Posted on: 22nd November 2022

I have been reflecting on the book of Daniel recently and have been amazed at how a whole nation was turned around just because of Daniel’s faithfulness to God.

In Daniel 6, King Darius was persuaded to issue a decree where no one was allowed to pray to anyone except himself for 30 days otherwise they will be thrown into the lion’s den. You’ve probably heard the story: Daniel did pray to God, got thrown into the lion’s den, and God rescued him.

But I think the truly amazing thing is that King Darius then wrote a letter to ‘all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth’ (Dan 6:25) saying everyone must fear and reverence God. This is followed by a song of praise! Imagine a significant leader who previously did not follow God then acknowledging God before the world and writing Him a song of praise!

There was a major turnaround for the king and the whole nation, just because Daniel prayed. In Daniel 6:10, it says, ‘Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.’ He didn’t loudly protest at the palace or try and fight back. Instead, he trusted the matter completely to God and his protest was continuing to pray every day.

He also did not submit to fear because by praying by his open window, he didn’t try to hide the fact that he served God. He fully trusted God with the situation and quietly remained faithful. There’s lots more to the story, but the point I’m making is that when the world around him was changing, Daniel stayed true to God, and God used him to cause a significant shift in the nation.

There is a time to stand up and speak, but there is also a time to get down on our knees and pray. Maybe there’s a situation in your life where the best way to fight the battle is to just remain faithful to God. In Daniel’s case, it turned around a nation.

Mary Swain, Dayspring Church and Seeds Creative Dance.