People were jealous. The king liked him better than they did them. They searched for a way to topple this favored one but could not find anything amiss in him. They decided instead to deceive the king into making a ruling against praying to anyone except the king. The ruling was only in effect for 30 days, but the punishment for breaking it was severe—death. These jealous men were hoping that the favored one would ignore the ruling and continue to pray to his God so that they could accuse him before the king and do away with him for good.
The favored one of the king, of course, was Daniel. And he did not disappoint his foes. Daniel did exactly what his foes thought he would do. “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” [Dan 6:10 NIV]
Isn’t that amazing? All Daniel had to do to avoid the lion’s den was wait 30 days for the ruling to expire. Or he could have simply given his thanks to God silently out of sight. But Daniel did not change—not even when giving thanksgiving to God became against the law and punishable by death.
There are places in our world today where men and women face death by publicly acknowledging faith in Christ Jesus, where the giving of thanks to Jesus Christ brings the wrath of others upon them. We need to lift them up in prayer every day so that they might have the courage of Daniel.
Father, I confess today that there have been times in my life where I have failed to offer my thanksgiving to you for at least 30 days. I confess today that I often forget those who are risking their lives for their faith. I pray today to be more like Daniel. And I pray today for those who are suffering and dying for their faith. May their testimony resound around the world. Amen.
