Leaders of the Bible: Daniel
The story of Daniel, is a story of an exile, learning to live a faithful life in a foreign land. It is a story of a faithful few, living in a cultural that hates God and his ways. It is a story of a culture that is purposefully working to stop the worship of the one true God. It is a story about Daniel, and his efforts to remain faithful to the ways of God in his life and his leadership. It is a story that we could all take a few notes from.
As a refresher of the story, the people of Israel have been captured and exiled to Babylon. In captivity the Babylonian people and king have exerted an intentional effort to shape the people of Israel away from their God and conform them to love and act in accordance with the Babylonian gods. As a part of the effort to conform the people of Israel to the ways of Babylon, the best and the brightest of Israel are brought to learn and serve in King Nebuchadnezzar’s courts. Among this group was a faith Israelite named Daniel. He loved the God of Israel and was fearless in his resistance to the king.
While there are many Godly virtues that we could glean wisdom from in the book of Daniel, there is one virtue that we will focus on; Courage. Courage is not a virtue often developed in the hearts and mind of the church today. The moral character of our culture and too often of the church is one of cowardice. Our culture celebrates tolerance, acceptance, and conformity. We are formed by the cultural moment to be a slave to pleasure and ease, with no appetite for sacrifice, risk or hard work for a worthy end. The church today often lacks the courage to resist the ways of the world and embrace the ways of the living God. There are two lessons that we can observe about how to live our a lives in an act of Godly courage in the midst of a hostile culture.
To begin, when Daniel is initially brought into the kings court, every aspect of their lives is shaped to form their actions, desires and appetites to the way of Babylon. In the opening verses of the book of Daniel in chapter 1 verse 8 it says this, “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.” Daniel actively goes against the culture in an intentional resistance to the ways of Babylon. In this story we get our first lesson: We conform to what we consume. The shows that you watch, the books you read, the cultural narrative you soak into your heart, the school you attend, the friends you are with, the accounts you follow online, and so much more forms us. Let’s read that again. We conform to what you consume. The life and leadership that God has for you should be shaped by Godly consumption.
Second, later is the book of Daniel King Darius, the king of Babylon, is tricked by his officials to create a law that will put anyone in the lions den who prays to any god besides him. In Daniel 6:7 it says this, “establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions”. In Daniel 6:10 we see Daniel’s response as it says “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”. Again we see Daniel’s resistance to godless norms. He takes great risk and trusts God. His first response to a law banning the worship of God is to worship God. In this we glean our second lesson, not only do we conform to what we consume but courage also comes at a cost. Is your prayer life worth the threat of death? Is your relationship with the living God worth your job or your societal standing? What would you be willing to sacrifice to live faithfully in the ways of Jesus and resist the ways of the world?
Resonate Church, we have much to learn from the story of Daniel. We have much to glean in wisdom about how to prepare our hearts and mind to lead our lives and our people in the ways of the living God and resist the rot of culture. Would we pray that Jesus would be a worthy prize in the midst of it all.
