Article: DARE TO BE A DANIEL-DARE TO STAND ALONE! | Jacob Varghese
We are living in a world where there is leadership crisis in all areas, be it in politics, academics or Christian Ministry. But recently I was going through the book of Daniel and have been blessed by the way Daniel stood for his principles in a pagan culture and been a good example for effective leadership. So for this meditation let us turn our attention to the book of Daniel. You might have heard a number of messages from this book. The book of Daniel is rich in material, for understanding how God works out his purpose through ordinary people. The book of Daniel gives us a narrative of culture clash, exile, political conspiracy, evil, bravery, wisdom, dreams, visions, prayer and the working out of God’s purpose through it all. The Bible is filled with accounts of many godly, but ordinary men and women who stood out above the crowd. One such person is Daniel, a man who obtained pre-eminence and power in his lifetime. But, we need to understand how Daniel was able to reach these positions of power and influence without compromising his position as a godly man? A close look at the book of Daniel reveals his secret, and shows how we too can be successful without selling our souls.
Daniel entered Babylon as a slave. A teenager with lot of dreams saw his dreams shattered. Travelling on the rough roads to Babylon would not have been easy for the youngster. Many questions must have passed through his mind. But the sovereign God was at work even in that situation. Daniel was chosen by the king to be in his administrative service. This was a rare privilege, only given to selected few who were extra ordinarily brilliant. In a sense, he was taken to the best institute of management in the world at that point of history. The education, life style and food were of the elite in the society. This was a great change in status for a slave. He observed the situation and came to a conclusion: He cannot live in luxury and will opt for simple food and life-style instead. Daniel’s decision was based on the consciousness of a higher call than that of the call by the king of Babylon.
I am not going into the background details of this book but I want to bring out a few aspects of Daniel’s life for our reflection. First, we notice that even as a young teenager Daniel was a man of purpose (Daniel 1:8). We understand that he purposed in his heart to uphold the law of God and not to eat food that was not sanctified. No one respects an indecisive person, someone with no direction in his or her life. A strong sense of purpose often breeds respect and admiration in others. And what is the purpose of our life as a Christian? As Ephesians 5:15-17 says we need to live wisely and understand what God’s will is for our life. In Mathew 6:33 Jesus makes it clear that to seek first the kingdom of God and to serve God by totally surrendering every aspect of our being to Him. In fact, this is holy and pleasing to Him. Nothing less than total obedience would please Him. Throughout his life, Daniel had a strong sense of purpose.
According to Rick warren, the benefits of Purpose Driven living includes:
1 Knowing the purpose gives meaning to our life
2 Knowing the purpose simplifies our life
3 Knowing the purpose focuses our life
4 Knowing the purpose motivates our life
5 Knowing the purpose prepares us for eternity
The second aspect of Daniel’s life is that Daniel was a man of Principle. How can we say that he was a man of principle? Read with me Chapter1:8 again. He simply refused to compromise his convictions. As a young man, he refused the royal food and wine. In Chapter 5:13-17 we see, he refused the gifts offered by the King. Later in chap 6:10 we see even under the threat of persecution, he refused to obey the decree of Darius.
I have always admired the boldness, courage and conviction of Daniel. I am sure we all admire people of principle. When we need someone who can be trusted, and depended upon to carry through with an assigned task, whom do you think we will turn to? God also admires individuals who will stand by their principles, and by their word. Our society is in great need of people with principle. Those who dare to be a Daniel and demonstrate by example the value of being led by principle rather than by price. Such people are not only highly valued by God but also by their fellow men. We are called to be disciples not diplomats. Had we been diplomats, instead of disciples, we could have pleased everybody and escaped. Along with having purpose and principle, we are called to a life of personal witness.
Daniel responded to the call to be a Personal witness.
Read Chapter 2:27-30, when the king asked Daniel whether he could describe his dream and interpret it, Daniel used the opportunity to witness about God. This brought about a response from the king, acknowledging the true God. (Let us read chapter 2:47) As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we too have received power from the Holy Spirit to be His witness. Another element for true success of Daniel in his personal witnessing was Daniel was a man of purity (Read chap 6:3-5). What does it say? Daniel excelled in his work. Daniel distinguished himself by exceptional qualities. Daniel concentrated on his work. He put all his wisdom, training and energy to fulfil the task the heathen king had assigned. His work and performance were better than the other leaders or administrators. There were people who were envious about him. His opponents looked for opportunities to catch him, but Daniel was faultless when it came to management of government affairs. He was not corrupt. And all his adversaries failed in their evil schemes. Corruption is not today’s problem. It is a universal and historic problem. The officials in the kingdom of Babylon were corrupt. But Daniel distinguished himself with his honesty and integrity. Likewise, we are also called to maintain purity of conduct. Not only was he a man of purity Daniel was also a man of Prayer.
