Blameless..
As I was reading in Daniel 6, I was struck with shock by what I read about Daniel. Daniel lived in a foreign land with a different culture that was not conducive to his faith. Many fellow officials in the kingdom didn't particularly care for Daniel. Yet, Daniel found favor with the king. It appears many were jealous of the favor of God on his life. Whatever the reasons, many joined together to conspire against Daniel. They desired to find a fault in Daniel, so they could bring his indiscretion before the king. However, after a time of observing him and speaking with others, they could find NO BLAME in him. This is what I want to discuss. They found no fault in him. He was blameless. Oh my, we could learn a lot from Daniel. He was a person of character who lived out his faith. It took a manipulation of the law to find fault in him. His act of supposedly indiscretion was the act of prayer to His Lord. This act resulted in sleeping with the lions for a night. I guess the lions did sleep that night, for no harm came to Daniel. However, even though he was among the ferocious animals, who could have ripped him to pieces. Daniel continue to pray, and God kept him safe. What I find fascinating about this passage is Daniel kept his faith, regardless of the cost. This is the keys when we are facing the lions in our culture. We, too, need to stay the course of our faith. We need to be blameless in our everyday life. We must be people of character and faithful in prayer. We must trust God to take care of our lions, those who wish to rip us into pieces. He will defend us. Even when we are forced to spend a night in the lion's den. He is sovereign over all. Christian, let our only indiscretion in a hostile culture be the one guilty of prayer to our Lord! If we are guilty of prayer, He will keep us innocent of blame. 21 Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm." Daniel 6.21-22
