By: Judy Doudoukjian
Nebuchadnezzar is gone, Belshazzar has met his demise, and Darius the Mede is on the throne. Here is a little something to whet your appetite for this exciting adventure:
“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 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.’”
I cannot think of a single reason why this story could not be set in Washington, DC, or even Columbia, SC, for that matter. The set is already built, and has been in place since the garden of Eden, with the only change being the characters themselves. Satan has been doing his utmost to discredit the faithful in every generation. He does it by lying, by deceit of all kinds, by pitting us against each other, and above all, by trying to dethrone God Himself. That is his whole agenda. We MUST recognize this truth, because it gives us the corrective lenses to be able to discern his shenanigans in our own time! The characters change, but the plot remains the same. Christians are in the crosshairs of Satan’s evil plots! Consider the words of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians:
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
This sixth chapter of Daniel gives us some important guidelines about times like these. First and foremost, like Daniel, we are to establish a habit of prayer. Political schemes and man-made laws and edicts, no matter how seemingly airtight, cannot ultimately prevail against the faithful man or woman of God who lays all things at his feet and walks in obedience to his will. Sometimes it may seem as though our enemy has the upper hand, but ultimately God wins. He is completely sovereign over the affairs of men.
“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 didn’t wait until trouble came to pray. It was his daily routine. He had been doing it for all the years he was captive in Babylon. This constancy in prayer was how his enemies sought to trick him. It was not a secret. Daniel had no way of knowing how the Lord would deliver him, whether by death or by life. Perhaps he was praying Psalm 91:2: I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Maybe he was reassured by these words:
“You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.”
Daniel’s arrest caused King Darius a sleepless night. He kept trying to find some way to rescue Daniel—some way to break the unbreakable laws of the Medes and Persians. Finally, distraught and harried, he hurried to the lion’s den at daybreak and cried out in anguish, hoping, yet dreading the outcome. Imagine his relief when Daniel was able to answer him calmly and reassuringly with these beautiful words:
“My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you. O king, I have done no harm.”
I will leave you to read the fate of Daniel’s enemies. You simply must read Daniel 6! No novel I have ever read tells such an exciting story, and it is all true. Powerful kings have come and gone, but Daniel continues to serve his God faithfully. Changes in rulers and changes in policies hold no sway over our faithful God. As we end this narrative section of Daniel, we find these closing words:
“So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
In this strange season, the likes of which we have never faced before, may we remember this and develop even more the habit of prayer. May we remember that our faithful God is present with us. May we talk to him as we go about our daily lives, and may we be found faithful.