Daniel 6

This morning's passage is one of my favorites. One of my favorites as a child growing up, and it's the famous account of Daniel and the lions. It's a favourite of mine because of the great storyline. It's got the heroic, brave, unrelenting hero that is Daniel being unfairly treated, being overlooked, and locked overnight in a lion's den full of hungry lions. But instead of being eaten, he is miraculously saved.

And in the biggest irony, the enemies that try to get him killed are thrown into the lion's den, and they themselves are killed. Again, archaeology, just for interest's sake, has found a huge interest in the Babylonian time, in the Babylonian Empire with lions. A picture of a lion actually that was discovered on a wall of the Babylonian empire in the region near Iraq. And thousands of these sort of depictions of lions were found in archaeological findings of the Babylonian era. So it shows that they had a real fascination with lions.

And so this pit of lions in Babylon and the story that we have in Daniel probably fits with this obsession of the Babylonians with lions. Even though we find that we are with Darius now. We're speaking about Darius the Persian, Darius the Mede. In the next empire, he still sat in power in the city of Babylon. So despite, however, this memorable story of Daniel and the lion's den and how God miraculously saves Daniel, the real point that the Bible is trying to make here is not necessarily what happened in the lion's den, but what was the reason for Daniel to be in the lion's den in the first place.

That is what we're going to be looking at tonight, this morning. That is what we're going to be hopefully what God will be using in our lives this morning. If you remember back to our first sermon on this series, we learned that the name Daniel means God is my judge. Remember that? God is my judge.

He said, "I will not eat of what is from the king's table because I know what God wants for me, and this is not what God wants for me." God is my judge. We saw that it mattered more for Daniel what God thought of him than what the king, the royal advisers, the satraps, the presidents, the prefects all thought of Daniel. It mattered more what God thought of Daniel than the rest. And Daniel's life was centred on God.

It was built on God, and his whole way of looking at the world was drenched in God's way of living. God is my judge. God is my judge. That means that God is more important to me. What God thinks of me.

What God thinks of Narang Community Church is more important than what anyone else in this world will tell you. Even other Christians, even other churches, what God thinks of us is more important than what anyone else thinks of us. Let's have a look at Daniel's amazing response, and this is the crux. Daniel's amazing response to Darius' law about who he may or may not pray to. Let's get the situation in view.

Verse two says that Daniel was one of three rulers over the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. Daniel maintained his place of honour, his place of administration, from the move over from the Babylonian to the Persian Empire, which was in itself a miracle because usually all the kings and all the noblemen would have just been wiped out. Daniel maintains his position and he's placed as one of the three main rulers over the empire. Verse three says that he overshadowed, literally he overshadowed, or the NIV says he so distinguished himself, but he shone so much more than the other prefects and satraps that they became jealous. He was such a good skilled administrator that he put everyone else to shame.

And so jealousy sprung up. Daniel had this amazingly blessed career behind him. And now even in his old age, even under a new king in the empire, he is given all the influence and all the prestige and all the wealth that he could have asked for. But this makes him the target for jealousy. Who can relate to that in their life?

And so verses four to nine describes how the other governors and the satraps persuaded Darius the king to make a law that said, "Anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days except you, your majesty, should be thrown in the lion's den." This was no stab in the dark. Daniel's devotion to God and his prayer life was so well known that they knew that is how they were going to get him. This wasn't just a gamble. They knew that there was no other way that they could get Daniel into a compromising situation.

It wasn't going to be through bribery. It wasn't going to be through entertainment. It wasn't going to be through any normal means. It was going to be God's law. And whether or not he was going to be faithful to God or compromise, and they knew they were going to get him on that.

The Bible says that Daniel's character was so upright and was so consistent that they could not find any illegal activity in which to compromise him, to get him into trouble. But they knew they could trap him using God's law. And then we look at verse 10, and it just takes your breath away. It just makes you just say, wow. Have a look at verse 10.

When Daniel found out that the document had been signed, and he knew that the laws of the Persians and the Medes was irrevocable. It could not be changed. When he found out about this document, what does he do? He goes back home to pray. And not only that, he goes up to the upper house, to the upper storey near an open window and starts praying.

And that is what our message is going to be focusing on this morning: daring dependence on prayer. Daring dependence on prayer. We're going to look at a few things that we notice about Daniel's prayer life that can hopefully influence and be an encouragement to our prayer life. The first thing we see is that Daniel didn't act in ignorance. He didn't have this sprung upon him.

He didn't have a normal prayer session and then discover that there was this decree that was made. I'm sure the memo would have been sent to him. It would have been in his inbox that this decree had been made. And he notices. He finds out about this, the Bible says, and he acts in full knowledge of the law and the consequences.

Don't forget that Daniel is right on the brink of being the main ruler of Persia. So in this situation, he could have had all sorts of human rationalisations. He could have said to himself, "I can do so much more for God if I'm alive than if I'm dead. I'm in this position of power, of influence. If I just last for thirty days, thirty days is a month, I could do so much for God, so much more than I would if I'm a skeleton in a lion's den."

