“Then they said to the king, ‘Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.’” – Daniel 6:13
As we continue to look at the courageous life Daniel lived, we come to the final story of Daniel serving in the king’s court. This time, the king was Darius. Usually, when a new king would take the throne, he would get rid of those who served in the previous administration and replace them with new people who were faithful to him.
But Daniel served three kings, which implies that Daniel was highly thought of throughout the entire kingdom. When you read the text, it seems like Darius really trusted Daniel.
Daniel was being elevated and promoted because God had blessed him, and yet it seems like those blessings put a target on his back with the other people serving in the king’s court.
We see in Daniel 6 that his opponents tried to use his faithfulness to God against him. This was their plan: they would convince King Darius to make a decree saying no one could pray to any god except to Darius himself.
If you are a believer, you will learn there are always consequences for radical obedience, but Daniel believed the safest thing he could do was to radically obey God.
When you live your life with the understanding that God is in control, it changes the way you walk. More specifically, it redefines what it looks like to walk by faith. You see, when you understand that God is 100% in control, it should lead you to walk by faith without any hesitation.
When it comes to following His commands and being faithful to Him, there should not be any question. Now, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a lot of natural fear that results from radical obedience. Listen, sometimes it is scary choosing courage and saying yes to God!
But courage does not mean we are without fear. Courage is taking action despite our fear. Living courageously may be scary, but the fact remains the same: the safest place you can be is in the center of God’s will!