When Crisis Shows Up

Friday, a new law was passed. A new law was signed off on. And I very, very vividly, I think, will remember that scene where I saw live our Prime Minister and our Governor General signing into law the changes to what is considered marriage in our country. We saw on Friday, on Thursday night actually, when Parliament voted in favour of it, parties breaking out and spontaneous singing happening in the gallery. We saw people on the streets celebrating, and yet across the Australian Christian church, there was a deep sigh.

There was a deep moment of sadness because we had lost yet another battle for the hearts and the minds of our people and our society. Now, I don't know if it's a sign of me getting old or what, but I woke up on Friday cranky, like an old man. Just nothing, nothing was pleasing, nothing was good, and I was just frustrated and anxious and things just weren't right. And I decided that I needed to spend some time with God that morning, and I, in this sense of frustration, went to a devotional that I'm working through, a daily devotional. Now my sense of frustration I realised as I was doing this wasn't based on necessarily our political leaders succumbing to a populist movement, which in my opinion is outrageously being classified or likened to the civil rights movement of racial inequality of the fifties and sixties.

The thing that weighed on my heart was the amount of Christians, especially young Christians, who on their social media feeds were posting up rainbow flags and celebrating alongside everyone else. And somewhere along the lines, I realised that we've lost some of our young Christians and the battle for their hearts and their minds. But there were also, believe me, plenty of older Christians in that category as well. Now as I was, like I said, shuffling around in my apartment on that Friday morning like a cranky old man, I realised I needed to go to God for this thing that was weighing on my heart and I picked up this devotional book. And on December 8, as I opened it, I read the words that I want us to reflect on a little bit this morning from Daniel chapter 6.

And it was just this one verse from Daniel 6. Daniel chapter 6, verse 10. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had his windows in his upper chamber open towards Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. That was all I read that morning.

Now this story, as you may know, as you may quickly have a look up the heading of the chapter here, comes from one of the most famous and popular Sunday school stories ever: Daniel and the lion's den. Now if you remember the context again, what happens is that a law had been set that forbade anyone to pray to or worship anyone else for thirty days except the king of Persia, the king of the Medes and the Persians, who was Darius at this time, King Darius, for a whole month. No prayer towards anyone else than him. Now as you read the story, you see that this law is put into place primarily as a way to trap a faithful man by the name of Daniel from worshipping God and causing him to get into trouble with the king. His political enemies are behind this whole thing.

They plan and they work out that this way they will definitely catch Daniel out. And we see in verse 10 that when Daniel hears that this law has been set in place and it's made a big deal of, that the law in the Persian Empire was sealed. It was done. If the king had signed it, there was no way around it. They sent political spies to go and find Daniel on this day.

And we see that Daniel, hearing this news, he goes about his normal routine and he goes back home and he prays. Now we know that Daniel then gets caught out. He gets taken to King Darius. And Darius is absolutely appalled at this because Daniel's a favourite. Daniel was the Prime Minister of the empire.

He was a high ranking official, a trusted adviser to the king. And here, the king has been painted into a corner. He must act. And so he throws Daniel into a pit or a den of lions by way of execution. God, however, we see, shuts the mouths of the lions and they don't go near Daniel.

He survives this execution attempt. And then in an ironic twist at the end of the chapter, these very satraps and governors that have schemed against Daniel, they're the ones that get thrown into the lion's pit and they get absolutely devoured, them and their families. And that's the story, as gruesome as that is, it makes for a great little tale. But the thing that resonates with me this week is this first hint. And really, if you think about it, it's not so much the story of the lions and the miracle and so on.

What is the catalyst for this event is Daniel's faithfulness in prayer. The whole thing is as a result of this. The miraculous thing, the thing that stands out is not the rescue of Daniel, but his daring, defiant, and disciplined spiritual life. And so, when I opened on Friday to this passage and read it, it put a spotlight on my heart asking me the question, what will a spiritual crisis reveal in your life? What has our government's decision revealed about us?

Whether you think that the marriage law is a spiritual problem or not, or whether you think it is indicative of a wider spiritual and moral collapse, that's really beside the point. You can take any moment of crisis when it comes to Daniel's example. It can be a breakdown in your marriage. It can be a child who's making very poor decisions. It can be a moment where you have to choose between a boyfriend or a girlfriend and staying faithful to God.

