"From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised." Psalm 113:3. Praise the Lord for each sunrise and each sunset. The Lord, the Sun of Righteousness, makes all sunrises and all sunsets brilliant and beautiful. Praise the Lord for the way He is the cosmic mover and shaker.
It is written in Psalm 2, "He who
sits in heavens laughs... the Lord has them in derision". Our Lord,
Greater than great, stronger than strong, higher than high, wiser than
wise. Our Lord and Savior is above and beyond. We praise the Lord for the mild and
marvelous weather with which the Lord has showered us during these
days of October. We have been driving around various parts of the
Southern Tier and Central New York, yet we cannot escape the
indescribable beauty and splendor the Lord infuses through the earth during
this season. We are overwhelmed and so we are provoked to honor
and glorify the matchless painter, the unparalleled artist, and the magnanimous
giver of all good and perfect gifts.
I am driven from time to time to gaze
upon the life and witness of Daniel. He was a man of valor. He was
a man of faith and faithfulness, of great devotion and fidelity. From his
youth to old age, in crises and out of crises, Daniel prayed. In
addition, the prayers of Daniel included thanksgiving. So much did he
trust his God that he gave thanks for the grace surrounding him, despite
the crises that enveloped him. He simply turned to God in
trust as he always had. He lived with integrity and applied his
gifts of insight and management with excellence for the sake of the land his
people inhabited.
We live to reflect our God and to
reclaim the world that he is redeeming for his own glory. Daniel showed
his dedication to his God by doing his very best to exemplify God's standards
in his occupation, as well as in his religious duties. He trusted God
enough to serve him in secular endeavors, as well as religious ones. The sign
of Daniel's trust was not merely a valiant stand in a crisis but a life of
dedication exhibited across decades, before a succession of empires, and
without the support of his own people. His was the kind of life an author
has described as "a long obedience in the same direction."
Bible teachers often refer to Daniel as one of the great "success"
stories of the Scriptures. Such a perspective results from a very
selective gathering of facts from the prophet's life. An honest weighing
of all the facts will cause us to speak less of "Daniel the Great"
and more of "Daniel the Tested." No victory lasts. No
triumph makes more than the most fleeting of spiritual impressions on his
history, culture, or circumstances. As far as Daniel knew, his life had
been spent in fruitlessness.
Daniel ministered in a pagan land
for most of a century, but what did he have to show for it? The
account as written in the book of Daniel says that "all" the
officials of the king turned against Daniel, and King Darius himself was willing
to endorse their idolatry of himself (6:7). The people of this land were
no more believing in Daniel's God than when the prophet entered the land as a
young man. No spiritual awakening was recorded to have swept the land during
his long life. Babylon remained unchanged. Though some kings
listened to him, their successors did not. Kings and kingdoms had come
and gone, but still the rulers were idolatrous, wicked, and cruel.
Daniel's positions and influence seemed
to come and go with purposeless frequency. Daniel's life seems to have had
little effect on the spiritual progress of his own people. No revival was
recorded among them. No repentance sweeps through them. The chosen nation
remained in captivity despite Daniel's political power, and their hearts seem
similarly bound despite his prophetic ministry. When these "chosen
people" returned to Israel after Daniel's death, their spiritual
understanding had so eroded they could not even remember the language in which
God's law was written, much less the standards and traditions it described.
Daniel trusted the Lord and served long, hard, and faithfully,
but the only fruit of his faith was jealousy, accusation, and advancing years
that made him too old to ever go back to his homeland. His circumstances
could well have justified his asking the same question Leonardo de Vinci asked
on his own death bed, "Did I do anything?" Despite the
intelligence and designs of da Vinci, the Renaissance man, very little actually
resulted from his efforts within his lifetime. William Carey, who was
driven by zeal to proclaim the Gospel, sailed to India in 1793 with his family,
where he labored for seven years under duress in a very demanding and
oppressive milieu. The Lord blessed him with a solitary convert after
laboring for a full seven fruitless years. The conversion of one man in
1800 brought about a great Renaissance in India that is still
flaming India today.
Through the faithfulness of his people,
God determines to overcome the dark forces of this world. Our trust does
not eradicate all present trials, but when we believe tears of today will be
dried by triumphs of tomorrow, we will find the strength to live for our God.
Frustration and tragedy may still come, but they cannot overwhelm the purposes
of our God or the usefulness of our lives when we continue in the duties he
sets before us. For these reasons, the account of Daniel in the den of
lions not only encourages us to trust in God, but to live for him. Through
Daniel's example, the Bible inspires us to live with courage when circumstances
and threats tempt us to compromise. Our trust in God should fill us with
the courage to live for him.
What would it mean for us to join the ranks
of those 19th century missionaries who packed their belongings in coffins
before sailing to Africa because they expected to give their lives for
God? What would it mean to live like Amy Carmichael, who fought for
the lives of children forced into temple prostitution in India during the
Victorian Era, when her mission was scandalous to mention in churches? In
an era where the sex trade and sexual slavery is at its apex in world history,
the question is worth asking of today's Christian leaders. Believing that
the Lord can change everything through us, beyond us, or after us is what
should keep us living courageously, because we are living in hope. We
live with the confidence that our God will fulfill purposes through us if we
will stand for him.
Following the final chapter of the prophet
Daniel's life history are his amazing prophesies of future victories to
come in Jerusalem. He wrote that the captives from Israel would return to
the holy city, Jerusalem would be restored, and from the former
ruins would rise the Savior. This Savior would defeat forever the
enemy who prowls the earth "like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour" (1 Peter 5:8). As
Daniel did his duty, his physical eyes could see only ruin, despair, and
danger, but through the eyes of faith Daniel saw beyond these things. By
focusing on Jerusalem he saw sure victory, future triumph, and certain
hope. Through the eyes of hope, ruined Jerusalem shone yet as the great
symbol of God's abiding faithfulness to those he would defend. Daniel was
faithful before the threat of raging lions, because he trusted in the One who
shuts the mouth of the great lion called Satan.
The sign of God's faithfulness that we
all remember is Daniel's rescue from the lions, but the greater sign that
proves the value of Daniel's hope for his nation and for us is almost hidden in
the last words of this chapter, "So this Daniel prospered during the reign
of Darius and during the reign of Cyrus the Persian" (6:28).
The name of the final ruler is most important because under this ruler the
people of Israel began to return to their homeland. Because they
returned to Israel, ultimately a child would be born in the city of David who
would be Christ, our Lord. Daniel's influence and God's promise finally were
fulfilled according to the hope Daniel maintained into his old age.
In Christ,
Brown
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