Let us read Dan 6:10 to catch a glimpse of his prayer life. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Scripture says he prayed and gave thanks to God “three times a day as was his custom since early days” Daniel had been a man of prayer his whole life- from his youth.
Look at Daniel along with me:
He knelt in prayer; it is a demonstration of his humility.
He prayed three times daily, it shows his continual dependence upon God.
He gave thanks in the midst of persecution; it is a demonstration of his gratitude and the fact that he had not lost sight of God’s blessings.
He prayed just as he had done before, demonstrating his persistence and faithfulness in his service to God.
How many of you have ever seen a pigeon walk? Have you ever wondered why a pigeon’s walk is so funny? A pigeon’s eyes can’t focus as it moves, so the bird actually has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps in order to refocus. It precedes clumsily- head forward, stop, head back, and stop. In our spiritual walk with the Lord, we have the same problem as the pigeon: we have a hard time seeing while we are on the go. We need to stop between steps- to pause and refocus on the word and the will of God. Daniel’s practice of praying three times a day was an essential part of his walk with God. He knew there’s a certain kind of spiritual refocusing that we can’t do without stopping. His stops gave him a very different kind of walk- one that was very obvious to those around him. What about us? Let’s learn this valuable lesson from the pigeon: “Looking good” is not as important as “seeing well”.
There is a false assumption that to get ahead in this world one must conform to the practices of the world. But we can succeed in the affairs of men without selling our souls to the world if we dare to be a Daniel. We are called to look beyond worldly ambition and pursuits to seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness, which includes serving him wherever He has placed us. We can learn a lot from Daniel, who took a bold stand for God. There is no trace of arrogance in his behaviour. Gentleness and respect are to characterize our testimony to an unbelieving world. We are not to compromise our commitment to Christ, but we are to be ready to answer anyone who asks about our hope. Our witness for Christ, therefore, is to be lived and spoken boldly, yet gently and respectfully. When it is time to take a stand, let us follow Daniel’s powerful example of courage. Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand –alone! Dare to have our purpose firm! Dare to make it known! It’s easy to stand with the crowd; but it takes courage to stand alone.
You all must have noticed the way the rivers flow. Except for some man-made water ways, all rivers have one thing in common. What is that? Have you ever noticed? They all are crooked. The reason is simple- they follow the path of least resistance. Rivers find their way around anything that blocks their flow because they take the easy way. The same can be said for some people. Because they fail to resist the devil, they yield to temptation and deviate from the path God kept them to follow. Unlike Daniel, we bend to worldly pressures, pleasures and compromise what we think is right.
In conclusion let me tell you that Daniel made right choices over his options. We are living in a world, which offers us with a lot of options in every walk of our life. Options are something we select or available as a choice. Plenty of options are available in front of us for everything. For education, shopping, ministry, employment, marriage, place of living and in all aspects of our life. To discard all available options is also an option. The standard of life of a person is deeply depended on the selection or options one makes in his/her life at different stages of life. So right choice is an important measure of our life. There are many people who ruined their lives by wrong choices and many prospered by right choices.
Let us read Dan 1:5 & 8 the king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the King’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Daniel had many hindrances before him to go ahead with his choice. He was still firm to his character and belief. When we read further we understand that for Daniel, God gave him knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.
In Daniel 5:16-17, we see “Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.” Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.”
It is always difficult for me to make a choice when different options are given. I struggle always to be sure that I am making the right choice. But when we look at the story of Daniel, we understand that Daniel could always make the right choices in his life. He could make right choices always mainly because of the value based attributes of his nature.
1 He stood for character over his comforts
2 He had a disciplined devotional life
3 He loved God over his life
The examples of people like Daniel in the Bible encourage us and show us how to live. We still need “Daniels” toady – men and women who have convictions and courage to stand for them even when it involves sacrifice or unpopularity. Where are the Daniels today? Of course, we must be careful to make sure our beliefs are properly grounded. But once we are certain of that, we should be like Daniel, who not only had convictions but the courage to stand for them. Today, when you are tempted to compromise your principles, don’t give in. Dare to be a Daniel. The need of Indian churches today is good leaders. It is my prayer to have the courage to be good leaders like Daniel.
JACOB VARGHESE
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