Sermon Snippet – Daniel Prayed
INTRODUCTION – Last year in one of our Monday music devotionals, I used the traditional song “Daniel Prayed.” The refrain is simple: “Oh, Daniel prayed / Every morning, noon, and night.” The lyrics are based upon the familiar account of the lions’ den in Daniel 6.
1. DANIEL PRAYED REGULARLY
As a young man (probably a teen), Daniel was already relying on prayer in the foreign land of Babylon (2:17-18). As an older man, as we find here in 6:10, “he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed.” As an even more elderly man (probably 80-85), the prophet continued this holy habit (9:1-3 – we will look at this passage in a few minutes). I Thessalonians 5:17 compassionately commands, “Pray without ceasing.” We are to be always ready to pray, and like Daniel, we need to plan to pray. We need structure in all areas of our lives, including prayer.
2. DANIEL PRAYED ACCORDING TO GOD’S WORD
Why did Daniel pray “toward Jerusalem” (6:10)? The answer is found in I Kings 8:35-36. The specific reason for that prayer was drought (and its resulting famine), which was not the problem when Daniel prayed. However, he read “if they pray toward this place” and understood that as a Jewish believer this injunction was applicable at any time. For Daniel, this posture reminded him of God’s promises to restore the people of Israel to their homeland. In Daniel 9:1-3, we find another example of prayer in accordance with the Word of God. Reading Jeremiah 25:11-12, Daniel realized that the time of captivity (“seventy years”) was nearly over, and he prayed for greater insight into God’s plan for Israel (and he received a remarkably detailed answer, which he wrote down for all of us). From the Lord’s Prayer, we recite, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). I John 4:14-15 says, “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” Don’t be praying for a spouse if you already have one! Even worse, don’t pray for someone to reject the salvation that God the Son, Jesus Christ, offers to all! Our prayers must line up with the Bible – not the other way around.
3. DANIEL PRAYED THANKFULLY
He “prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime [as was his custom]” (6:10). The prophet thanks God in prayer even though it is prayer that lands him in the lions’ den! He correctly understood that this immediate threat was just one more good reason to pray. One of our greatest privileges as believers is prayer – direct communication with God. I Thessalonians 5:18 states (and the immediate context is prayer: “Pray without ceasing” – verse 17), “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Daniel’s devotion had caught the attention of evil men, and they persecuted him. Perhaps the same will be true of us in this increasingly godless, hostile, violent land. So be it – at least in this dying world we will be witnesses to “the Living God” (Daniel 6:26). May we have faith to continue to pray regularly, according to God’s Word, and thankfully.
CONCLUSION – We know the rest of the story. Daniel was protected not from the lions’ den but in the lions’ den. We all have a lion in our lives (I Peter 5:6-9): “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (verse 8). He cannot have us if we belong to Jesus, Who is the conquering “Lion of the tribe of Juda” (Revelation 5:5). Jesus uses His might not to hurt but rather to help, not to slaughter but to save. Let us trust fully in Him for His eternal salvation, and let us live the last verse of “Daniel Prayed”: Now, brother, let us watch and pray like Daniel did from day to day. He prayed to God every morning, noon, and night. We, too, can gladly dare and do and pray to God he’ll see us through. Oh, Daniel prayed every morning, noon, and night.