This last week, I came across a five minute clip from an episode of The Bob Newhart Show on YouTube. That was back in the days when sit-coms were funny AND clean, unlike so many of them today. Bob, as you may know, was a psychologist on the show, and in this scene a woman comes into his office for her first visit. Take a look (show Bob Newhart – Stop It video). Bob begins by explaining how he bills – five dollars for the first five minutes, and then nothing after that. The woman is thrilled. Bob assures her the session won't go over five minutes.
He asks her to start. She explains that she fears being buried alive in a box. He asks her to say more. The fear, she tells him, extends to other things – being in tunnels, elevators, houses, cars, “anything boxy.”
“So basically you're saying you're claustrophobic?”
“Yes, that's what I'm saying.”
This exchange takes about two minutes. Bob takes another ten seconds or so to empathize with her – how awful it must be to live with this fear.
“It's horrible,” the woman says.
“All right,” Bob says, “I'm going to give you two words that I think will clear up everything. Just take these two words and integrate them into your daily life, and you should be fine.”
The woman is excited. She asks if she should write them down.
“Oh, you can if you like,” Bob says. “But most people have no trouble remembering them.”
“Okay,” she says, leaning forward.
“You ready?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says.
“Okay, here are the two words.” Bob leans across his desk to put his face close to hers. “STOP IT!” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow0lr63y4Mw)
Those two words are simple enough, but how do you stop it? How do you stop worrying? How do you stop being afraid? How do you stop the panic when you feel like your world is falling apart?
Well, let me tell you about Daniel, whose world did fall apart. For nearly 70 years he had survived and thrived as a Jewish exile in Babylon. He had become one of its top leaders. But all that ended abruptly when the Medo-Persian armies invaded Babylon, and a new king was in charge. As it turned out, the new king liked Daniel, but others were jealous of his promotion and tried to discredit him before his new employer. Daniel’s job was in jeopardy, but it didn’t seem to bother Daniel one bit. In other words, he was able to “stop it.” He was able to stop the worry, and he found peace in the midst of the turmoil.
Do you want to find peace in the midst of your turmoil? Then I invite you to turn with me to Daniel 6, Daniel 6, where we learn Daniel’s secret to peace even in the lion’s den.
Daniel 6:1-2 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. (NIV)
Daniel is under a new boss. His old boss is gone, replaced with Darius in a hostile take-over bid by a bigger company. The Medo-Persians have taken over the Babylonians, and they are reorganizing the company. There are 120 supervisors (here called satraps) who answer to 3 top executives (or administrators), and Daniel is one of those executives.
Daniel 6:3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. (NIV)
In other words, the king wanted to make Daniel the Chief Executive Officer (the C.E.O.) over the whole company. Daniel “distinguished himself” – literally, he possessed a surpassing spirit, a spirit that excelled. In other words, Daniel went above and beyond what was expected of him every time.
How do you do your work? Do you go above and beyond what is expected? Or do you do the bare minimum, just enough so you don’t lose your job? Daniel always did more than what was expected, and it won him the respect of kings! But it also made his fellow-workers jealous.
Daniel 6:4-5 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” (NIV)
Daniel was a man of integrity. Even under close scrutiny, no one could find any cause for blame. He was above reproach in every way, and that made him a leader. Daniel’s integrity was the secret to his success. He had committed his life to God. Daniel was determined to obey God no matter what, and God took care of him “through thick and thin.” It’s the only way any of us find any real peace. And if that’s what you want, then like Daniel…
COMMIT YOUR LIFE TO GOD.
Be determined to obey God no matter what. And with His help, live your life in such a way that nobody can find any just cause for blame. In dependence upon God, go above and beyond what is expected to His honor and glory, and be men and women of integrity.
In the early 70’s, the New York Jets drafted Mike Holmgren to be the backup quarterback for Joe Namath, but they cut him from the team. It was a heartbreaking moment for Mike Holmgren, who more than 20 years later became head coach for the Green Bay Packers.
In an interview with the magazine, Men of Integrity, Holmgren talks about those days. He said, “I had committed my life to Jesus Christ when I was 11, but in my pursuit to make a name for myself in football, I left God next to my dust-covered Bible. But after getting cut from the Jets, I pulled out my Bible and found comfort in a verse I had memorized in Sunday school: ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths’” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Holmgren says, “I asked Jesus Christ to take control again. My priorities in life are faith, family, and football – in that order.” (Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 2; www.Preachingtoday.com)
Mike Holmgren got his priorities straight, and God gave him peace! He recommitted his life to Christ. He put God first in his life, and God took care of the rest.
Where is God in your life? Have you left him next to your dust-covered Bible? Do you acknowledge Him every day? Are you determined to obey Him, or just go your own way? If your life is in turmoil, perhaps you better check your priorities. Put God first in your life, and let Him take care of you along the way.
Now, that’s not to say you will never have any problems again. Oh I wish that were true, but it’s not. Daniel’s commitment to God certainly didn’t take away all his problems. In fact, his commitment to God and his integrity made his fellow-workers jealous, so they looked for a way to get rid of him.
