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Patterns of a Powerful Prayer Life

In yesterday’s broadcast, we reviewed the birth of the world Empire of Medo-Persia after the empire of Babylon fell in 538 BC.

The Medo-Persian monarch reigning from the city of Babylon thought it advisable to maintain the leadership of Daniel, the man who had predicted Babylon’s fall, and who had served with such wisdom during the six decades of Babylon’s world rule.

His appointment angered the generals and leaders of the army that had overthrown Babylon on the night of Belshazzar’s Feast. They plotted a way to get rid of Daniel, and to keep the leadership of the new world empire to themselves. Hadn’t they earned it? they asked themselves. Well, finally they came up with a scheme, a dishonest strategy, a cunning way to rid themselves of the old man who had served Babylon’s kings with such distinction. A few of the top-ranking officials of the realm came to king Darius with a flattering idea that hid their real intent.

In my imagination I can hear Darius asking, Where’s Daniel? And that would have awakened their worst fears. But I’m sure a smooth-talking spokesman would have been unfazed, and commented glibly that Daniel had delegated this assignment to them. It would have sounded plausible. And although we don’t know all that was said, we do know what next happened. It’s here in Daniel 6: a good number of the kingdom’s leadership came to Darius and said they were:

all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den. Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed." So King Darius put the decree in writing.

I’m sure Darius smiled. "It couldn't hurt!" he probably thought to himself. His reign was just beginning. The surroundings were nice, the food good, the weather hot, but O.K. if you kept servants waving those large fans. All that personal attention for a month seemed like a prize idea.

The bit about throwing someone to hungry lions seemed quite a persuasive threat. Then the leaders produced a tablet, the clay still pliable, and the king pressed his seal into it, and they all left smiling even more broadly than the king. These schemers kept a knowledge of the new law from Daniel as long as they could, but ultimately, under questioning, it came out even though they must have spoken with feigned innocence. I see Daniel wave them from his office. It was nearly noon, the time of day he left the office, walked the short distance to his apartment, and knelt before the open window that looked directly west towards the city of Jerusalem that he had not seen in 60 years. And that day, as on every other day, he prayed: prayed for God's people, prayed for the temple to be rebuilt, prayed for wisdom in the affairs of state, and prayed for his enemies even then hiding to see if he would pray, violate the edict, and pronounce his own death sentence.

They had him. They knew it. So they returned to announce to the king with mock shock that Daniel had disobeyed the law! He prayed to his God not once a week, or once a day, but three times a day in violation of the royal decree.

Instantly the king saw the trap they had laid for Daniel and himself. These jealous civil servants would deprive him of the wisest man on earth. He brought in his lawyers searching for a loop hole in the law. They advised him not to even think about that option. "The rule of law," I hear them saying, "the rule of law is fundamental to our system of government. Make an exception here and you'll be forced to make an exception somewhere else. There's nothing else to do but feed Daniel to the lions."
Never had the king experienced such distress. And by sundown he knew these devils had beaten him at his own game, "the rule of law." Reluctantly he gave the decree to lower Daniel into the underground lion's den. But he came to the execution personally, and with great sorrow said to Daniel in front of his accusers, these words from Daniel 6:16:

"May your God whom you serve continually, rescue you."

The king turned away as they placed a rope around Daniel's waist and lowered him into the pit. The roaring of the hungry beasts filled the cavern and ricocheted around the rock walls ominously. Then they closed the steel grate, rolled a stone across the opening, threw in a few shovels of wet clay around the edges and the king pressed his seal into the clay and left.

Daniel stood alone with the lions—and with God.

In all his 62 years, Darius never had a worse night. No battle, no conflict, no trauma compared with this torture. No food, no drink, no entertainment could calm him. But Daniel enjoyed a perfectly peaceful night. He had a warm wooly soft pillow at his head, the neck of a great warrior lion-king. Over a lifetime, Daniel had made a bed of trust for himself in the form of a consistent prayer-filled life. So now he lay on that bed and enjoyed a beautiful rest.

However, Darius paced the night away, and at first light ran to the lion pit and called out in an anguished voice these words in Daniel 6: verse 20:

"Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"

Is God able? Oh yes, God is able! From the echoing pit, Daniel called back,

"My God sent his angel, and he shut the lion's mouths. They have not hurt me."

The king could not have been more joy-filled. He broke his seal, had the stone removed, the grate opened, and a rope thrown down to bring Daniel out of the lion's lair. And he ordered all the false accusers thrown to the lions--where they perished.

Then Darius made another decree, and placed his seal into the wet clay. It now became the unchangeable law of the Medes and Persians. It said:

“In every part of my kingdom people must reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God . . . he rescues and saves” (Dan 6:26, 27).

Rescues, saves, delivers. Those are the key words of Daniel for your heart and mine. And thus end the narratives of Daniel.

While this lesson is still fresh in our minds, let’s summarize what we have learned, for the theme of this chapter will be the chief interpretive key for the next chapter, Daniel 7. Here it is:

In ancient days, God vindicated his faithful follower Daniel, rescued him from the ravenous lions, and restored him to fellowship with his rescuer, the king of the kingdom that ruled the world.

Thus in Daniel 7 we can expect to find precisely the same theme:

In the last days, God will vindicate his faithful followers and deliver them from the one that Scripture says is prowling like a lion, seeking anyone he can destroy. And God will bring them into fellowship with their divine Rescuer, the King of the eternal kingdom of the universe.

In conclusion today, I share a few thoughts about Daniel the man of prayer, and how we might think about his principle-centered life.

Daniel's prayer life is the centerpiece of the story. It caused him all this grief, but it also brought glory to God. It laid the foundation for the return of the captives in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city. Thus, their 70-year-long captivity finally came to an end.

These three attributes of Daniel’s prayer life stand out in brilliant color and clarity. Daniel prayed: daily; with his eyes looking toward Jerusalem; and his prayers (although no doubt containing some requests) were sprinkled with thanksgiving.

First, daily. Are you too busy to pray every day? Daniel would advise all of us to make the nourishment of prayer as important as the nourishment of food.

Second, he prayed with his eyes towards Jerusalem. Daniel’s home city was 500 miles away, and all he could remember was based on youthful memories mired in myth. But Daniel kept those memories in his mind, and they sustained him. And he had the promises of God in his mind and they sustained him.

And third, as he prayed, Daniel liberally sprinkled the words with thanksgiving. How easy it is for us to become so focused on ourselves and our perceived needs that we forget to say “Thank you,” for all the good things we enjoy.

And that brings to a close the narratives of Daniel. In the next chapter we enter the prophetic half of the book. But as we close this chapter, my thoughts go back to Tamir Goodman, the young Jewish basketball player I mentioned yesterday. He dared to stand for principle on the basketball court, and to always stand for what he believes. That is a wonderful challenge to me . . . and to you!