S139P6 – Profiles in courage: Daniel
Dan. 6:10-11
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.
Religious persecution is nothing new in this world. There are countries today where it is illegal to fellowship with the saints and worship the Lord. In many other countries, there is still the religious freedom to worship and speak of Jesus openly, but that does not mean that this freedom will remain. The nations and people groups who have outlawed the worship of the Lord arrived at that decision at a point in time. There was a transition from tolerance to intolerance. Daniel’s people had experienced plenty of oppression, but this is the first instance of Daniel being told that he could not worship the Lord. His response to this edict exhibited not only his faithfulness to God but his courage before men.
The religious restriction in this instance was rather subtle. The edict passed by the king was to last only 30 days. [v. 7] Daniel and any other children of God were not restricted from worshipping the Lord ever. They only had to go one month without petitioning their God. Daniel could have simply waited for the end of those 30 days to then cry out to God as he normally would, but his relationship with God was a lot closer than that. As we see here, his routine was to kneel and pray three times a day. Not only that, but his prayers were before an open window, and those prayers could be heard by anyone outside. That is how he was caught. Not only did Daniel continue his prayers to God despite the king’s edict, but he did so just as openly as before it.
We might be a little spoiled on this side of the world, and we might think that our nation never would restrict our free exercise of religion. The truth is that this very well could happen here one day. If we are restricted from assembling, we can still meet virtually, but would that keep us faithful? If we are told that speaking of our faith publicly is no longer permitted, do we stop trying to reach the lost? We need to have the courage of our convictions and continue to worship God as He commands regardless of what the world tells us we can and cannot do. Father, give us the courage to remain in honest worship of our Lord without fear when the rule of men tries to quiet us.