FBC Morning Light – October 29, 2022

Good Saturday morning, people of faith.

We are in Daniel chapter six this morning, and what I'm going to do this morning is I'm going to just kind of give an overview of the story and then make application from three different sets of people within that story.

So in Daniel chapter six, Daniel has been in exile in Babylon for a long time, long enough that there has been regime change, and now Darius of the Medes is the ruler in Babylon, and he has set in Babylon 120 satraps and three governors, of which those governors, Daniel is one of them.

And there arises some jealousy amongst the other governors and satraps, and they plot and scheme against Daniel. And Daniel does not give in in terms of changing his worship of God, his praying to God, and they had convinced Darius to create a law that anyone who prayed to or asked anyone but Darius for 30 days, if anyone had asked for anything of God other than Darius, that they would be thrown into the lion's den.

And so Daniel was then thrown into the lion's den, and the Lord sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions while Darius fasted and had a sleepless night over the consequences of his being, let's say, duped by the other satraps and governors.

And in the morning, Daniel gets released, and the satraps and others who made this scheme, this plot, were then thrown into the lion's den. And it wasn't because the lions weren't hungry that Daniel survived.

It was because of what the Lord had done, because when the others were thrown in, they did not even hit the bottom of the den before the lions had smashed them into pieces. So here's what we see in this story.

And I say story, and I don't mean for a moment that it's not true. I should say this account, because it is scripture and it is 100 accurate. So as we look at, let's look first at the satraps. And these guys were schemers.

They were full of jealousy, and they plotted and they schemed to try to elevate their own position. And so the question is for us, is in our work or in our schooling or in our church, do we plot and scheme?

Is that what we are about? And this can come in many different shades and varieties. And any heart, any action I would suggest, any heart or any action that you take that is not designed to bring glory to God is potentially acting like the satraps who are seeking their own glory and their own benefit rather than what is good and right and true.

And so examine your heart if that is a possibility for you. Second, perhaps like Darius, you've been duped into making or putting forth something that you didn't want to really put forth until you saw the negative consequences of it.

In a similar fashion, last spring, I was part of a fundraiser for the Sterling High School Boys Tennis Team, of which I'm the coach. And I was not in charge of the website, but I had full access to the website.

And the person in charge of the website had posted on there a promotional suggesting that we needed money for a certain thing for which we were not actually raising money for that. And I read this at about 10 or 11 o 'clock at night.

And I tell you what, I had a sleepless night feeling guilty for what was put on there. I will say in the defense of the coordinator of that, that the moment that they got the email from me to change it, they did change it.

It was just an act of, let's say, they were overexcited about it or maybe misunderstood what we had said. And no one donated on the cause of that. So I guess no harm, no foul, but it definitely caused a sleepless night for me in that regard.

And then finally, perhaps you're like Daniel. Let me read here in verse 5 what these men had planned for Daniel. They said, these men said, we shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

And so I ask you this, if someone were plotting or scheming against you, would there be anything that they could bring charge against you for that was because of your character, the character that God had instilled in you, the practices that, of the good practices that God had instilled in you?

Would there be found such a thing? I think of the different cake bakers throughout the country that have, they brought lawsuit against in various ways, in scheming, in much the same way that Daniel stood against that.

They have stood against that. And so examine your heart in these things this morning and let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this story or this account of Daniel in the lion's den and the lessons and the application we can make from it.

May it be that we rely on you and see you work in our lives and that your character in us shows through throughout our lives. It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.