Subtitle: Pray and give thanks to God for far more than your immediate situations.

Excerpt: Pray and give thanks to God for far more than your immediate situations.

Author: Rich Holt

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Daniel 6:10, ” Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before His God, as was his custom since early days. “

Background

The Cabinet of the US exists to advise the President as he carries out his duties. It consists of the vice president and the heads of the fifteen executive departments of the government, and as such it has the most significant influence on the decisions that the President makes. Now, imagine that you are the vice president, and because of your distinguished service and accomplishments, the President wants to honor you above all the other Cabinet members. But this does not sit well with the others, and so they devise a plan to bring you down. Knowing your faithfulness to God, they persuade the President to sign into law a decree that makes it illegal for anyone to worship another other than the President. And not only is it illegal, but the punishment is immediate execution. And so, after you stand and watch the President sign the bill into law, you go home and retire to your bedroom, acutely aware of what has just occurred and what it means in your personal life. But now, what do you do? What is your next step as you ponder a God who has allowed this to take place? Daniel’s first reaction was to pray.

Application

When the other leaders under King Darius pulled this trick to try and destroy him, Daniel went home, opened his windows, and prayed like he always had. But when he prayed, he didn’t now hide in his closet and pray silently to avoid being caught breaking the new law. And he didn’t just complain to God and beg for the law to be changed and the other leaders to suffer for their deceit. No, he prayed and gave thanks. Thanks? Thanks for the chance to be killed for worshipping God? Thanks for the conspirators who had undermined God’s authority and power? Thanks for a king who was so easily duped? Thanks for the reward of a lions’ den for being a faithful follower of the Lord? Apparently so. And through his faithfulness, God showed a nation what He was capable of, far above the reaches of a wicked law or a weak king. He was God, and Daniel knew that. And even a den of lions was part of His perfect plan.

Charge

As we seek Him today, pray and give thanks to God for far more than your immediate situations. Let Him remind you that nothing is beyond His authority or outside of His control.