Daniel 6:6-7 So the administrators and the satraps went as a group to the king and said: “O King Darius, live forever! The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. (NIV)
They were playing on the king’s ego, elevating him above all other gods for 30 days. No one was to pray to anyone but him. To be sure, this would demonstrate political loyalty to the new king, but it also had religious overtones. It was an act of worship, and no man committed to the true and living God, as Daniel was, could participate in such worship. This was a trap to get Daniel out of the way.
Daniel 6:8-9 Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” So King Darius put the decree in writing. (NIV)
The trap was set, and it looks like Daniel’s commitment to God is going to get him into a lot of trouble, but what does Daniel do about it? Verse 10: Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room, closed the windows and hid. Is that what your Bible says? No!
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (NIV)
This is a man at peace in the midst of the turmoil. God did not take away his problems; God just gave him peace in the midst of those problems, because Daniel had committed his life into the Lord’s hands.
My dear friends, if you want to be able to stop the worry and experience God’s peace, then 1st of all, commit your life to God. Be determined to obey God no matter what. Put God first in your life just like Daniel did. Then 2nd, if you want to experience God’s peace in your life…
PRAY TO GOD EVERYDAY.
Talk to God every chance you get. Pray your way through the day and trust God to take care of you. That’s what Daniel did. He continued to pray as he always had.
Daniel 6:11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. (NIV)
Daniel was so consistent in his prayer life that these people knew exactly where they could find him at certain times during the day. They knew when and where to catch him in the act of prayer, and that tells me something. Daniel was not only a man of integrity; he was a man of prayer.
John Walvoord put it this way in his commentary on Daniel: “In spite of the pressures of being a busy executive with many demands upon his time, Daniel had retired to his house three times a day to offer his prayer for the peace of Jerusalem as well as for his personal needs. This was not the act of a person courting martyrdom but the continuation of a faithful ministry of prayer which had characterized his long life” (John Walvoord, Daniel, p.138).
Daniel was a man of prayer, consistent, constant prayer every day of his life, several times during the day.
It’s the only way he could find peace in the midst of his trouble, and it’s the only way we can find peace, as well. I like the way one church sign put it: “When your knees knock together, kneel on them.” Pray! It gets the knees to stop knocking every time.
But make sure, like Daniel, you pray consistently. Don’t just pray in emergencies. Instead, make prayer such a daily habit of your life, so much so that people know where they can find you praying at certain times during the day.
The Prairie Overcomer once described a Christian, out of fellowship with the Lord, who went fishing with his friends on a Sunday. A storm came up and threatened to sink their little boat, so his friends begged him to pray. The Christian objected. He said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve done that or even entered a church.”
At their insistence, however, he finally cried out, “O Lord, I haven’t asked anything of you in 15 years, and if you help us now and bring us safely o land, I promise I won’t bother you again for another 15! (The Prairie Overcomer)
I’m afraid that’s the way many people pray, perhaps even some of you. So many people cry out to God only in emergencies. But if we would experience God’s peace, then prayer must be more than just an escape mechanism; it must be a way of life. If you want God’s peace in the midst of your problems, like Daniel, pray consistently.
Then like Daniel, pray confidently. Pray with the full assurance that God will keep his promises.
Why do you think Daniel prayed with his windows opened towards Jerusalem in verse 10? It was because God had told his people that if they were ever taken captive, they should pray towards Jerusalem. And if they did, God promised to hear their prayers, to forgive their sins, and to “uphold their cause” in that foreign land (2 Chronicles 6:36-39). Jeremiah, the prophet, urged the Jewish captives in Babylon to pray, knowing that God would bring them back to Jerusalem, which at this time was in ruins. So Daniel prayed with his windows opened towards Jerusalem with the full assurance that God would keep His promises.
Is that the way you pray? Confident that God will keep His promises to you? I hope so, because it’s the only way any of us can find peace in the midst of trouble.
In his book, The Hole in the Gospel, Richard Stearns talks about the day in 1987 when the largest, single-day stock market crash took place since 1929. In one day, he and his wife, Renee, lost more than one-third of their life's savings and the money they had put aside for their children’s college education.
Richard Stearns says, “I was horrified and became like a man obsessed, each night working past midnight, analyzing on spreadsheets all that we had lost, and the next day calling in orders to sell our remaining stocks and mutual funds to prevent further losses. (Of course,” he said, “that turned out to be the absolute worst thing I could have done.)
Stearns says, “I was consumed with anguish over our lost money – and it showed.” One night when he was burning the midnight oil, Renee came and sat beside him. “Honey,” she said, “this thing is consuming you in an unhealthy way. It's only money. We have our marriage, our health, our friends, our children, and a good income – so much to be thankful for. You need to let go of this and trust God.”
Don't you hate it when someone crashes your pity party? Stearns says, “I didn't want to let go of it. I told her I felt responsible for our family and that she didn't understand. It was my job to worry about things like this.”
