Daniel 6:6-9 (ESV)

[6] Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! [7] All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. [8] Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” [9] Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.

Daniel 6 sounds an awful lot like the politics of our day. People are jockeying for position, manipulating the system, and either exposing or creating a scandal around their political enemies. It is not about right or truth. It is simply about position and power. Sound familiar?

The significant thing about this story is that Daniel does not allow himself to get caught up in the scandalous politics of his day. He simply continues to act with integrity, and continues to walk with his God. Too often when things look like they are going against us we sink to the world’s level and play by their rules. We begin to talk compromise, we expose scandalous behavior, we play dirty politics like the rest of the world. We rationalize that we are in the world, therefore we must play by the world’s rules. But that is not how Daniel lived.

His prayer was not a protest. It was simply a continuation of biblical behavior. When Solomon dedicated the temple in 1Kings 8 he prayed “And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive” (1Kng 8:30). Solomon’s prayer was based on the instructions and promises of God given in the Law. When Daniel was praying, he was simply acting on that biblical truth. He was pleading with God toward to location of the desecrated and destroyed temple, knowing that God in heaven heard his prayer. Too often we turn our prayers into public protests. That is not what Daniel was doing.

 Three things are significant in this story. First, Daniel never compromised his integrity. His political enemies could find nothing to accuse him of. They could find no wrongdoing, so they had to create a scandal. Second, his integrity landed him in the lion’s den. We sometimes talk and act as though doing the right thing and walking in integrity and truth will always cause things to turn out right. Sometimes it lands us in the lion’s den. Are we willing to die for the integrity of our faith? Daniel was. Third, God protected Daniel and worked his purposes. In the end, Daniel’s political enemies ended up lion food. Daniel was promoted. There is no promise that the story will end up that way for us. The end of Hebrews 11 celebrates the faith of those who died for their faith.

Hebrews 11:35-38 (ESV)

[35]  Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. [36] Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. [37]  They were stoned, they were sawn in two,  they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— [38] of whom the world was not worthy— wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Not everyone who believed God was saved from death. Daniel survived a night with the lions and came out without a scratch. Paul was beaten, stoned, and eventually killed for his faith. Either way, they played by God’s rules, not man’s, and God’s purpose was accomplished. They never compromised their integrity.

What is fascinating is that they were also well liked. Neither Paul nor Daniel were opposed because they were obnoxious about their faith. They were opposed because their integrity and their faithfulness to scripture was seen as an obstacle to those less honorable and more duplicitous. Doing the right thing doesn’t always make everyone happy. On the other hand, just because something seems right to us does not make it right. With Daniel, we need to walk in integrity and biblical faithfulness no matter the consequences. It is time we stop playing the world’s game by the world’s rules. It is time we walk in integrity and biblical faithfulness no matter what people think of you or what they say about you. Are you willing to go there?