Lionized

I am racking my brain trying to draw out an illustration of someone who stands out as an outstanding Christian example. I am distracted because as I am sitting here thinking, my oldest children are laughing and talking about things that happened in youth group (“student ministries”) or summer camps. The highlight of their entertainment of the moment involves recalling contests involving drinking gallons of milk or speed-eating Oreos, chasing them with entire cartons of eggnog—and the predictable outcome (no pun intended) of ingesting such large quantities all at once. Why is this funny? Why are Youth Pastors (Student Pastors) advocating this kind of sickening behavior? Worse still, what kind of Christian example is to be found in this kind of so-called leadership? How is one to respect them?

People who are respected are those found to be upright, with integrity. Respected people are those with good reputations; temperate; prudent; hospitable; able to teach and remain teachable; descent in character and behavior; exercise restraint, control and discernment; gentle; at peace, etc. Almost sounds like someone described in 2 Timothy or Titus. I pray that when we try to identify outstanding Christian examples, respectable individuals, that we find men who fit these descriptions. I am not saying that this is limited to Pastors, but Pastors should be these kinds of men.

This is sobering thought. Consider for a moment that your name randomly finds its way into a conversation of which you are not a part. What descriptors could be made of you? How do people think of you? How does your reputation precede you?

Before being transplanted into Babylon, Daniel and his friends were just kids. They’ve spent their lives growing up as strangers in a strange land—and they’ve been through some tough ordeals with their lives being threatened. They’ve been on the border of existence and not just once. What seems to be an irony is that with every threat came preservation and promotion. Their growing up years have not been wasted, but filled with exaltation within, even above their captors. Daniel specifically has bubbled to the top as the favorite of Nebuchadnezzar, the third ruler in the kingdom under Belshazzar, and (Daniel 6) one of three governors over all Babylon under Darius.

Daniel soared to the top not because of eloquence, management skills or because he seemed to be right all the time. Daniel was exalted because of His humble dependence on the Lord God. He and his friends had their hearts set not to be defiled and thus displease God. They sought the counsel of God in prayer and thus were able to reveal and interpret the most deepest secrets. They would not bow the knee to someone else’s idea of God, but walked with the true and living God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and the fruit of their walk was evident. “It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.” (Daniel 6:1-3)

For those of us who grew up under the influence of Stan Lee and other comic book myths, we know that for every good guy there lurks a bad guy. Daniel and his friends were the “League of Extraordinary Godly Men.” They were the superheroes of their day, and everybody knew it (and their secret power was really no secret). They could fight off the most cruel Babylonian guards on their knees with carrot sticks. It almost seemed they could read minds. Fire could not touch them. Wicked minds could only plot against them for their destruction, and plot they did. Mind you, these wicked men were the ones who invaded their land and took them as captives, but since that time, they could only look to them as their rulers and governors. The Chaldeans seemed to fail at every turn. Will their evil plot work?

“So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:4-5)

Notice carefully: Daniel was lionized; that is, he became the object of great interest and importance to his enemies. Under all their scrutiny, they found that Daniel intensely loved his God—as if they did not know that already. Actually, Daniel is really not the object of their attack; instead, it is the object of his worship: the comfort and undoing of kings, the God of the nations. The Chaldeans convince Darius to pass an irreversible law that says if anyone petitions any god but Darius for thirty days is to be cast into a den of lions. Daniel goes home and prays about it. Three times a day. As was his custom. Did he fall for their trap? This is about God who prepares a table in the presence of enemies. This is about God who walks with His faithful in through the fire. This is about God who considers every person and weighs him or her in the balance. Do you suppose Daniel talked with God about the way the Chaldeans were responding to Him?

God saw to it that the law of the land was fulfilled. Because Daniel petitioned the true and living God and not Darius within the thirty days, he was cast into the lion’s den. God saw to it that nothing more came to Daniel. The fact that Daniel was in with the lions disturbed Darius and he could not rest. Note: the other rulers before Darius were troubled when God was stirring events around them.

God vindicates himself through Darius calling into the den first thing the next morning. “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” (Daniel 6:20) Darius knows that God lives. If he had any doubt concerning Daniel’s condition, he never would have gone to the den the next morning. Daniel was alive. In the den, just as the law said. “So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.” (Daniel 6:23)

Daniel’s enemies (and their entire families) were gathered together and were destroyed by the lions in the den. See, God has a law, too. It says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Daniel’s enemies basically said that if anyone commits idolatry, that person is to die. The enemies of Daniel received exactly what they requested in the law—death. The wages of sin is death.

Daniel was hated. “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15)

Daniel’s enemies lied to get what they wanted. “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will not escape". (Proverbs 19:5)

Daniel’s enemies coveted what he had. That, too, broke God’s law. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)

Justice served.

God, in protecting His promise and His plan, had His man in the right place and the right time. As we meditate on this, let’s not forget Joseph, who was about to be killed by his brothers (he, too, was despised, etc.) and sold into slavery in a strange land. Joseph, because of his faithfulness to God was exalted in position to the place he not only ruled over his captors, but also was able to care for his people. Why didn’t the brothers die? Repentance. They confessed their sin and found restored fellowship.

Before we get too carried away concerning the behavior of the unbelievers, the wicked, let’s take a moment to look inward. Daniel, in his older age at this point—perhaps in his 70’s--had the habit of praying three times a day. Muslims pray 5 times each day. How about you? The earliest African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in their private devotions. Each one reportedly had separate spots in the thicket where he poured out his heart to God. The several paths to these little Bethels became distinctly marked; and when any one began to decline in devotions, it was soon apparent to others. They would then kindly remind him, saying, “Brother, the grass grows on your path yonder.”[1]

Now, before to start feeling guilty, please remember that the Qur’an makes sets the order for the Muslim. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to pray 3 times per day. Even during Jesus’ ministry when the disciples received instruction concerning prayer, they learned method, not frequency. There is instruction that says we are to meditate on God’s law day and night, when we sit, rise, etc. Prayer, for the obedient Christian, is unceasing. So is rejoicing in the Lord!

For our own growth, perhaps some deeper investigation is needed to discover why Daniel was so committed to prayer. As you research the scripture, try to discover how much Daniel depended on God and yearned for His presence and power. It should not be long until we discover that Daniel’s business in the land of his captors was not governance of the land; rather, his business (and the business of his four friends) was prayer, communion with God in order that the nations would know that the Lord is God, the great King above all gods. Governance was what they did to fill the time. The practice of prayer reflects our personal dependence on God, He presence and power.

The preservation of life is not the goal of prayer. God’s glory is. Consider John the Baptist and Steven, men who now only walked with God and preached the Kingdom, but they lost their lives in His service. One lost his head and the other was stoned to death. Does this mean that God is cruel? Where was God but the same place He was with Daniel in the lion’s den and in the furnace—right beside His saints preserving His honor, His glory.

We forget that martyrdom is a witness.

************
[1]Tan, Paul Lee. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: [A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers]. Garland TX: Bible Communications, 1996, c1979.