Living like Daniel in a Sinful World…Part 1

How many of you have heard the bible story, Daniel and the Lion’s Den? This story is so powerful, because it shows me the way I need to treat my governing authorities, but also by obeying the Lord, and what He commands from us. Being a Christian, in the world today, has become so difficult. To me I see Christians acting in 2 different ways, when it comes to our governing authorities.

1.) We respect the governing authorities to a T: This means we’re taking Romans 13:1-2 so seriously. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist has been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement.” When I say that some Christians take this seriously, I mean that they live by by this verse, and they will obey the governing authorities even if they tell us to do something that we clearly know is a sin. They don’t balance obeying the authorities, but also keeping your obedience to the Lord number one. This is always the best, because sometimes they may try to make a law that goes against God’s word. So you’re going to have to decide whether you will obey that law, or you will go against it—just like Daniel had to do.

2.) We don’t obey and/or respect the governing authorities: This could mean so many things. But I’m going to look at it as if you don’t like whoever is put in the governing authorities, so you’re going to call them names, make fun of them, or constantly critique everything that they’re doing. You’re going to constantly find something wrong with whatever they try to do. This is wrong because we’re forgetting Romans 13:1-2 where it clearly states that we need to respect them. That doesn’t mean we have to like them, or that we have to agree with every single thing they do. It just means that we need to still respect them. To pray for them, to obey different mandates, or laws, that they may place; that aren’t going against God’s word. It’s still respecting them, because there is a reason God has allowed them to take this position.

We need to be somewhere in the middle: It’s my personal opinion that we, as Christians, need to act somewhere in the middle. We need to respect the governing authorities because that’s who God has placed in that position, but we also need to be ready to disobey them, if they’re going against God’s word. We need to stand up for what we believe in, but we also need to make sure we’re doing it respectfully. We need to act like Daniel, friends.

So what about Daniel do we need to portray? Well, in the first chapter of Daniel we read that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and overthrew King Jehoiakim of Judah. When that happened we see that King Nebuchadnezzar decided he wanted to bring some young Israelite men into the palace and teach them their language and literature. There was a group of them, and among them were 4 young men from Judah. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. When they were brought into the palace, they were given new names. Daniel became Belteshazzar, Hananiah became Shadrach, Mishael became Meshach, and Azariah became Abednego. (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are also 3 men that you could look into on this topic as well!) The Lord gave these 4 men knowledge beyond our understanding. They could learn things that were harder for others to learn. You know those people who you know that can just look at something and instantly know all they need to know? Yeah, that was these 4 men. So after they were taken, along with a group of other men, and taught all that the king wanted them taught; they were then taken to the king, and he found favor with those 4 men. Daniel 1:19-20 it says “The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.” Um…wow…right? Talk about a God thing. Daniel remained in the palace for a long time.

Daniel was in the palace through different kings, but there is one king that we are going to focus on. Daniel and King Darius’ relationship is where I want to bring all of this together. However, Friends, I don’t want this to be too long, so I will continue it in another post. But before I go, my friends, I want to ask you to pray for our country, and our leaders. It’s a job that isn’t easy, and I know I wouldn’t want to do it. Please be praying, regardless of whether you agree with them, please pray. Pray that the Lord will work in them, and that His name will be glorified through it all!

We will continue about Daniel this week. Until next time, friends!