Daily Devotion

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”   Exodus 14:14

          Daniel had a lot of great qualities.  We would do well to try and build some of these qualities into our own lives as God’s people.

          One quality he possessed was wisdom.  Daniel knew what he could depend on.  We see this clearly played out in the 6th Chapter of Daniel.  Daniel was in a bind.  Even after years of exceptional and quality work that led him to earn Darius’ favor he found himself under attack.  His earthly accomplishments now were of no service to him.  In fact, you could make a case for the fact that they were the basis of the attack themselves.  I am sure that Daniel was pleased that his work in the past had been well received, but he was wise enough to know his ultimate security did not lie within those earthly efforts.  His faith lay elsewhere.   Faithfulness to God was the second great quality we see in Daniel.

          Daniel also had earned the friendship of people in high places.  King Darius himself knew Daniel and was planning to promote him to a high position within the kingdom.  But as we see in the story, this earthly ally was really no safeguard at all to Daniel.  In fact this earthly ally was the one who ended up throwing him into the Lion’s Den.  But Daniel’s faith did not lie in earthly alliances, no matter how strong those seemed.

          Daniel’s faith led him to be confident and thankful.  `In the face of danger and attack he was thankful.  It is right there in verse 10, “Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God.”  Was he thankful for the attacks?  I doubt it.  Was he thankful for the lions?  I would say no.  He was thankful for a God that he knew would be by his side always.  Daniel’s faith and thankfulness were well founded. 

          In the end, Daniels diligent and good work did not save him.  Knowing the earthly king Darius was of no value either.  His God saved him.  Our God saved Daniel.  His story should remind us that our God is with us today to help, sustain and save.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow.

“Great is they faithfulness of God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee.”
 

Steve Glenn

Upcoming Events