Joy In The Face Of Adversity

Introduction

We are in week 2 of our series on Joy. As I mentioned last week, we are looking at different people and events in the Bible and discussing how they showed us how to have joy in our lives.

If you have ever been a human being here on earth, you know there are times when you will face adversity. Whether it is because of your faith, or for some other reason, adversity is a part of our life here. We can all know and agree that adversity exists. But how do we react to adversity? How do we hold onto our faith? How do we glorify God when we face difficult and adverse times? How can we have joy in those moments?

Today, we will look at Daniel and a story from the book that bears his name. So, turn with me to Daniel Chapter 6 as we see how Daniel could have joy and hope in a dire situation.

Background

Jumping in to Daniel 6 puts us in the middle of the story we see playing out in Daniel. For the sake of context, we need to see and understand where we are in the story for us to understand the book of Daniel and Daniel 6.

Daniel can be broken basically in half. Chapters 1-6 are a biography of Daniel. It tells us the story of Daniel from being taken into captivity initially through what we will read in Daniel 6.

The second half of Daniel, 7-12, is prophetic. We see prophesy about the end times and future kingdoms. It is another series for another day, but it is not a section of scripture to ignore.

This is a side note, but in studying for this message I read a few different commentaries and different resources on Daniel. Obviously, with time, many people have written books and commentaries on the Bible, but that doesn’t mean they are all good. But I found different ones that wanted to pass over the prophetic nature of the second half of Daniel, to not look into it, and to not be divisive with your opinion of what it is. I want to say that we are to learn to rightly divide scripture, and to simply interpret it to appease the masses, is not it? This was just a reminder that we have to be mindful of the resources we use.

Back to our story now.

Daniel is taken as a young teenager and by the time we get to Daniel 6 he is 82 years old. So, a lot of time has passed in these 6 chapters.

Daniel 6 starts probably 2-3 years after the Medo-Persian Conquest. For us, this just means it is a new foreign nation that has conquered the Middle East and Israel. But it will be clear here, even in the changing of ruling nations, the reputation of Daniel speaks for itself.

The stories of Daniel we read in the previous chapters speak to the character of who Daniel was. His faith in God, his trust in God, and his obedience to God had shown his character. Throughout the story of Daniel, we see a constant thread of the faithfulness of God. Daniel was obedient to God. And God never waivered from being God.

This brings us to Daniel 6.

Daniel Is Strong In His Faith (v. 1-9)

We open up Chapter 6 with a description of the new government that has been set up. Darius is setting up 120 leaders throughout the whole kingdom to be leaders. These representatives would rule over smaller areas, similar to how a governor would.

Then, over these 120 people, he sets 3 high officials to be their boss. These three would report to the king. Daniel is then made to be one of these 3 men.

Imagine that. Daniel was originally taken by the Babylonians as a teenager as essentially a prisoner. He is a teenage boy who stands up to the Babylonian leaders even then and shows the strength of God to this kingdom. Fast forward a few decades and Daniel is still a leader in a new kingdom. He is one of the top 3 leaders in the entire kingdom.

Daniel is doing such a great job, and the king senses such a great spirit about him, that the plan from the king is to make Daniel above everyone. Obviously, this makes the other leaders upset. They do not want to see Daniel prosper and thrive. Daniel isn’t really a part of their kingdom! They inherited him from another and here he is rising to the top of everyone.

I think we could place ourselves in both group's shoes. We may have seen this play out in our workplace before. Someone new coming in and being a great leader or great at their job and rising to the top. It creates jealousy in us, we want to be seen and rise up to leadership.

At the same time, I am sure we can understand Daniel. He is simply being faithful to God. His whole life is marked by Him trusting God more than man. It is marked by Daniel being strong in his faith in God.

The other leaders decide that they have to find some fault in the life of Daniel that they can get him in trouble for. In a shocking turn of events, they find nothing. They cannot find a single thing that they could use to get Daniel in trouble. From our perspective, that should be clear. There was nothing in their life of Daniel that was problematic, otherwise, he would not have gotten to the position he was in. He could not have survived the years of occupation by being a problematic person. Since they could not find something, they attacked him in his faith. They had to go after the law of God and get him in trouble for that.

So, what do they do? They trick Darius into making a law that says for 30 days you can only pray to Darius. For 30 days you are not allowed to pray to anyone except Darius. No god, no man, nothing. And if you are caught praying, you will be cast into a den of lions to certain death. This would have been a common punishment that the kingdom would have used. These leaders think they have probably done something so slick and cool. They convinced the king to be part of their plan and put Daniel in a tough spot. If he prays to God, then he will be killed and will be out of their hair. If he stops praying for these 30 days, then they would use this against Daniel. They could question his faith and feel like they have something over him.

We have to remember though, Daniel has been strong in his faith since childhood. How will Daniel respond to this?

Daniel Is Confident In God (v. 10-17)

Look at verse 10 and Daniel’s response. He knows that the document is signed and that it is law now. He understands that there is a real rule and a real consequence to breaking this rule. But we read that Daniel went to his house and his upper chamber with the windows open and prayed toward Jerusalem. To us, this may sound weird, but why Jerusalem? But in this time of exile, it was the normal tendency to pray toward Jerusalem as the Israelites craved to be reunited with their homeland and temple.