But he rejects all these rationalisations. He knows that he is solely dependent on God and that God holds ultimate power over him and ultimate power over the empire and the emperor. God is in control. He knows that. But he also knows that the penalty for his disobedience will be death.

The second thing we notice is that he doesn't go to the woods to pray. So, you know, he says, "Well, okay, maybe I should pray." But he doesn't go out to the back alleys. He doesn't go to the woods or to the desert, the wilderness. He goes back to his home, and he goes to pray.

He could have kept praying to God without putting himself at risk if he had just gone underground for thirty days, if he had just made himself scarce. Nowhere in the Bible does the law of God say that you are meant to pray in your house. It could have been anywhere, but he goes back home. The third thing is that he doesn't go to an inner secret chamber right in the middle of the house where there's no windows, where there's no doors. He goes to the top storey at the window and starts praying.

He went to the room with an open window, the most visible spot in his house. Can you, with me, detect this sense of defiance, this sense of determination? Daniel is not just praying contrary to the king's decree, but he's making a public statement. He's making a public statement. We would say today that he's participating in an act of public civil disobedience.

Saying, "I refuse to abide by these laws because it impinges on my faith. It impinges on my relationship to my God, and I refuse to be broken in my allegiance to God." The fourth thing we see is that he did not pray once, but he prays three times a day like he'd been praying before. He would make sure that he didn't miss his routine, his habit, a very good habit. The fifth thing we see is that when Daniel prayed, he didn't use words that were vague or ambiguous, things that spoke about, that could be sort of used by a clever attorney to say he wasn't really praying to God.

He was praying to the God. He said he brought thanks before his God, the Bible says. He gave thanks before his God, not to Darius, not to a man, not to the gods of the Medes and Persians, but to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The last thing is we see that he didn't change the way he prayed. He didn't do anything different to yield to the pressures of the law of Darius.

It says at the end of verse 10 that he prayed as he had done previously. Nothing changed. Nothing changed. There were many ways to pray. There were many options that he could use to pray without being detected, without getting into trouble, but he refused to do that.

Daniel prayed daringly, defiantly, and in his usual disciplined way, three times a day. What do we make of all this personally? What principles can we get out of this? We've said before that our society is looking very much like society in Babylon, cosmopolitan, secular, difficult on Christians. How can we relate some of these things in Daniel to us?

The first thing I think is just so amazingly clear in Daniel is that Daniel used prayer as a legitimate public testimony. Daniel used prayer to preach the gospel. A defiant and rich prayer life is a public testimony that you believe God is in control of all the aspects of life, not only your life, but of this entire human race. It boldly professes that we cannot live without the all consuming love of God to work His way in and through us.

When we pray at the dinner table with guests, we say, "Thank you, God." We confess, "Thank you, God, that you have provided this for us. That this hasn't come about by our own work, by our own cleverness, by the very fact that we are in Australia and that we worked to be in Australia. Some of us were just born into this very lucky position.

Other people have had the finances to be able to come here. But we all confess that it is because of God's grace. It is because of God's gift to us that we are here to be able to receive this abundant dinner, this abundant feast." When we pray like that, it is a public testimony of our beliefs, of who God is, of what God does in our lives. When Daniel was praying, he was making a statement, not just about God, but about his relationship with God.

God would not have changed if Daniel had prayed in secret. God wouldn't have changed. God would still be God. Daniel would still be a ruler in Persia. What would have been different, however, is the way that the satraps and the presidents and the prefects and even the king thought about God.

He was known, Daniel, as a man who lived by prayer. That's why they knew they could trap him. That's why they knew they could get him to pray and they could get him in the lion's den. People knew that Daniel prayed. That's how they knew they could trap him.

They knew Daniel came to his God in all things, and he sought the action of God before he took action himself. That is a huge example as if you're a business owner, if you're a boss over people, to pray before making those decisions like Daniel did. Daniel had a whole country to rule. It's humbling to know that as a boss, you can and you should come to God before making a decision. Ultimately, it is God who does what is needed.

Likewise, we must know that our prayer before a meal, before we play a game, I like to pray before I play volleyball on Monday nights and the guys know that to keep us safe. It is a public testimony to unbelievers. We should know that our prayer in the workplace cafeteria or even for a friend who's sick are moments of public testimony. They are opportunities to expose God to people. God is able to use it.

I believe God is able to use it. In prayer, we show not only that we believe that God exists, but we believe in the character of God. If we pray for God again in our before a meal, before unbelievers, we show that God is able to look after us. That God is a God who loves and cares for people. If we pray for healing for a friend, we show that God is a God who heals.

God is a God who is miraculously involved and is miraculous and is involved in human life. That He cares. The humble prayer of a Christian coming before their heavenly Father, pleading for the health of a friend, requesting for clarity on a difficult situation, or thanking Him for His goodness to a family member. These things all publicly show the character of God we worship. Isn't it great?