In any moment of crisis, what does your reaction reveal about you? The story of Daniel is built around a theme of two kingdoms. That really is the story of Daniel. Two kingdoms. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world.

The kingdom of Satan as becomes plainly clear in the last half of the book. Much of the story revolves around one man, Daniel, but it actually points beyond Daniel to Daniel's God. And to the kingdom that Daniel belongs to in a spiritual sense over and against the kingdoms of mankind. And Daniel has seen three kingdoms, three empires: the Israelite empire, the Babylonian empire, and now the Persian empire come and go.

But he is faithful to God's kingdom. And very importantly, Daniel is the main character of the story, but his name is what is significant. His name gives and explains the theme, and Daniel means God is my judge. God is my judge. Nowhere else is it more clear that it mattered more for Daniel what God thought of him than what any king or any governor or any law thought of him than in Daniel chapter 6.

God is my judge. It means what God thinks and what God does matters more to me than what anyone else thinks or does. And Daniel so firmly believed this truth that God ultimately is his king and his judge over everything that in this moment of crisis, where I got up as a cranky old man and wondered, man, you know, this country is lost, despairing and dismayed, Daniel simply got on with it and placed his future and placed his safety and placed his well-being into the hands of God. Now from this one verse, from this one event, we see three or four things happening. Firstly, we notice in Daniel's prayer life that he didn't act on ignorance, but he acted in full knowledge of the law and its consequences.

Daniel was and had to be politically astute. He had to know what was going on in his country. He had to be aware of the decisions and the reasons behind those decisions. Verse 10, when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, that the law had been signed, he went home to his upstairs room to pray. Now, don't forget, Daniel is on track to be the most powerful man in the kingdom.

If you think about position and status, he is number one. And think of all the rationalisations that may have gone through his head. Think of all the excuses that he may have used. My influence is so great that if I hold this position, imagine how much I might influence this country, this kingdom. Imagine what I can do for God.

I can do more for God alive than dead. It's only thirty days. It's not forever. It's just a month. I don't need to pray for that time, I guess.

And he rejects all of those rationalisations. He knew that he solely depended on God. And God holds ultimate power over every empire or every emperor. And he goes to pray. But then he doesn't go to the woods to pray.

He goes to his house to pray. He could have kept on praying to God without putting himself at risk. He could have gone underground. He could have gone to pray like some Christians have to in the woods, 4am in the morning. There's no law that says that you have to pray in your house in God's word, but he goes to the room with an open window facing Jerusalem and he prays.

Now why Jerusalem? Why that sort of detail? Well, because it is facing towards symbolically God's kingdom. Instead of facing the town of Babylon or the palace or whatever, this is facing towards God's promised covenant. He's praying for the kingdom.

Thirdly, when Daniel prays, he doesn't use words that are vague or ambiguous. Although we don't get the content exactly of what he prays, he doesn't use vague or ambiguous words. No defence attorney could sort of say, well, he didn't you know, he sort of waffled on and stuff like that. No defence attorney could argue that he was really praying to Darius or he wasn't specifying to what God he was praying. He gave thanks to his God. Not Darius, not the gods of the Medes and the Persians, but the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, his God. He gave thanks to.

And then fourthly, he did not change the way he prayed or do anything differently. That comes across very clearly at the end of that verse, doesn't it? We read that Daniel prayed just as he had done before. There were many ways to pray that might not have been detected. But Daniel prayed daringly, defiantly, and in his usual disciplined way.

So this morning, as I said, as it shone a spotlight on us and shines a spotlight on us, what does Daniel's example here mean for us? What can we learn from it?

Well, firstly, I should point out that our situation is not exactly the same as Daniel. Just to be clear. This is a law that prohibits the freedom of religion for Daniel, and that is not where we are. We are still meeting here in broad daylight under the goodwill of our government. So that is an important point to make.

We still have freedom of religion in our country. We're not being forced to pray to Malcolm Turnbull. Thank goodness for that. So there are some major dissimilarities that we have to keep in mind. And then I also have to say, I'm not reading Daniel 6:10 as some form of motivating civil disobedience for us to go and pick it and burn, you know, government buildings down or anything like that.

But there are some very, very useful and important points that we get from Daniel. Firstly, prayer is a legitimate public testimony. Prayer is a legitimate public testimony and we should seek to use it as God leads us. A defined and rich prayer life is a testimony that you believe God is in control of all aspects of your life. It boldly professes that I cannot live without the powerful presence of God at work in me and Him fulfilling His will through my life.

