Daniel

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Did I Say That Out Loud?

I’m guessing that I’m not the only one who has ever said something that didn’t sound right the moment it left our lips.  Perhaps on its way out of our mouth, we realized we had reached the point of no return and there was no stopping these words that would soon burst into the air.  Maybe its a second later, as our words float through the air and land in our ears, we can’t believe what we’re hearing.  Or another moment passes and we see the looks of disbelief and shock on the faces of those around us as our words register in their mind.  We want to ignore the statement — going on as if nothing had been said.  We want to brush our words aside and hope no one heard or remembers.  We want to explain what we really meant.  We wonder to our self, and even verbally question, “Did I say that out loud?”

I get the sense that David has one of those moments in Psalm 139.  It is a wonderful Psalm.  A well-known Psalm — at least the first 18 verses and the last 2 verses.  In the first two-thirds of the chapter, David writes of an All-Knowing God that has created him and has known his entire life before a day of it came to be.  He acknowledges that there is no where that he could go to hide from God — God will know where David is.  He even writes about God knowing the words he will speak before they are even on his tongue.  God knows intimately every detail of David’s life and he marvels in his writing of such an incredible God.

And then comes verses 19 – 22:

“If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
 They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
 I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.”

Whoa!  Did he say that out loud?  How do you go from, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast is the sum of them!” to “If only you, God, would . . . “?  As David unloads his heart before God regarding the wicked and those who live against God, I think the words coming out of his mouth slowly began to register in his mind.  Perhaps that question crossed his mind, “Did I say that out loud?”  In light of what he had just expressed in the previous 18 verses about God’s knowledge of everything, even before it came into being, did it matter if it was said out loud? 

The reason that I think David wondered about his words, is his request in the final two verses of Psalm 139.  I get the image in my mind of David saying, “That didn’t sound right, but I know what I meant.”  And then it hits him — God also knows what he meant.  David had just declared so beautifully God’s complete knowledge of all things.  Now was the time to seek input from this All-Knowing God.  God could see through all of the personal feelings — the hurts, the fears, the worries, the pride, the selfishness, the sin in his life — and know exactly the intent of his words.  And so we have those wonderful verses in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

I’ve been there, haven’t you?  I say or do something that could be taken wrong.  I know, or at least am fairly confident, that I had good and honorable intentions but it doesn’t come across that way.  It’s the, “Wow, did I say that out loud?”  “You know that is not what I really meant.”  And so I come to God as David did.  Search me, God.  You do know me even better than I know myself.  Look within and examine my very motive for that thought and statement.  Show me if it is indeed pure, or if it comes from worry, fear, selfishness, or pride.  Open me before you and show me anything that you find offensive.  Help me to get rid of whatever it may be.  Lead me.  Lead me not just in some general direction we’ll call life, but lead me in the way everlasting.  Both in the way that leads to everlasting life and also lead me in the way forever and always.  Keep me in the way and guard my heart, mind, and will; that I would not stray. 

May you and I recognize an All-Knowing God who sees everything about us.  When we speak and act out of the passion of our heart, may we turn to God to purify and reveal to us the basis for those words and actions.  May our passion for God be the source of what we think and for what we say out loud.

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A Night With The Lions

I love the story of Daniel in the den of lions!  Coming from a guy in full time prayer ministry, that is probably not a surprising statement.  As central as prayer is in the context of the story, it is not what I consider to be the main theme of Daniel 6.  I see greater themes — such as integrity, trust, living a consistent lifestyle when people watch and when they don’t, and God’s Almighty nature.