And I'm sure you found this in your life that not many people in Australia will necessarily have you preach to them. You know, will have you just speak into their lives and say, "This is what God says." But every single one of them will allow you to pray for them. I've not had someone say, "I don't want your prayer" if I've offered it to them.

What an opportunity. What an opportunity to show who God is to that person. The second thing we see about Daniel's prayer life is that it was disciplined and regular. When the time came for an act of public civil disobedience, Daniel didn't have to change anything. He already was praying three times a day in his house.

There was a pattern, there was a routine, there was a discipline involved in his prayer life. Could it be that Daniel's discipline in prayer was the secret of his unplanned spontaneous encounters with God? In fact, it is. If we go on next year with this series, we'll see that many times God has a huge revelation for Daniel. It was in times where he was in prayer.

It was times where he came to God that God revealed Himself. So could it be that this sort of discipline to regularly see God enables us to better hear God's voice? Could it be that discipline is not the boring substitute for spontaneity and power, but that discipline is the garden in which power and God's influence grows? Is it like cultivating and tilling the garden with this patient discipline that suddenly a plant can grow in with tremendous power? I think we miss out on so much in life by being undisciplined.

We miss out so much about knowing God more intimately, of making so much more of Him, of having so much more of Him in our lives by not having that routine. Nowadays, discipline is actually a bad thing. Discipline is seen in a bad sense. It's almost a curse word. It ruins spontaneity, we think.

It ruins the mysterious work of the Spirit. Now I've got many Pentecostal friends, and it's amazing how they will wait for the spirit to move only on a Sunday though. And they struggle with the idea that God is moving when we come to Him on a Monday morning before we go to work. If we will only return to a regular habitual life of prayer, praying consistently, praying wisely, I believe we will see God act in powerful, spontaneous, amazing ways. The third thing we see is that finally intimacy with God marked in prayer is more precious than life.

Intimacy with God marked with prayer is more precious than life. Just think of it. Daniel knew that the penalty for praying would be the lion's den. I don't think Daniel knew that he would be delivered. Daniel didn't think that he would be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

He knew that if he prayed, there was a good chance he was going to die. And he still prayed. For Daniel, prayer and worship of God was more important than life itself. That is a massive example to leave behind. Daniel would rather pray than save his life.

That is a radical commitment to prayer. Just think of it. Can you say with Daniel, "You will have my life before you have my worship of God"? How does the story end? Daniel is caught.

Surprise, surprise. The rabble of satraps and prefects, they come scurrying up to check in on Daniel and lo and behold he is found praying. Darius realises when they bring him to Daniel that he can't change the situation. Daniel, Darius cares for Daniel. Darius respects Daniel, but he's already made his law and it stands.

It cannot be overturned. So with dread in his heart, he has Daniel thrown into this lion's den. He has it sealed shut by law. He keeps it shut by pressing his signet ring into, I don't know if it was a seal or something like that. But God rescues Daniel, and He sends an angel to shut the mouths of the lions.

Lo and behold, the next morning after a sleepless night for Darius, without eating, without having any entertainment, Darius rushes at the break of dawn and Daniel is still alive. Daniel is completely safe. It shows that Daniel is completely vindicated by God. He's completely showed to be right, having done nothing wrong in God's eyes. God is his judge.

Any rule can be made. Any human thing can be said, but God is ultimately the one who judges. And Daniel is found to be not guilty and therefore he's still alive. Darius, we see, is weak, just like the other emperors. He's duped by his officials.

He's trapped by his own silly law. But God is almighty, and He is able to save even from the mouth of hungry lions. This whole story again centres on the power and the character of God. Daniel's prayer life got him into this situation. But the one with whom he was speaking, the one whom he refused to give his relationship up with is the one who saves him.

This morning, we are so challenged again to look at our prayer life, to look at how we approach our God who is faithful to us. We are challenged again in the example of the man Daniel, but we also realise who we worship. And that is a God who is far greater than any law that Australia can make. That's far greater than any perilous situation we might find ourselves in. That God is worthy of our intimate prayer life with Him.

He is a God who's able to save those He loves from the mouths of lions. If you're like me and you find that you're perhaps lacking in a little bit of disciplined regular prayer, let's take up the challenge again this week to set times. Now I don't think there's anything prescriptive about three times a day or five times a day, but a regular time with God is so important. Let's not be tempted to shrug our shoulders again and say, "Well, that's just another thing we have to work on. It's just another thing we're not quite up to scratch with."

Don't fall into that guilt cycle. The thing that says you are not worthy enough. You're not good enough. God wants us to come to Him. God welcomes us to Him.

So let's take up the opportunity to throw ourselves more passionately, more intimately into communicating with our wonderful Saviour, who ultimately did so much more than saving us just from lions, who gave us new life, eternal life, who breathed His life giving spirit into our lives. Our life or death, thankfully, will not be dependent in Australia on our prayer life. But imagine what the God who can save Daniel from the lion's den can do if we take prayer seriously.