When Daniel was praying, he was making a statement not just about God, but about his relationship with this God. God would not have changed if Daniel had gone to pray in secret. God would not have changed. God would still be God. Daniel would still be a powerful leader in Persia.

What would have been different is that his political opponents and Darius would not have known about his relationship and his commitment to God. That's what would have been different. We don't find Daniel ever saying to them, preaching to them, telling them repent and believe in God. But this consistent habit of prayer equalled a thousand sermons.

How did they know that they could trap Daniel? Because he always prayed. And they knew that. He always prayed. They knew that he would be praying three times a day.

That was his habit. The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, shutting shop for half an hour in the middle of the day, whether he is in Parliament in Canberra or whether he's overseas, half an hour, three times a day praying. Can you imagine? They knew. They knew.

And that said something to them about this God and about Daniel's relationship to this God. Now I think similarly, we should understand that our prayer, even simply before things like meals, is a testimony to our unbelievers who are among us. We should recognise that our prayer in the workplace, lunchroom, or asking to pray for someone who is sick, these are opportunities to expose God to people. Or at least it indicates that you have placed great trust in God. And during these prayers, not only do we show that we believe God exists, but we believe that God is a God who loves.

God is a God who cares. God is a God who is powerful. So we do preach the character and the nature of God when we pray. We say things about God when we do this action. And so the humble prayer of a Christian coming before the heavenly Father pleading for the health of their friend, requesting for clarity on a difficult situation, thanking God for His goodness.

These things are all publicly able to show and expose the God we worship. Notice that in Daniel's story, we don't get the words that Daniel prays, but it does tell us the content of those words. He gave thanks. And then, again, just place yourself in that situation. You've just heard that you stand at risk of being executed for praying.

And the one thing that we find that Daniel does is not petitioning God for rescue or salvation. He gives thanks to God. I mean, come on. How this guy, just crazy. Thanks God for this situation.

Thanks God in this situation. And yet, what does it say that he believes in God's hands is his life? And God may do whatever He pleases with Daniel's life. What does it say about Daniel's God? It says that God works all things for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purposes.

Doesn't it? Romans 8 preaches it. It says that God is in control even when the things of our life feel completely out of control. Daniel can thank God for looking after things even when things are dark. Daniel gets on his knees and he gives thanks to his God.

The second thing is that prayer is a discipline that should be a regular part, not of our week, but of our day. When the law of the land was changed, when religious freedom itself was curtailed, do you notice that Daniel doesn't change a thing? He's already praying three times a day, just as he has always done. He doesn't change a thing. And this really challenged me again in this time.

How many people, how many of us, when we heard that marriage was being debated and there were potential changes to the law, all of a sudden got very precious about marriage. All of us got very vocal about marriage and about doing God's will. But I ask how many people did I see have such strong opinions about the sanctity of marriage when they have neglected their own marriage for years? When they showed contempt for their wives or their husbands by sleeping with people outside of marriage. When they are signing petitions, when ten or fifteen years ago, the laws of de facto relationships of just living together equalled the same status in the eyes of the law as marriage.

Who was petitioning then? Our hypocrisy is often revealed in crisis. Daniel didn't all of a sudden start praying when he found out that it was going to be taken away. Daniel didn't all of a sudden get more holy. I get this image of a man who gently and peacefully just went along with what he had been doing before and got on with it.

Nowadays, when we talk about prayer as a discipline, we almost use it as a curse word. To think of worshipping God as a discipline is a terrible thing for our free society. It ruins spontaneity, we say. If I don't feel like it and I do it anyway, doesn't it ruin the mysterious work of the Spirit? Doesn't it inhibit my worship?

Doesn't it dampen my passion if I pray three times a day or before a meal or whenever? But how much can be achieved? How much can we shore up our spiritual defences, the outlook of our life? How much can we build up our family by having prayer as a central cornerstone of our lives? It's almost useless to start praying for a child who may have walked away from the faith when you haven't been praying for them for the first eighteen years of their life.

