He Went Home and Knelt Down as Usual
March 25, 2012 Dan 6
Intro:
It is two weeks until Easter. So as we prepare, I want to tell you a familiar story. About an innocent man betrayed by friends around him, presented before a ruler who could not save him, then condemned to a horrible death. It is a story about desperate prayer, a stone rolled across a grave, and then a visit to the grave early in the morning where a miracle awaits. It is the story of Daniel in the lion’s den, though it sounds much like the story of Jesus.
Background:
Last Sunday we met Daniel, now likely in his 80s, called before the king to interpret some mysterious writing on the wall. The chapter ended with the king being killed and the city of Babylon conquered by the armies of Cyrus of Persia, one of the huge shifts in ancient near eastern politics. There is all kinds of fascinating history contained in these pages. The conquering army next faced the challenge of ruling the people, and one smart way of doing so was to appoint leaders that people knew and trusted, who would now act on behalf of the Persian Empire rather than the Babylonians. So,
Dan 6
1 Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. 2 The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.
4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.
6 So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement, we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors, that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human except to you, Your Majesty, will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked. 9 So King Darius signed the law.
10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11 Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. 12 So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human except to you, Your Majesty will be thrown into the den of lions?
Yes, the king replied, that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.
13 Then they told the king, That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.
14 Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament.
15 In the evening the men went together to the king and said, Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.
16 So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.
17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night.
19 Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. 20 When he got there, he called out in anguish, Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?
21 Daniel answered, Long live the king! 22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.
23 The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God.
24 Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den.
25 Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:
Peace and prosperity to you!
26 I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God,
and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
and his rule will never end.
27 He rescues and saves his people;
he performs miraculous signs and wonders
in the heavens and on earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.
28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
So What Does It Mean?
A great story, another Sunday school classic, familiar to most of us, but what does it mean for us today, more than 2500 years after it happened? And how does it help us on our journey towards the cross of Jesus and His empty tomb? I think there are a few lessons, but I am only going to talk about one.
What landed Daniel in trouble? It was his refusal to waver in his already-established habit of prayer. Prayer was so important to Daniel that he would rather die than not pray. He refused to hide, he refused to close the windows, and he refused to give in to the temptation to simply take a 30 day break from his life-long habit of prayer to his God.
Does anyone else here find that a little humbling? I mean, for how many of us is our prayer life that important to us, that it is so important to us that we would rather die than not pray? How did we get to the place where we see prayer much more as optional; a good thing to do, but if we don’t pray much, or regularly, or with much intensity, well not really too big of a deal. Why do we tend to see prayer as an add-on, a bonus, maybe something to start a meal with or something to do if life gets really hard and we need some help, instead of something so important that like Daniel we will obey God and practice prayer even if it means our lives?
I call us back to prayer. Back to prayer as an essential. Back to prayer as an act of obedience to God. Back to prayer as an opening of the conversation door with the God of the Universe. Back to prayer as a dialogue, speaking and listening, seeking God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. Back to a discipline of prayer; not optional or a bonus or a good thing like an occasional bit of physical exercise, but rather a basic requirement of the spiritual life as essential as a beating heart or as lungs taking oxygen. It is sin to not pray. Have you thought of it like that? Well it is true. We are commanded to pray all throughout Scripture, repeatedly, over and over. And if we don’t pray, we break that command, and sin.
But as true as that is, I don’t call us back to prayer out of fear or out of duty. I call us back to prayer out of a response to the love of God for us. I call us back to prayer because the all-powerful God of the Universe so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son; because the Holy God demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; because 4 when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, Abba, Father. 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. (Gal 4). I call us back to prayer out of our response to the love of God for us.
Do you need to hear that call back to prayer? Do you need to decide right now to do something about it? Do you need to repent and ask forgiveness for living life without really praying? I’m going to pause for a moment and give you some space to reflect, and to pray, and maybe make a concrete decision between you and the God who loves you: do you need to covenant with God to pray every day? Then when? Be specific, make it an appointment, put it on your calendar, write it in and commit to it, create the discipline and the structure needed to follow through on the renewed commitment to prayer and for those of you who resist structure and want to just be spontaneous in prayer, I challenge you to consider whether that is actually true or more of an excuse to be lazy in prayer rather than disciplined. I call us back to prayer.
Conclusion:
The Sunday school pictures of Daniel in the lion’s den are usually wrong. First they are almost always of some young guy instead of an 80yr old man, but second they are usually full of large tame cats cozying up, looking for a little scratch behind the ears, or lazing snuggled up with Daniel on the floor. It creates this idea that if we obey God, and pray as Daniel did, we will be delivered, we will be comfortable, there won’t be danger or struggle. But that is not what the Scripture tells us. It is similar to the story in chapter 3, with Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego. They were thrown into the fiery furnace. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. And those were not Siegfried and Roy’s trained tamed cats, they were wild ferocious beasts so hungry that when Darius throws Daniel’s opponents in they are devoured before they hit the ground. How do you think a hungry lion, with a meal in front of him, but with his mouth somehow shut, would act? I don’t think he’d be snuggling with dinner. I think they are pacing, frustrated, maybe lunging or swiping or growling or roaring all night long, maybe even snapping at the prey. Again like chapter 3, Daniel tells us My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me. The angel is there. I think this is likely Jesus, but no way to be sure. And I think He fights with the lions all night long. I think He holds them back. He steps in between. He stops the lunging and swiping and snapping at the prey. The image we have that Jesus shows up and all the conflict stops; where does that come from? That Jesus shows up and calms the lions down so we can snuggle up next to them. Is that reality? Someday the lion will lie down with the lamb, but not yet. For now, in the words of 1 Peter 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. 10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen.
How do we stand firm? We pray. Like Daniel – faithfully, regularly, letting nothing come between us and our discipline of prayer.
There is much going on in our congregation, and as I’ve prayed over the last month I repeatedly hear God say, stand firm. I heard it from Ephesians 6, and it is repeated in 1 Peter 5. The lions roar all around: stand firm. Life seems hard: stand firm. We face grief and death: stand firm. We struggle and suffer: stand firm. We are tired and want to give up: stand firm. And how do we do that? We must stand together. On my own, even standing as firm as possible, it won’t take that much to bowl me over. But when we link our arms together, when we gather and pray together, when we hold one another’s arms in the air like Aaron and Hur did for Moses at the battle against the Amalekites, when we stand firm together in prayer: then tell me, what can defeat us?
And tell me further, when we stand firm together in prayer, what miracles might we see? What might God be freed to do among us as we pray? What breakthroughs, what victories, what long-standing issues and struggles and needs might be met? Why do I call us back to prayer, as we walk the last few days before Easter? Because God hears, God answers, God moves, God rescues, and God brings new life.
The king in the story comes to the lion’s den, calls out, and hears Daniel answer that he is alive. And then then Persian King writes the words with which I close as a prayer:
I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. 27 He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. And He will rescue us as well.
