Articles
Person Of The Week: Daniel
Daniel is a giant among giants in the history of faithful servants of God. Like Jeremiah, his prophetic tenure was long. A young man displaced from his homeland, immersed in a foreign culture, traumatized by disaster that had separated him from all things familiar, how easy it would have been to become despondent, frustrated with God or absorbed into Babylonian society.
But none of these things happened to Daniel. He is a model of faith and fidelity toward God, refusing to compromise his convictions no matter the circumstances. A man of that degree of integrity often will excel in society, and thus Daniel did, serving as a high government official in both the Babylonian and Persian kingdoms.
The story we most associate with Daniel was his being cast into the den of lions. Jealous colleagues conspired to frame him and used the vanity of Darius to condemn Daniel. With the “no prayer but to Darius” law passed, Daniel dutifully rejected that human authority and offered his prayers to God. A clear conscience is worth more to us than our physical lives.
Though he lived 2,600 years ago, Daniel’s example is just as fresh and meaningful today as ever. If you find your priorities askew, read about Daniel. Keeping God first in our lives makes a lot of difficult decisions much easier.
