Maintaining Convictions in Times of Crisis

I just love the book of Daniel!  I find it to be inspiring in so many ways.  In chapter 6 we see Daniel maintaining his convictions in a time of crisis.  Because of God’s blessing Daniel has risen to the top of the government.  This led to the other government officials  becoming jealous of Daniel and they sought to remove him.  Unlike most modern day politicians, Daniel was “squeaky clean”.  In verse 5 we here these jealous officials say, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”  So they cooked up a scheme to have the king outlaw prayer to any man or god for 30 days.  The king decides to sign this law, after all, he is king, and then finds out later what he has done to Daniel.

Here is what happens in vs 10:  “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, (referring to the ban on prayer), he went home, and in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.”  The rest of the story is that Daniel was cast into a den of lions for violating the kings decree; however God shut the mouths of the lions so that no harm came to him.  The king was very glad and gave glory to God and the king had Daniel’s accusers tossed into the den of lions…and they were NOT protected by God and so they became “lion chow”!

There is so much that we could talk about this chapter but what struck me was how Daniel responded; and how he maintained his convictions in the time of crisis.  And how he responded is really a way that we can respond as well.  When Daniel heard about the king’s ban on prayer, he did not worry about it.  He did not ponder the consequences, nor did he seek out ways to get the ban changed.  He just prayed.  He maintained his convictions and was willing to let God sort out the consequences.  I think that this is so important for all of us.  So often we find ourselves in situations where life comes up against what God wants us to do, and instead of just “doing it” we worry or we wonder about what will happen.  I think that we can learn from Daniel here.  Let’s just do what we know God wants us to do and then let God take care of the rest.  Daniel trusts in God and God doesn’t let him down.  God won’t ever let us down either…He can’t and He won’t.