Saturday, November 29, 2014
So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” (Daniel 6:16)
"People of character and integrity who take risks are most often the kind of people who see God’s power and the fullness of His blessing upon their lives and ministries.” (Martin Sanders, The Power of Mentoring)
Daniel was such a person - a man of character and integrity, on and off the job, in the eyes of God and men. He was so favored that his jealous co-workers devised a scheme to get him thrown into a lion’s den. They tricked the king into issuing a decree that forbade praying to any other god or human being other than the king. In spite of the decree, Daniel continued to pray three times a day as he had always done (even at the risk of losing his life). As a result, when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den for praying to God, God made the once ferocious lions to be like kittens. The Lord miraculously rescued Daniel from death because of Daniel’s character…and everyone in the empire heard about it.
Daniel didn’t overpower the lions and he didn’t pull a 007 escape trick. No magic. No frills. Just character...especially when things got hard. Most of us would have excused Daniel if he didn’t pray so openly after the decree was issued or if he had just prayed silently rather than aloud. But, Daniel took the risk and God honored it, using it to glorify His Own Name.
Have you stopped praying because it just hasn’t seemed like its worth the effort anymore?
Has a particular difficulty that you’re facing intimidated you and caused you to waver in faith?
If we’ve learned anything from this passage it’s that whether things look hopeless or intimidating don’t stop praying - keep the faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment