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Dare To Be A
Daniel
 Is it possible, in this day and age, to live a life for God when the
world screams out for us to compromise our beliefs in order to comply
with societies standards? The bible teaches, not only is it possible,
it is essential that we live our lives in such a way as to become a
living testimony to our faith.
No finer example can be found in scripture of a man dedicated to a
life committed to God than Daniel. The book of Daniel shows us, very
clearly, how we can remain true to God in a hostile environment. It
shows us how to live for Him when everything and everyone is against
us. From its pages we learn how to sing the Lords song in a strange
and unholy land. Daniel and his three companions managed it, so can
we.
We are first introduced to Daniel as a fourteen-year old boy, he had
been taken from his home, family and friends, and forcibly marched to
a strange land. There he was subjected to a powerful and subtle form
of indoctrination, in later years he was surrounded by jealous enemies
who plotted against his life. At no time was he free from the
temptation to pursue material prosperity and personal advancement at
the expense of everything else. He was surrounded by evil in youth,
middle years and old age. There is hardly a temptation known to any of
us that Daniel did not have to face, yet the scriptures do not record
a single flaw in his character! He purposed his heart to please God
and never moved from that resolve.
Very few, if any
of us,
have faced the difficulties Daniel faced. When we think of
difficulties, we usually think only of our own. We persuade ourselves
that everyone else has it easy and that we would make more spiritual
progress if we were in some other situation. The factory worker thinks
it easier to live the Christian life in the office, whilst the office
worker is convinced it is easier to be a Christian housewife at home.
The housewife is not always aware of the difficulties of living for
Christ at school and the school student looks forward for the day when
he will face the perceived, easier challenge of the factory floor,
and so the circle goes on. We each imagine that nobody has
difficulties greater than our own. We excuse our poor standard of
Christian living by pointing to the circumstances in which we are
found. The book of Daniel exposes us completely, it proves that true
spirituality never depended upon things being easy!
What was Daniel’s secret? How can we apply his example to our daily
lives in order that we too might 'dare to be a Daniel' and become more
fruitful in the service of God? The answer to these questions is very
simple. Before he interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream what did he do?
he prayed (2:17-19). When he was plotted against, and then thrown into
a den of lions, what was he doing? He was praying (6:10). What is
chapter nine all about? It is Daniel at prayer. Daniel was first and
foremost a man of prayer. A proper prayer life is half the secret of
remaining true to God in a hostile world. Today we live in a world
totally hostile to Christian teaching, a world, consumed with the need
to conform with societies model of immediate success, instant
gratification and a live now pay later attitude. Surely the need for
prayer is just as important in our lives as it was in Daniel’s!
The other half of the secret is just as simple. In 9:2 we see Daniel
examining ‘books’ and understanding them. What books were those? They
were prophetical books of the old testament which had been written by
that date. In 9:11 and 9:13 we read of Daniel referring to ‘the law of
Moses’. Daniel read and knew his bible. His secret is easy to define,
if not always easy to implement. He stood firm for God, ‘the
great deliverer, the God of yesterday today and forever’, in a world
hostile to him and to his God, because he read his bible and said his
prayers!
These un-dramatic disciplines need stressing today. It is often
thought that the secret of Christian living lies in our having some
new and exceptional experience of God. Different terms are used by
different people, but the idea is usually the same. It is taught that
a new experience of God will lead me to a higher spiritual plane than
where I am now. If I can only have this new experience I will never
be the same again. All my energies must not rest until the new
experience I seek is truly mine.
Daniel had some wonderful experiences with The
Lord, but he did not seek them. He sought God for his own sake, not
for what God might do for him. He enjoyed being with God, discerning
His word and communing with Him in prayer.
As we explore the book of Daniel we are faced with many Biblical
truths. None more important than Gods desire to use all of us in his
service, irrespective of our circumstances. Further, we are taught that in order to be
entrusted with much we have to first prove ourselves worthy by being
tested with little. If Daniel and his friends; Hananiah, Mishael and
Azariah had not refused to eat defiled food it is possible we would
never have heard of these four great men of God. Most certainly they
would not have developed the moral character needed to withstand the
heat of the fiery furnace, or a night in a den of lions.
Many Christians are yearning for higher positions where they can have
more spiritual influence. “If only I were in this position or that
place what influence I could have for the Lord” is the cry, yet the
simple truth is that none of us can make a higher position count for
God unless we live for him right now, where we are today. If we are unwilling to
stand up and be counted for him over small things, how will we ever do
so with bigger things? Is it possible to be faithful in much without
first being faithful in little? If we cannot resist comparatively
small temptations now, what will we do when they are intensified later?
Noah, Abraham, Moses and David were all Godly men, yet God’s word
records that each of them fell at certain
times, into serious fault. Each of them has
at least one blemish on his character, some of them more than one. The
bible does not whitewash its leading characters, or pretend they were
something other than what they really were, but the same book does not
record a single blemish in the life of Daniel. Spirituality and
integrity of character do not require ideal conditions in which to
develop, they are not plants that thrive in the protection of the
greenhouse, but grow best when exposed to wind and hail, to drought
and to burning sun.
The central lesson of the book of Daniel can be summarized in a single
phrase:
‘Them that honour
me I will honour’
(1 Samuel 2:30). Daniel set his heart to honour God, and in so doing
proves it is possible for a person to live for God when there is
nothing on his side except faith in God and His word. Daniel sets us
all a wonderful example of living a life dedicated to the pursuit of
spiritual integrity and gives us an insight into the rewards God
freely bestows upon his people. The only question remaining is this: Do we
have the courage to follow Daniel’s example and face the lions of this
world without compromise? Will we dare to be a Daniel?
W. Joe Ingram
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