Long ago, an elderly man and his wife arrived by train in the city of Chicago. It was a stormy night and their train had been delayed. It was after midnight when they finally arrived at a downtown hotel they hoped had a vacancy. The young clerk on duty that night was named George Boldt and he explained that because there were three different conventions in town, their hotel was full, but he would be glad to call around and check with some other hotels. After several calls, it was clear that there were no empty rooms to be found. The young clerk said to the couple, “I can’t send a nice couple like you out into the rain on a night like this. Would you be willing to sleep in my room in the basement? It’s not large, but it’s clean and I don’t need it tonight because I’m on duty.” The couple gladly accepted his offer. The next morning the man tried to pay George personally, but the young clerk refused. Then the man said to George Boldt, “You’re the kind of man who ought to be the boss of the best hotel in America. Maybe one day I’ll build one for you.” The young clerk only smiled and said, “I was just glad to be of service. ”Several years later George Boldt received a letter with train ticket to New York City. The old gentleman took him to the corner of 5th Avenue and 54th Street in Manhattan and said, “This is the hotel I have built for you to manage.” George Boldt stared in awe and said, “Are you joking?” It was no joke. The old man’s name was William Waldorf Astor. And that’s how George Boldt became the first manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. If you go to New York City, there is George’s portrait hanging in the lobby, a tribute to a clerk who showed integrity.
Jerusalem is under attack. Israel, its sister kingdom to the north has already been exiled (722 BC), and now Judah faces the same fate.
In 605, the third year of King Jehoiakim (ca. 609-597 BC), the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and started the first of many deportations to Babylon (Daniel 1:1).
Daniel and his three friends were among those first brought into exile, facing many fears and doubts.
How were they to make sense of exile and the destruction of the temple, the center of their religion?
Was the God of their ancestors still their personal God, and they his people
In the opening verses of the book of Daniel, we read about the defining moment of the book…….
Daniel 1:8
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
Through stories of God’s providence and visions of future salvation, Daniel wrote to inspire hope among his people and stir up faithfulness to God.
Most of us know people who ‘go the extra mile’ in the job – and they are encouraging us
In the familiar pages of God’s Word, there is a story about God’s blessing to an obedient and positive-hearted servant.
The well-known story of “Daniel in the lion’s den” illustrates dramatically the idea that a positive view of life is about choices, not simply about life circumstances.
Life can be hard, but God is not hard-hearted.
He loves you, and He knows you.
If you know Him, and if you have made the choice to follow Him you will find that a positive life is about living out that choice properly.
Let’s look at 4 things that distinguished Daniel from his peers:
Daniel 6:1
“It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, 2 and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.”
1.
over
Daniel distinguished himself in a bad place, surrounded by some bad people.
We know this because his marks of distinction brought out their jealousy a few verses later in this very story.
What he remembered in life is an important lesson for all of us: any test we face is more complicated than we may be led to believe.
When he faced challenges, it was NOT the test before him that mattered, but the test of what was INSIDE of him – what his walk with God genuine.
Dr. Madison Sarratt taught mathematics at Vanderbilt for many years. Before giving a test, he would put things in perspective for his students by admonishing his class with these words: “Today I am giving two examinations: one in trigonometry, and the other in honesty. I hope you will pass them both. But, if you must fail one, fail trigonometry. There are many good people in the world who cannot pass trigonometry, but there are no good people in the world who cannot pass the examination of honesty.”
External challenges help us evaluate how true our faith really is.
If we are not careful, we can easily learn to ”settle” for some level of dishonesty.
Whether we lie to Ourselves
Or we Lie to others
Daniel chose character over comfort.
He chose to push himself rather than complain about what he didn’t have.
That distinguished him – and it will distinguish you in life as well.
Daniel 6:4
Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs, but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.” 6 Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: “King Darius, live forever! 7 “All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high 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, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions’ den. 8 “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 Persians, which may not be revoked.” 9 Therefore, King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction.
2.
over
When I read this story, I was struck by the description of Daniel. I wondered how a group of enemies trying to trip me up would evaluate any of us.
Go back to verse four and look carefully at what political reporters and party hacks found when they delved deeply into Daniel’s private life…nothing.
“no ground for accusation”,
“no evidence of corruption”,
“no negligence”…WOW!
That description meant that Daniel wasn’t just NOT DOING WRONG; he was faithfully, diligently DOING RIGHT!
One of the things Daniel needed to bear in mind as he faced the simple tests of day to day living is that “someone is always watching”.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Challenges give us a platform to live out our faith in the Lord in an honest, open way before others.
Daniel chose to respond to life with discipline and try to figure out how to use his position best to honor God.
