Daniel: A Man of Prayer and ActionSample

As we prepare to press into the word of God, I want you to consider if you have been experiencing some big emotions lately. As you’ve wrestled with the unprecedented challenges of this year, have you uttered curses against painful circumstances or people who have wronged you? You are not alone. In fact, humanity has been dealing with these types of hurts for centuries. Let’s see what the Bible has to say about it.

Yesterday, we left off with Daniel asking to be escorted to see Neb in his palace. Daniel approached the king’s throne with impressive confidence. During this time in history and within this cultural setting, approaching the throne was considered a sacred event. It was treated with more pomp and circumstance than approaching a head of state today. In fact, there are other examples in scripture where approaching the throne could lead to the petitioner's death if the king didn’t extend his scepter to the one seeking an audience.

So Daniel arrived before the king unbidden and with full knowledge of the death sentences doled out to the last people who attempted to interpret the king’s dream. He confidently supplied the king with a dead-on recollection of his dream along with an accurate interpretation of its hidden meaning. The dream contained a huge statue where the head is gold, the chest and body are silver and bronze, and the feet are clay and iron. Daniel accurately interprets this statue as a depiction of a kingdom divided. When Daniel finishes his proclamation, he assures the king that his interpretation is trustworthy.

The king responds by honoring Daniel above all others. Then Daniel requests that his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are elevated to positions of honor as well. Neb acquiesced, and suddenly, Babylon has not one, not two, but FOUR prayerful, God-honoring Jews in positions of authority. Only God could arrange that!

When we move into chapter 3, the plot thickens. Nebuchadnezzar decrees that a 90-foot high and 9-foot wide statue be built in his honor. In his pride, he demands that it be constructed of pure gold and that everyone bow down before it. With intrigue thick on the horizon, several sycophants inform the king that the three Jews in high-power positions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, did not bow down to the statue.

The king is furious at this defiant act. So he orders for these godly men to be tossed into the fiery furnace. Yet, when the king looks into the blaze, he sees that there are actually four people in the fire, and “the fourth looks like a son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25).

Isn’t that just like God? When we are being refined by the fire, He does not leave us alone to fret and fray. God is right beside us in the most challenging times. He continues to be our protector and provider in even the most desperate of circumstances.

Daniel 3:27 tells us that when the men came out of the fire, “the royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was any hair on their heads singed, their robes were not scorched, and there was NO SMELL OF FIRE ON THEM!”

You can walk through the fire and walk out unharmed if God is walking with you. Let that truth resonate deep within you. Whatever you are walking through right now, you are NOT WALKING ALONE. Praise the Lord of heaven and earth for this TRUTH! Amen and Amen.