#ii chronicles

New Post has been published on http://davisshepherd.com/2013/05/22/lionofjudah2/

The Lion of Judah (Part 2)

My return to the book of Daniel began with a radio series that explored his character as well as his gift. I never had a lot of time for radio before, but now that I drive so many hours for my job, I’ve been able to use that time to educate myself on a lot of topics. The very same day that I began listening to this series, I happened to pick up a seemingly unrelated book – The Circle Maker. I hadn’t heard of it before and just grabbed it because it was on sale. Mere minutes after the conclusion of one of the radio segments, I opened the book during a break at work and was startled to discover some of the exact same revelations on the life of Daniel.

I started remembering pieces of sermons I had heard over the years on the life of this prophet and I realized that all of it was coming together to encourage me and guide me in the direction that God wanted me to go. I was particularly encouraged by a new revelation about Daniel’s prayer life. I had often read about the decree put forth by King Darius, forbidding anyone from praying to any other gods but himself, which was actually a trick by the other so-called wise men of the kingdom as a direct attack on Daniel. They could not find any fault in him, any way to undermine his integrity, and so they used the only thing they could against him – his method of worship. What a testimony, that he was so consistent in his prayer that they knew they could count on it even in the most dire of circumstances.

And what did Daniel do? Even after the decree, he continued to prayer in the way he always had – in his room, three times a day, with the windows open. However, there is a detail that I recently learned that shines even more light on on his deep faith. Daniel and many of the other exiles in Babylon prayed toward Jerusalem. I used to read past this fact without realizing its significance.  Just as most Jewish rituals had an original purpose that is often lost to modern Christians, praying toward Jerusalem was a concept rooted in scripture and their very faith in God’s promise. Consider  II Chronicles 6:36-39 -

“When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near, if they take thought in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have committed iniquity and have acted wickedly’;  if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and supplications, and maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You.

Not only was Daniel praying consistently, but he was praying while facing the very object of his prayer, not in an idolatrous way, but as a way of maintaining his focus on the Word and promises of the one true God. And he did not change his ritual to be more or less conspicuous to those who were trying to destroy him. Nor was this unshakable faith something that he developed over night. As I read the book of Daniel again recently, I realized that Daniel had been practicing his faith and covering his decisions with prayer and fasting since his youth.