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Lou Brock was one of the most outstanding baseball players of the 1960s and 70s. Playing mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals, he made the All-Star team six times, collected more than 3,000 hits, and set a record of twelve straight seasons with more than fifty stolen bases, including one season with a then-record 118 steals. He helped lead his team to three league pennants and two World Series championships. In 1985, Brock was rightfully inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Anyone can have one good season–it takes someone special to have a truly excellent career. In exile, Daniel lived a life of consistently visible faith and wisdom. That’s why King Darius promoted him to a high position. His abilities and integrity made enemies, though, and since they couldn’t find any skeletons in his closet they decided to get him by using his faith against him (v. 5). He had not kept his faith a secret in order to climb the career ladder in this pagan palace.
They brought the unwitting king on board by flattering him, and he signed an irrevocable “god-of-the-month” decree with a death penalty attached. Daniel ignored it and continued to pray three times daily facing Jerusalem. Why? Worship was too important a principle to compromise. He wasn’t ashamed of his God. If his enemies wanted to catch him praying, let them. They knew exactly when and where to find him. His witness was bright and clear to his peers.
King Darius finally clued in, realizing that his favorite official had been set up, but there was nothing he could do (vv. 14–16, 20). God, however, was not bound by “the law of the Medes and Persians,” and honored Daniel’s faith by miraculously saving his life in the lions’ den (vv. 22–23). The ravenous animals had to wait until morning to make a meal of Daniel’s enemies!
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Daniel shone like a bright light against the dark, pagan background of Media-Persia. We can do the same! As believers who follow the Light when most of the world lives in darkness, we can “shine like stars.”
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