To be fully HUMAN — A Daily Reflection

 

 

So the administrators and the satraps went as a group to the king and said: "O King Darius, live forever!  The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.  Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered - in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed."  So King Darius put the decree in writing.

 

The administrators and the satraps had a problem.  Daniel was so incredibly good at his job that Darius planned to set Daniel “over the whole kingdom.”  This infuriated the officials, and they set out to discredit Daniel in some way.  But Daniel was such an exceptional person, they could find nothing corrupt or negligent about Daniel.  He was squeaky clean!  

 

There’s one important thing to know about the Babylonians.  When it came to lawmaking, nobody had anything on them.  In that ancient empire, when the king made a law, it was permanent - even the king couldn’t change it.  Finally, the officials realized that they would never find any basis for charges against Daniel unless it had something to do with the law of his God.  So, using the Babylonian “gift” of lawmaking to their supposed advantage, they came up with a law – a law that effectively made Darius a god for the next thirty days.  Darius, being the egomaniac that he was, allowed the officials to appeal to his vanity and enacted the law, not thinking of the possible consequences to his favored official, Daniel.  So enthralled was he with getting to be a god for thirty days, Darius didn’t consider what would happen because of the unwavering faith of Daniel.

 

And that’s what Daniel’s faith was - absolutely unwavering.  For his entire life, through all of the many trials to which he’d been subjected, Daniel always put God first.  He had an active prayer life, praying three times a day, without fail… praying to the Lord God Almighty, the only God in existence.  When told that for the next thirty days, he had to pray to Darius or else be thrown into the lion’s den, Daniel didn’t even consider following the new law.  He could have just not prayed at all.  That would have been the easy way out.  He wouldn’t have been breaking the law, since people weren’t ordered to pray to Darius.  They were only ordered not to pray to any other god during that time period.  But Daniel wasn’t going to let anything stop his daily contact with his God.  Even with the threat of being thrown into a den of lions, Daniel was determined to keep praying to God Almighty three times a day, no matter what. 

 

Now… what about you and me?  What kinds of things do we let get in between us and our prayer life?  What petty things do we allow to stop us from communicating with our Lord?  Let’s see, there’s work… there’s family… there’s recreation… there’s television… there’s just about anything that can be named.  Most of us are more than willing to allow something to stop us from praying.  And then we wonder why things keep getting all fouled up in our lives.  Then we wonder why none of our prayers seem to be answered.

 

Look at this situation from a parent’s perspective.  Let’s say you have a child who very rarely wants to spend time with you, if at all.  But when you do see that child, all the child does is ask you for money or things.  How ready are you to respond?  But if you have a child who wants to spend as much time as possible with you, just because that child likes being with you, when that child asks for something, how ready are you to respond?

 

Remember, Jesus wants to spend time with you, no matter what.  He loves your company.  That’s why you were created.  Don’t let anything stand between you and spending time with Him.

 

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. 

1 Corinthians 1:9 NIV