as Our Strength
You are really counting on Him for salvation — and salvation is way more than just heaven, but the ability to operate, live, and navigate here in this world. God is faithful. He will not disappoint you. He calls you into a personal relationship with Him that is indeed personal but not private, and asks you to allow it to affect your whole life as you develop a mind of Christ and an attitude shaped by Him. So that everything around you looks different.
How does it look? There is not an earthly, demonic thought and wisdom, as we see in James chapter three, but there is this heavenly wisdom from above that is driven not by you caring about your own agenda, but by God's agenda. I was reading the other day in the book of Philippians where Paul says he is getting ready to send somebody to the church there. He says, "I have nobody like him," and his name is Timothy. What separates Timothy from everyone else, Paul says, is that he really cares about something other than himself.
I was just talking to somebody who is getting a new pastor in their church. I asked what he was like, and they talked about his ability to preach and lead and all that goes with it. Paul says he is sending one, the only one he has like himself, and he does not mention preaching or teaching or leading. He says Timothy really cares about you. He really cares about your agenda for your life as God blesses you.
The Thread Running Through Daniel and Joseph
As we look at these six weeks in Daniel and four weeks in Joseph, we are struck again and again by faithfulness — the faithfulness of Joseph, the faithfulness of Daniel that the people around him can see — but most of all by the faithfulness of God. That is the strength. You look at your life and think you are not sure you can take another day. You do not have to do it in your own strength. It is God who will give you the strength to do things beyond anything you could ever imagine.
Many of us in the room know that relationship because we have come to Christ in repentance and faith. We have found that deliverance and that salvation in the person of Christ, through His act on the cross where He died so that we could have eternal life — something that we celebrate every Sunday here at Redemption Church.
Father, thank You that You are a God who delivers Your people.