When you haven't thanked God for what He has been doing in their lives, in your lives, what He has done for you. And so whether it generates earth shattering spiritual experiences in us each time or not, prayer is and will always be the bedrock of healthy spiritual lives. So secondly, prayer is a discipline that should be a part of our day regularly. And then thirdly and finally, intimacy with God. Intimacy with God is more precious than life.

Just think of it. Daniel knew that the penalty for praying, if he was found, is certain death. A few years earlier, we obviously, if you remember the story, Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, remember them? In the fiery furnace, did not bow down to the Babylonian god, the statue of gold that was made. They did not bow.

And the king then, the emperor then, was going to throw them into this fiery furnace, lest unless they bow down to him. Now they believed that God would save them. But they also said these famous words, even if God does not rescue, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods. We believe God will rescue us, but even if He doesn't, we won't serve you. And Daniel understood what persecution looked like.

He knew what the results could be, but he still believed that prayer and worship of God was more important than life itself. Daniel, think about it this way, Daniel would rather pray than save his life. Not praying for Daniel was a worse prospect than being eaten by lions. That is incredible. It is an incredible challenge to think of a commitment to private worship to God in this way.

What excuse do I have to forego my daily Bible reading? What excuse do I have to not stop and pray? What excuse do I have to forego the weekly habit and the spiritual discipline of public Sunday worship? Would we only get precious over our worship services if the government took it away? What a challenge, isn't it?

What a challenge. What a rebuke to rather pray than to save your life. Now if we read the account of Daniel and we only focus on his life, only taking his example and nothing else, we miss something very important as well that's happening here. Because there's a shadow. There's a foreshadowing of an event happening here as well.

There's a hint. We find a man being betrayed by those who knew him. We see a plot against the life of a righteous man. A man who is innocent and is condemned to death. A man sealed in a deep, deep, dark pit by a weak ruler manipulated by conspirators.

We see a foreshadowing of a man because he is innocent. He is raised to life by God, so to speak. Spared and vindicated and protected because he was found to be righteous and good. This of course is a foretaste, isn't it, of our faithful Saviour Jesus. And what He would experience in order that He might destroy the powers and the principalities of sin and death.

The things that rage against His people. That at last He might destroy every power of darkness, every enemy that stands against Him. Yet while Daniel's innocence saved himself, it was the perfect innocence of this Saviour that saved us. If there is ever any motivation to pray, it is this. Friends, it is this.

That God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up as an atoning sacrifice for us. If there was ever any reason to pray and to thank God, it is this. And we can do that at least once a day. If we follow the example of Daniel and get on our knees to give thanks in all situations, if we follow that advice and do it, and Daniel didn't know Jesus, imagine his life afterwards. But it would be this, our motivation, that God made Christ who knew no sin to become sin for us.

And so if you are challenged like me this week by the story of Daniel 6 this morning, don't be tempted to shrug your shoulders and say, well, that's just another thing I have to now try and work on and probably fail at and never end up doing adequately. But don't fall into that cycle. Don't fall into that thinking. Take up the opportunity. Make that commitment.

Commitment. Change that schedule or routine. Let us take up the opportunity to throw ourselves passionately and committedly into a wonderful communion with our wonderful Saviour. And so we thank God today. We do and we can.

That our life or our death is not dependent on our prayer life. We can thank God for that. That our life is dependent on a faithful Saviour who was the one who was faithful on our behalf and who has never and will never give up on us. So just in closing, what do we do in light of these recent changes in our laws regarding marriage? Friends, church, we get on with it.

And we pray for our Parliament as Gary did this morning. We pray for our government and then we get on with winning the hearts and the souls and the minds of our people again. And we just share and preach and proclaim the same old message, that there's a faithful God who loves them. Let's pray. Father, we come and bow our knees spiritually before You this morning.

And we come with so much humility before our God knowing that there is so much more work to be done. There is intercession and prayer that needs to happen, Lord, for these lost and broken people. Father, guard us against bitterness and resentment. Oh, Father, help us against self righteousness and hypocrisy. Father, let us have lives that are worthy of Your name.

Let us have good marriages. Let us be faithful to our spouses. Let us remain holy and godly. God, call those lost and wandering sheep back to Yourself. And Father, give us the courage, the commitment, the discipline to live God honouring, intimate worship lives that are committed to You in front of so many others.

So Father, we ask that You will be with us and bless us. By Your spirit, empower us and guide us. And, Father, we look forward with great anticipation to the wonderful blessing of spending time with You. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.