But Renee suggested they pray about it – something that hadn't occurred to Richard – so they did. At the end of the prayer, to Richard’s bewilderment, Renee said, “Now I think we need to get out the checkbook and write some big checks to our church and ministries we support. We need to show God that we know this is his money and not ours.”
Richard says, “I was flabbergasted at the audacity of this suggestion, but in my heart I knew she was right.” So that night they wrote some sizable checks, put them in envelopes addressed to various ministries, and sealed them. “And that's when I felt the wave of relief,” Richard says. “We had broken the spell that money had cast over me. It freed me from the worries that had consumed me. I actually felt reckless and giddy – ‘God, please catch us, because we just took a crazy leap of faith.’” (Richard Stearns, The Hole in the Gospel, Thomas Nelson, 2010, p. 213; www.PreachingToday.com)
Let me tell you: that was a true prayer of faith, and that is the only way to stop the worry; that is the only way to find relief. If you want to experience peace in the midst of your problems, then pray consistently; pray confidently.
And finally, pray compliantly. Pray with an attitude of humility. That’s why Daniel got down on his knees to pray in verse 10. It is the posture of complete dependence and submission to the will of God.
Kyle Idleman, in his book Not a Fan, talks about the days when he started a new church in Los Angeles County, California. He was overwhelmed with pressure and stress, working more than seventy hours a week. His wife would ask him to take a day off, and he would say, “I can't.” Kyle wasn't sleeping at night, and he started to take sleeping pills. When the church was about a year old, he woke up in the night and had this strange sense that God was laughing at him. As he lay in bed, he wondered, Why is God laughing at me?
It would take five years before he finally got an answer to that question. When Kyle and his family moved into their current house, Kyle saved the heaviest piece of furniture for last – the desk from my office. As he was pushing and pulling the desk with all his might, his four-year-old son came over and asked if he could help. So together they started sliding it across the floor. The 4-year-old was pushing and grunting as they inched their way along. After a few minutes, the boy stopped pushing, looked up at his dad, and said, “Dad, you're in my way.” And then he tried to push the desk by himself. Of course it didn't budge. Then Kyle realized that his son thought he was actually doing all the work, instead of his dad. Kyle said, “I couldn't help but laugh.”
Then the moment he started laughing at his son's comment, Kyle recalled that middle-of-the-night incident and realized why God was laughing at him. “I thought I was pushing the desk,” Kyle said. “I know that's ridiculous, but instead of recognizing God's power and strength, I started to think it all depended on me.” (Kyle Idleman, Not a Fan, Zondervan, 2011, pp. 96-97; www.PreachingToday.com) Let me tell you…
If you want to add stress to your life, live like it all depends on you. But if you want God’s peace, then live like it all depends on God. Commit your life to God, and pray to God every day. Pray consistently, pray confidently, and pray compliantly just like Daniel did. Then, just like Daniel, you will…
EXPERIENCE GOD’S PEACE.
You will be able to rest even in a den of trouble. You will be able to stop the worry and relax in the assurance that God is there to protect you. Look at what happened to Daniel.
Daniel 6:12-14 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him. (NIV)
He was looking for a loophole in the law to set Daniel free.
Daniel 6:15-16 Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him, “Remember, O king, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.” So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” (NIV)
The most powerful man in the world could not deliver Daniel. But God can!
Daniel 6:17-18 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. (NIV)
There was no peace in the palace that night – not without God. Darius had all the wealth and power any man could ever want, and yet he found no rest. Do you know who found rest that night? Yes, it was Daniel in the lions’ den.
Daniel 6:19-23 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel answered, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (NIV)
Daniel found rest, because he rested in God. J. Oswald Chambers put it this way: “Peace is not in the absence of trouble, but in the presence of God.” Darius could not find peace in the palace, because God was not there. No! Daniel is the one who found peace, even in a lion’s den, because God was there; and God took care of Daniel.
Daniel 6:24-28 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land: “May you prosper greatly! “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. (NIV)
God took care of Daniel, because Daniel trusted God. And the same thing can happen to you. You can find rest if you rest in God. You can find peace if you depend on the Lord. You can get rid of all your worries if you commit your life to the Lord and pray every day.
Philippians 5 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 5:6-7).
That’s God’s promise to every believer. Count on it!
I close with this powerful picture of the kind of peace God offers to anyone who depends on Him (show St Paul Insurance Company’s Rhino video). The commercial begins with a young girl standing alone in a picturesque meadow. The camera then pans to another part of the field where it shows a gigantic African rhinoceros. The ominous beast begins a lethal charge towards the girl, whose serene and happy face remains unmoved. As the rhinoceros gets closer, the words appear on the screen, “Trust is not being afraid.” A split second before the rhino tramples the helpless child, it stops, and the girl, her smile never wavering, reaches up and kisses the animal on its massive horn. The words then appear, “even when you are vulnerable.” At the end, the name of the St Paul Insurance Company flashes on the screen. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8d3KrW1kIQ)
Let me tell you: No insurance company can give you that kind of peace, but God can if you depend on Him.
