Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Daniel 6:5-9
Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. (ESV)
by Linda Harris
We are accustomed to government checks and balances; an undesirable law can be repealed. Not so in Persian culture, where any law became permanent (Esther 1:19; 8:8). The officials played on Darius’ vanity to manipulate circumstances in their favor. Their weapon against Daniel was his greatest strength—his faith in God.
Peter wrote, “For God is pleased with you when, for the sake of your conscience, you patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing right and are patient beneath the blows, God is pleased with you” (1 Peter 2:19-20, NLT; Matthew 5:11-12). It’s hard to endure persecution when you know you’re right. But God looks upon such behavior with favor.
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
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