Daniel continues on his normal prayer routine. He goes to the upper room of his house, opens the windows, faces Jerusalem, and three times a day he prays to God. He did not waiver in his faith in God. Even knowing his life would potentially be on the line, Daniel recognized that God had been faithful to him from day one, and he was not abandoning his faith in Godatn this time. Adversity had come, and Daniel continued to trust God. He was confident in God and his relationship with God.

I pray that I could have the boldness and faith like Daniel. Imagine looking back at your life and just seeing the stops along the way that God had been faithful to you. Looking back and seeing all the times that God was with you, that he protected you, that he was with you, and continuing to have that strong faith and confidence in your relationship with God.

The other leaders I am sure were excited when they knew Daniel had not stopped. Their plan had worked and now Daniel would be out of the way. They go to the king and turn in Daniel. They paint Daniel as an exile from Judah who does not care for the kingdom, the king, or the rules. But this does not work in the way that they think. The king is distressed over this. When he signed this rule, he probably didn’t think at all about Daniel, about this rule being put into place, or that Daniel would be the one who would be in trouble for it. The character and ability of Daniel, his leadership, and the trust that the King had in him were real. The king is distressed and it says he spent the day looking for a way to rescue Daniel.

I can see it in my mind. The leaders turn in Daniel and Darius is distraught. He is seeking counsel from people who know the law and understand how it works. Looking for some kind of wording or precedent that would allow him to not enforce this against Daniel. He is looking for some way he could pardon him or get rid of this rule. Daniel is a key leader in the kingdom. The king does not want to lose this person he can trust. He does not want to kill Daniel.

These guys show up again and remind the king that it cannot be changed. Darius accepts this and sends Daniel to what he would think is a certain death in the den of the lions. Darius tells Daniel that he hopes his God will deliver him. Darius knew of the religious nature of Daniel. He knew that Daniel was faithful to his God. And in this moment, Darius is hoping that God will protect and deliver Daniel. Daniel is confident in his relationship with God, and that confidence is rubbing off on those around him.

Now, what happens in that lion's den?

Daniel Is Delivered (v. 18-23)

The response from Darius is very interesting to me. He spends the night fasting, with nothing entertaining or distracting him, and he does not sleep. If the verses before this did not make it clear, these ones do. Darius clearly cared for Daniel. Darius did not want to see Daniel killed, and he was hoping that there would be a deliverance for Daniel. The stress of this decision, I am sure the stress of knowing that these men tried to trick the king into getting Daniel killed, the stress of possibly being killed by these lions, a brutal death, all always on Darius.

As the sun rises he runs to the den of the lions and cries out into the den, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” I think it is interesting here that Darius seems to have a question of God. Is he able to deliver to you? Well, I think we would answer yes here. Is God able to? Of course, God can! But did God deliver him? From Darius’ perspective, Daniel was sure to be a goner. A human in this den of lions would certainly mean that he is dead. He had no defense, he had no way to protect himself, he had no chance. It was clear that Darius wasn’t sure about the strength of the God of Daniel.

Daniel cries out that God has delivered him. An angel shut the mouths of the lions because Daniel was blameless before God and before Darius. Darius is elated! And Daniel is taken out of this den. He is delivered! God was able to do it! Any question that Darius may have had about the strength of God is answered here. God was able to and did.

Imagine the joy of both Daniel and Darius. Daniel was confident in his relationship with God, but being thrown into the den of lions would put some stress on that I would think. I am sure he thought that death was a possibility and that meant to be in the presence of God. And suddenly an angel appears and shuts their mouths. Daniel spends the night in this den with hungry lions and an angel. Talk about a crazy night. I can imagine that Daniel had some joy in his heart knowing that God was visibly protecting him that night.

Not only was Daniel protected, but it says that there was no kind of harm to him at all. He was completely protected that night. His strong faith and his confidence in God were on display this night. His obedience to God, even in the face of adversity, was matched by God being faithful to him.

Darius sees joy in the fact that his trusted leader did not die. Daniel’s God was faithful. This God that Daniel continually served was protective of Daniel. So, with this good news, how does Darius respond to everything?

Trials Can Be Glorifying (v. 24-28)

Darius has the men and their families thrown into this den, and the Bible says that before their bodies even hit the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all the bones of their bodies. Any question that these lions were not hungry when Daniel was in the den with them is answered here. These lions were ready to eat.

Darius then writes this decree to all people, nations, and languages on earth: People should fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. His kingdom will never be destroyed and he has dominion over all the world. Darius glorifies God, the God of Daniel, for all the kingdom to know. He points to the truth of God. Even in this trial, God is glorified. Daniel’s faith, his confidence in God, and the miraculous work of God, all lead to God being glorified amid this adversity. Daniel was sentenced to death for his faith in God, but God delivered him.

Conclusion

As we think about joy this time of year, we may have trouble being joyful. Maybe this year has been hard. Maybe this time of year brings up more hurt and pain than joy and gladness. We can know this though, even in trials we can have joy, and this joy can produce hope, and our hope is ultimately in Jesus Christ.

Daniel’s faith and the rescue in the den of lions are such a beautiful foreshadowing of the work of Jesus and his ultimate victory over death and the grave. We may not be delivered from earthly trials, but we can have hope in Jesus. We can have hope that he has shut the mouth of the enemy. The enemy has no power when we have faith in Jesus and the salvation we have in Him. Jesus came to this earth and died for my sins and your sins. Our sin had separated us from God, but Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for sin. And through Him alone, we can have salvation. He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our only hope, and he is the true source of Joy for us today.