1 Kings 14, Daniel 6, Acts 7:1-6, 1 John 2:15-17, Psalm 99: Do you blend in with others around you? Are you distinctively different? The story of Daniel always inspires me. I don’t know if I would have been as strong as he was, but his faith in the One True God made him distinctively different than all of the other wise me. He wisdom and knowledge set him apart from others because he used them to lead people well. As the Medes and Persians took control of Babylon the new king Darius saw Daniel’s wisdom and made him a ruler over all of the wise men. That did not sit well with some of his colleagues. They were jealous and sought a way to bring him down.
When you are distinctively different many times you are a target for those jealous of you or your position. They will do what they can to bring you down and make you like everyone else.
These colleagues devised a plan they knew would work because they knew Daniel to be a man of great faith and that his practice was to pray daily 3 times to his God facing Jerusalem. Their plan targeted Daniel’s devout prayer life. The edict demanded that no one pray to any god or bow to anything other than the king for 30 days. They knew Daniel’s faith would not allow him to follow their law. As Daniel knelt to pray the guards arrested him. The punishment was severe, but God was with him even in the lions’ den. The King knew of Daniel’s faith but did not realize that his new law would endanger Daniel. The King could not sleep for concern for Daniel. First thing in the morning the King came to check on him. Hearing Daniel was safe the King responded:
Daniel 6:25Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. 26I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,
for he is the living God,
enduring forever;
his kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be to the end.
27 He delivers and rescues;
he works signs and wonders
in heaven and on earth,
he who has saved Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
Our uniqueness may place us in a dangerous spot, but in the end the goal is not our comfort, but that the world may know our Savior. Daniel’s difference made God known. Oh that our difference would make God known to the unbelieving world around us. I pray today that you will dare to be different for the Kingdom’s sake.