Daniel

Good ol' Insight for Living on KTIS at 10pm :-p. On my drive home this is often whats on the radio. For a while he (Chuck Swindoll) has been talking about Daniel, and tonight he happened to be talking about Daniel in reference to prayer (which of course goes right along with everything else this week :)

Last night he talked about Daniel 6:4 "At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent." Chuck said - everybody has SOMETHING, some skeleton in the closet, something someone could find on you. Not Daniel. He was so persistent and consistent in his relationship with God that they could find NO corruption in him.

Tonight he talked about the rest of the story in Daniel 6, about Daniel in the lion's den. Daniel was appointed one of 3 administrators to the 120 satraps under King Darius. Basically he was in the top 3 guys in the country - in fact he distinguished himself even among the 3 administrators so much that the King wanted to "set him over the whole Kingdom" (verse 3). The other administrators and satraps were so jealous of this that they had to find some reason to make the King believe Daniel was not fit for the Kingdom and they should inherit it instead (this is where the part came in about them trying to fin some fault in Daniel, with no luck at all).

So the rest of the administrators and satraps got together and devised a plan to make everyone in the Kingdom bow down to only King Darius for 30 days. They knew Daniel would not obey this, and therefore (they thought) the King would find fault with him and disapprove. They went to King Darius to tell him to issue this law. They told him, "The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den" (Daniel 6:7) - which is a LIE. They told the King that they "have all agreed" hmm... that doesn't include Daniel! They made this decision without him, and forgot that little detail when they went to the king. The King issues the law...

Daniel's reaction is the important part of the story I think. When he finds out about this law, here is his response:
"Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before" (Daniel 6:10).
Just as he had done before. Prayer was such an integral part of Daniel's life, that this huge trial did not even faze him. When he was told to worship someone else, he didn't hesitate for a monent - he went immediately back to him room and to his window that faced Jerusalem where he met God multiple times a day and prayed. Even gave thanks to God. Daniel consistently kept his life and his burdens at the throne of God, and this was no exception.