Did you ever go walking through a field and get “stickers” poking you through your socks or your jeans? One man saw them differently, and these “stickers” poking his skin changed his life…
In 1948, a Swiss mountaineer named George de Mestral was walking through the woods and was very frustrated by the burs that clung to his clothes. While picking them off, he realized that it may be possible to use this principle to make a fastener to compete with the zipper. Velcro was inspired by the natural sticking properties of burrs. If you look at a velcro strip, you’ll notice that it has two parts to it: a strip that has a web of tiny hooks; and a strip that has a web of tiny interwoven hoops. These two strips are a match for each other and when you join them together the hooks “catch” the loops and they become meshed together in a very strong bond. What makes Velcro important is the reliability in the many small strands that predictably stick together!
Isn’t it TELLING that George saw what everyone saw, but looked at it with different eyes?
That is EXACTLY what Daniel did.
He looked at life and decided to face it with discipline and discernment.
He didn’t just “look at the bright side of problems”, he worked through problems as PART of his walk with God.
If we spend our time fussing and blaming, we use up the energy that could be spent working through the issue and gaining from it.
It takes DISCIPLINE to shut off the emotional flow, and become productive in spite of the temptation to wallow in self-pity and moan injustice.
Discipline is essential to godliness.
Daniel 6:10
Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now 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 his God, as he had been doing previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God. 12 Then they approached and spoke before the king about the king’s injunction, “Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lions’ den?” The king replied, “The statement is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and spoke before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps making his petition three times a day.” 14 Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him. 15 Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Recognize, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed.“
3.
over
Look at the age-old strategy of our spiritual enemy to shut off the influence of God’s people in society .
When a believer is right, they are dangerous to the enemy.
He hits them with temptation, and for many –that is enough to sideline them.
If they fail, they will waste energy fighting the guilt that blocks them from truly accomplishing what God desires.
They structure a new law to put the believer on the outside of civil obedience.
Outlawing prayer in Daniel 6, five hundred years before Jesus, was a strategic form we see again and again in history.
Prayer wasn’t an OPTION for him – it was his CONNECTION TO GOD!
Matt 10:32
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Our enemy wants to keep Christians from praying.
- He fears little from prayer-less studies,
- prayer-less work
- and prayer-less religion.
- He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom,
But when we pray, it changes things!!
Daniel knew what continuing prayer would cost him, but prayer wasn’t a RELIGIOUS activity; he was meeting with the God that he loved and lived for.
Daniel 6:16
Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lions’ den The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.” 17 stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel.18 Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him. 19 Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions’ den. 20 When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.” 23 Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
4.
over
The ending phrase of Daniel 6:23 makes clear the reason behind Daniel’s choice – it wasn’t compulsion or duty – it was trust.
He trusted God to do what God wanted done if he did what God instructed.
That is the essence of a surrendered life.
He held his head high and knew the truth: We are invincible until God says our life has completed its mission.
Psalms 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
In his book, When God Whispers Your Name, Max Lucado tells the story of John Egglen, who had never preached a sermon in his life before the Sunday morning when it snowed and the pastor wasn’t able to make it to the church. In fact, he was the only deacon to show up. He was not a preacher, but he was faithful, and that meant that on that particular Sunday morning, he preached. God rewarded his faithfulness, and at the end of his hesitant sermon, one young man came forward and gave his life to the Lord. No one there could appreciate the significance of what had taken place that morning. The young man who accepted Christ that snowy Sunday morning was none other than Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the man who has often been called, the “prince of preachers.” God blessed his preaching and when he was still less than 30 years old he became the preacher of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle. His sermons were so powerful that although the building could hold 5000 people, the crowds who came to hear him were so thick that they would line up outside trying to hear his sermons. That amazing life of faith all started on a cold Sunday morning with the faithfulness of a deacon!
Trusting a God we cannot see is not easy when we’re facing pain we can feel,
At the same time, if our faith means anything at all, it means the ability to be courageous with trust in the hands of a God Who is limitless in power!
Conclusion:
The twelve chapters of Daniel can be divided into roughly equal sections.
Daniel chapters 1-6 contains six inspiring stories about Daniel and his friends,
Daniel chapters 7-12 contains four visions and their interpretations.
While in Babylon, Daniel read the Scriptures, learning that Jeremiah had foretold both the Babylonian captivity and the Israelites’ return to their homeland after 70 years. In response, Daniel confessed the sins of the nation in prayer, inciting the angel Gabriel to visit and deliver this message:
In 538 BC, the angel Gabriel gave Daniel a prophecy pinpointing when the Messiah would arrive.
“Know and understand this,” From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.
The prophecy further says that after the Messiah arrives, he will be “put to death and will have nothing.” The word “after” is very important. After the Messiah arrives, he will be put to death. Jesus’s crucifixion fulfills that prophecy.
We now know that the Messiah would arrive 483 years in the future.
As Jesus is teaching in Matthew 24, and Mark 13, he borrows themes and imagery from Daniel, even mentioning the prophet by name (Matt 24:15).