With this Book of Daniel study, I started with a question:
“When people disagree with you…in this time of moral outrage…is there a path of faithfully witnessing your faith?”
And an answer:
The Book of Daniel answers this question of how to live as people of faith in a culture that is not only foreign, but hostile. Further, point of fact, the faith of Daniel is a faith that makes absolute claims about this world, and more.
My prayer is that you came to this conclusion as well. I believe Daniel is a man for our day.
Daniel, his Biblical frame of reference, had to wrestle with how to live in the strange world of Babylon.
Why might this be important in our own day? Because the world of Babylon is wildly similar to our world.
· We live in a world of moral outrage, struggling with how we witness our faith. Daniel’s world was similar. He faced real pressure to compromise.
· We live in a world that trusts more in itself than God. Consider, in the midst of a global pandemic, how little leaders, even church leaders, have called people to pray to God for relief. Babylon’s kings constantly held themselves up as God.
· We live in a world that had relativized God and faith and is now actively seeking to marginalize and silence such God. So too Daniel’s world. Yahweh was put in a museum.
· We live in a world that, when we state we believe God, we then immediately have to deal with a reaction that people of faith, must be blind. In Daniel’s world they literally plotted to have him killed by lions.
Which brings me back to:
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Yahweh is the only God, and His Law is perfect. In Daniel’s world, his view of his God is absolute.
Can this be true for us today?
Let me tell you: There are Daniel’s alive today!
How do I know? Because I meet them. I meet them in countries around the world and in the in our own country. Men and women who are literally in government positions of authority. They face immense pressure. They navigate difficult terrain. They stand for God. They:
· Trust God. They know what Psalm 2:2-4 says.
· Know that a Biblical worldview has ultimate explanatory power.
· Are a blend of strength with sensitivity, respect, and confidence.
· Love God. Love Jesus. And want others to meet Him.
Daniel challenges me to ask myself, “Where can I live like Daniel?” How about you?