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Daniel 6:6-12

⁶So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! ⁷We are all in agreement-we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors-that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human-except to you, Your Majesty-will be thrown into the den of lions. ⁸And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” ⁹So King Darius signed the law.

¹⁰But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. ¹¹Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. ¹²So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human-except to you, Your Majesty-will be thrown into the den of lions?”

“Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.”

Reflect

One thing that must have been in large supply back then was pride. King Darius was full of it! Daniel’s jealous co-workers knew this and used the king’s vanity against Daniel. In Babylon, the king’s word was the law but in the Medo-Persian Empire, when a law was made, even the king couldn’t change it. By appealing to his vanity, Darius was convinced to effectively make himself God for 30 days. This law could not be broken, even by important people like Daniel.

Daniel knew all of this but yet, he went home and thanked God. That seems a little strange at first glance but if you think of all of the miracles Daniel had experienced, you might understand why he would give thanks to God. I imagine that he knew that this would be a great opportunity to once again show a new king how God was always in control and that He is the only God to be worshiped.

Respond

1. Why couldn’t Daniel just close the windows and pray in private to avoid obeying the law?
2. Why did Daniel continue to pray in the open?
3. When you are faced with a situation in which you might be ridiculed for practicing your faith, what do you do?

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