Daniel 6

Unintended Consequences

You may have heard of the ‘law of unintended consequences.’ It is a principle that can better be illustrated than defined.

For example,

The law of unintended consequences is at work always and everywhere. In 1968, for instance, Vermont outlawed roadside billboards and large signs in order to protect the state's pastoral vistas. One unintended consequence was the appearance of large, bizarre "sculptures" adjacent to businesses. An auto dealer commissioned a twelve-foot, sixteen-ton gorilla, clutching a real Volkswagen Beetle. A carpet store is marked by a nineteen-foot genie holding aloft a rolled carpet as he emerges from a smoking teapot. Other sculptures include a horse, a rooster, and a squirrel in red suspenders.

https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/handouts/french/unintconseq.html

There are likely many other illustrations that one could use.

Daniel 6, our text for today, is an instance of how the decision of a political leader can have unintended consequences.

Daniel 6:1-4

Daniel is now at least 80 yrs old. At 80 he is still active and energetic enough for Darius the King to appoint him as one of three men to whom 120 satraps/protectors of the kingdom would report.

Daniel does such an excellent job, Darius plans on creating a position we might call ‘prime minister,’ second only to the king in power and authority.

Daniel was not a native of Babylon. He had been born to Jewish parents in or around Jerusalem and had been carried off by Nebuchadnezzar when Jerusalem and Judah were defeated by the Babylonian armies.

Being an ‘outsider’ created opportunities for other leaders to try and undermine Daniel’s authority.

Daniel 6:4 (HCSB)

But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

Daniel 6:5-9

Those conspiring against Daniel realized they had no grounds for accusation unless they invented a cause.

Their best effort was to convince the king to sign an edict explained in

Daniel 6:7 (HCSB)

... the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an edict that for 30 days, anyone who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lions’ den.

The king signs the decree. As was customary, any law or decree signed by a Persian king could not be rescinded or amended.

Daniel 6:10-15

Daniel knew about the decree. He also knew the custom of kings issuing unalterable decrees.

“just as he had done before...”

Knowing the consequence, knowing that others had specifically written a decree likely to lead to his death, Daniel continued his practice of praying three times each day - in front of an open window in the upstairs room of his home - toward Jerusalem.

There is no particular suggestion anywhere in the Old or New Testament that praying ‘toward’ Jerusalem is required.

Rather it was a custom developed among those exiles to remember that they were exiles, they were not ‘home.’ Even though God had specifically instructed them through Jeremiah to plant their lives in Babylon they recognized they were merely travelers, just passing through.

Of course the men seeking evidence of Daniel’s failure went directly to the king:

Daniel 6:11–14 HCSB

Then these men went as a group and found Daniel petitioning and imploring his God. So they approached the king and asked about his edict: “Didn’t you sign an edict that for 30 days any man who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “As a law of the Medes and Persians, the order stands and is irrevocable.” Then they replied to the king, “Daniel, one of the Judean exiles, has ignored you, the king, and the edict you signed, for he prays three times a day.” As soon as the king heard this, he was very displeased; he set his mind on rescuing Daniel and made every effort until sundown to deliver him.

King Darius was literally stuck. The decree he had signed had an unintended consequence. Daniel, one of the most trusted men in Darius’ government, should be thrown into the lion’s den - just as Dairus’ decree had indicated.

Dairus sought to find a way out - but eventually had to obey his own order - see Daniel 6:16-18.

Daniel 6:19-24

After Darius - and probably Daniel - spent a sleepless night, the king rushes to the site of the lion’s den.

You can hear the anxiety in his voice:

Daniel 6:20 (HCSB)

When he reached the den, he cried out in anguish to Daniel. “Daniel, servant of the living God,” the king said, “has your God whom you serve continually been able to rescue you from the lions?”

Daniel’s voice certainly gave the king reason to rejoice! He was alive.

Daniel’s testimony is simple: God sent His angel and shut the lion’s mouths.

The men and their families who forced the king’s hand and created the crisis were then thrown into the lion’s den and devoured - as they had hoped Daniel would be.

Daniel 6:25-28

Darius affirmed the power and presence of God and made a decree that all the nations he controlled must acknowledge the God of Daniel. Two specific reasons are mentioned by Darius:

a). God alone rules eternally;

b). God alone is able to deliver and Daniel is a prime example of God’s miracle working power.

We are likely to never find ourselves in a position just as Daniel.

Most of us are not ‘outsiders,’ most of us aren’t close to the power centers of our city, county, state, or nation.

And yet....

LESSONS FROM The LION’S DEN:

Disciplined devotion

Daniel 6:10 reminds us that Daniel didn’t start a habit of prayer when he discovered the king’s edict.

“…just as he had done before....”

Daniel refused to let the threat of even death keep him from his daily habit of prayer.

This kind of devotion is not just born in some emotional environment.

Rather this kind of devotion is specifically the result of day by day habit.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray He didn’t begin with a phrase such as,

‘Well if you want to pray...”

Rather,

Luke 11:2 HCSB

He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say: Father, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come.

In English is sounds as though He says, when you get around to it.

In the original language, though, Jesus assumes that the disciples do pray, that prayer is an integral part of their daily life.

We see this in Jesus’ life:

Luke 5:16 HCSB

Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

We see this in the life of the early church:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 HCSB

Pray constantly.

Like Daniel, the habit of prayer requires diligence.

At set times, in specific places, on a regular daily basis.

Deep Dependence on God

Perhaps Daniel could have helped the king find a way out of the dilemma. At 80 yrs of age or slightly older, Daniel was well versed in the political intrigues of the kings’ lives.

Rather, he simply trusted that God would deliver - and like the three young men in Daniel 3, he knew that if God did not God would be honored.

Declaration of God’s Power and Presence

Daniel 6:26–27 (HCSB)

I issue a decree that in all my royal dominion, people must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel:

For He is the living God,

and He endures forever;

His kingdom will never be destroyed,

and His dominion has no end.

He rescues and delivers;

He performs signs and wonders

in the heavens and on the earth,

for He has rescued Daniel

from the power of the lion’s.

Daniel’s experience is used by God to create an opportunity to make God’s name known across the world.

So often we find ourselves in difficult and demanding circumstances.

Our tendency is to narrow our focus to how the circumstances impact ‘me.’ We allow the enemy to distract us from the ultimate purpose of God:

To Make His Name Known

Because Daniel was devoted, because Daniel depended solely on God’s power instead of his own ability, God allowed this circumstance and through the circumstance causes His Name to be declared and proclaimed among the nations!

Most of us will never face an evening in a den of lions. Yet there are times in our lives when we feel trapped and unable to escape.

Perhaps those circumstances are the ones through which God chooses to make His name known-

to your family, your neighbors, your community, and perhaps your world.

Corrie Ten Boom and her unmarried sister found themselves involved in the Dutch underground during WW II assisting Jews seeking escape certain death in German Concentration Camps.

Corrie and her sister were arrested and taken to one of those camps.

During their captivity Corrie’s sister dies.

Corrie, however, survived and God used her for decades after the war to declare His power and presence.

Certainly Corrie and her sister would have preferred to avoid the entire experience.

Yet God had a purpose and a plan to use these two sisters and their excruciatingly challenging circumstances to proclaim His name to the world.

I don’t know the details of all that you are experiencing.

What I do know:

God can use whatever is occuring in your life as a platform for proclaiming His name, His power, and His presence.

Will you

TRUST HIM

DEPEND ON HIM

DECLARE HIS NAME IN ALL YOU SAY AND DO