This guy couldn’t be caught committing a crime unless the ‘crime’ had something to do with his worship of God. Some guys tricked the king into passing a decree that had dangerous implications for someone who wouldn’t stop praying to God. I think most of us don’t need much incentive to avoid prayer. Prayerlessness is the default setting for so many Christians these days.
The character of Daniel was so exemplary that the king denied himself food and entertainment, yet so many of our prayers are full of feasting and entertainment in the name of worship. So concerned was the king about Daniel, that sleep left him. I dare say that many of us, like Jesus, could sleep through the greatest of storms. The king left early in the morning to check if Daniel’s God had saved him, and Daniel calmly called out from the den of lions that God had shut the lion’s mouths. It seems the lions had also been forced into a Daniel fast!
How many of us are so invaluable to others that they would be so distressed if we were in jeopardy? How many of us would still worship God if our lives depended on not doing so? Are we likely to say what Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego said, that even if God doesn’t deliver us then we still will not let go of Him? Truly, these four guys had a glimpse of the New Testament where it is said, that to be absent in this body, is to be present with the Lord.
If they, in such life-threatening circumstances still chose to worship the true and living God, how much more we, who are pampered by soft-padded cushions in well-lit churches? Could we give up our mattresses for the floor that welcomes our knees in prayer, could we give up the fattening food we so enjoy, to remind the body of its true master?
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