The chapter begins with king Darius appointing 120 rulers to oversee the kingdom with 3 administrators over these rulers.  One of these 3 administrators is Daniel.  The same Daniel who was taken captive and brought into the service of the Babylonians as a “spoil of war”.  In some ways, the story reminds me of the account of Joseph recorded in Genesis.  Daniel is not in Babylon by choice but he determines to live a life that honors and respects God regardless of the circumstances he finds himself in.  By trusting God and refusing to eat from the king’s table, Daniel places himself in a position that God knows it is He who will be honored in anything Daniel does.  So Daniel rises in influence and authority to the point where “Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”  (Daniel 6:3) 

Even Daniel’s rivals and fellow leaders could find nothing in his life to drag out of the closet.  Here was a man that was so  squeaky clean that no amount of digging and investigating was going to come up with anything to dirty his image — let alone remove him from leadership.  Daniel exhibited true integrity.  His enemies “could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.”  In our current American political culture, I find this amazing.  I’m not sure I know of any political leader today whose enemies would conclude they can find nothing against them.  Yet here is Daniel, living a life so upright and God-honoring . . . God-honoring . . . that is it!  So, the rival leaders conclude, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”  If he is so God-honoring then we will use that against him.  And so they do.  They set up the king to influence him to make a law that prayers can only be prayed to the king for a thirty day time period.  Oh, and any lawbreakers — they get to spend the night in the den of lions.

What would you or I do in Daniel’s spot?  I can hear myself now.  “That’s not fair!”  “That’s a trap.”  “Prayer is such a private thing anyway, who will know if I’m praying and who I’m praying to?”  “God will understand if I change my practice of prayer to fit this culture I am in, He surely wouldn’t want me to die.”  This could be a long paragraph if I continued, but I think you get the point and could add some excuses of your own.  Daniel’s integrity and trust in God would allow him to have no part in making excuses or justifying a different action.  After Daniel had learned of the decree, “he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.  Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” 

Daniel would not allow others to bully him out of his relationship with God and his daily times of prayer.  His integrity would not allow him to make excuses to change his routine so that he could “pray it safe”.  I can actually picture the apostles thinking of Daniel as they respond to leaders of their day, “We must obey God rather than men.”  So, the trap is set . . .  the bait is taken . . . the victim is brought before the king for punishment . . . and the king has to be thinking, “what kind of leaders have I appointed that they have managed to pull this over on me and leave me with no way out.”  The text tells us the king was distressed and made every effort possible to try to save Daniel until the end of the day.  Finally, his time is up and his last ditch effort to save Daniel actually surprises me.  I had to look twice — yes, there it is . . . isn’t this against the law?  It sure looks to me like the kings final, “when all else fails”, solution is one that sounds familiar — he prays!  As Daniel is about to be thrown into the den of lions, the king says, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”  Sounds a lot like a prayer to me, how about you? 

So, a night with the lions begins.  I’ve heard all kinds of imaginative minds describe what it must have been like for Daniel that night.  The Bible really doesn’t give much detail about his night, but it does describe the night the king had.  The king was worried about his friend.  He “spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him.  And he could not sleep.”  Can you imagine the weight of putting to death your friend, your trusted adviser, the only one of your leadership team who truly lived with integrity?  You’ve allowed your pride and gullibility to make your decisions for you and force you into an action you absolutely hated to do.  Wow, what a night!  No wonder the king heads to the lions’ den at first light.  All the while wondering, “Is it even possible that this God whom Daniel serves continually could actually rescue him from these lions?”  And that is his question when he arrives, “Daniel, did your God save you?”  Imagine the relief and joy the king felt when Daniel replies, “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions.  They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.  Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”  Just as his friends had done when facing the fiery furnace a few chapters earlier, Daniel believed in a God who was mighty enough to rescue even from death.  Yet as great as those rescues are,  the greater story is the unwavering obedience shown by these young Hebrews when forced to choose between compromise and life or obey God and die. 

How often do you and I find ourselves making the wrong choices — even when the immediate consequence of our disobedience isn’t physical death.  We choose compromise and acceptance over obedience and rejection.  We choose compromise and fleeting pleasure over obedience and endurance.  We choose compromise and expediency over obedience and patience.  We choose compromise over obedience!

May you and I learn from the integrity of Daniel.  May we live our life with such integrity that no one can find anything to charge us with unless it has something to do with our obedience to God.  May we practice our integrity, serving God continually, in ways that will influence those observing our interaction with our God.  May we do what is right, because it is right, regardless of the consequences.