HANDLING CHANGE—Daniel 6
Look around at some of our senior citizens (Aren’t they great?), and imagine the changes they have seen in their lifetime: from life in the iconic 1950’s, through the turbulent 60’s, the 70’s and the Vietnam war, leisure suits in the 80’s, and ________ (you fill in the blanks).
***I remember one telephone in the house—with a dial and handset—and my sister taking it into the closet to talk to her friends. I remember our first television set, with 2 channels. I remember my first computer, my first internet access, my first smartphone…We can’t imagine how new technology might change our lives in the future.**
Change is relentless, and the pace of change is increasing.
The first American newspaper was published in Boston, in 1690. It was called, “Publik Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick.” It was only 4 pages, and the editors said it would be published monthly, “or if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener.” These days…Many of you checked the news on the way to church this morning…Some of you might have had a newsflash hit your phone since you got here.
Global change affects us all: war, pandemic, economic recession, political and social upheaval.
We also deal with change in our personal lives: illness, tragedy, family struggles…aging and new stages of life…church and community…
WHAT WILL WE NEED TO HANDLE THE CHANGES IN OUR LIVES?
***There is a fun children’s game, called “I’m going on a trip…” (It is a good game for a road trip.) The first person says, “I’m going on a trip, and I’m taking along __________.” The next person repeats that line, and adds another item. Each person repeats what was said before, adding an item, until someone makes a mistake in listing all the items to be taken.
If life is a like a trip or a journey, and you don’t know what will come, what will you take with you on your trip?**
What will we need to handle the changes that life brings?
In the last few weeks, we have been following Daniel in his journey through life. He has seen many changes in almost 80 years. He grew up in a royal family in Jerusalem, until the Babylonians took all the royals into exile. He was trained as a lowly intern in Babylon, studying Babylonian language, culture and religion. Then one day, he was called upon to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and he was suddenly elevated to a high position in the court. He saw a king go insane, his friends thrown into a fiery furnace, and his status slowly fade, until the day Belshazzar called upon him to read the writing on the wall. Literally overnight, he was given the third highest rank in the kingdom, only to see the city overrun by the Medes and Persians.
When changes came, Daniel always landed on his feet. What did Daniel have as he handled change? Daniel had CHARACTER, COMMITMENT, and FAITH.
-CHARACTER. Read Daniel 6:1-5.
Character goes with you, throughout your life.
You go off to college or the military, and you face defining choices in your life: Who are you? What group are you with? What are your moral values? Where do you take a stand?
Then in the workplace, in marriage, in the lifestyle you choose: What is important to you? What are the non-negotiables? How do you love and care?
Then retirement comes: Your character continues to define you, though your life seems so different. Who are you? What group are you with? What are your values, not only in personal life, but in care for other people and the world around you? How do you love those close to you, even if they are physically distant?
If you live long enough, some of your faculties may fade. Some say, however, that old people become what they always were, only more so. If they were upbeat and sensitive, they are more so. If they were self-centered and critical, they are more so.
Character is built throughout life, brick by brick. Daniel demonstrated how that works:
When he was offered food and wine offered to idols, he took a stand for who he was: a Jew, who would eat kosher, thank you very much.
When God revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel in the night, he refused to take credit for his wisdom, praising God. When the interpretation of a second dream was revealed to him, he courageously spoke the truth to Nebuchadnezzar, risking his life to speak truth to power.
When Belshazzar tried to buy his services by offering a gold chain and high position, Daniel politely told the king he could keep his gifts for himself.
Now, when he is the administrator of a third of the Persian empire, he is like he always was, only more so: no one can find even a hint of corruption or negligence.
Character is built brick by brick.
***When our son was in elementary school, he took a lunch every day. One day, he proudly came home with a dollar, saying that he got it in trade for a small cookie. My wife informed him that he must not take advantage of another boy like that, and she forced him to return the dollar. A small lesson, but today our 36-year-old son has a rock-solid sense of fairness.**
Character is built by choices. That first month of college, and the chance to cheat on a test. The sexual temptation, or the ethical dilemma at work. The hard times, and our response of either resignation or hope.
Can character be changed? Yes, thank God, it is possible to significantly change our character. In Ephesians 4:18-24, Paul talks to people who were once “in the futility of their thinking…darkened in their understanding in ignorance due to the hardening of their hearts…Having lost all sensitivity, they given over to sensuality…full of greed.” To them, he says, “…put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; be made new in the attitude of your minds; and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Character can change, through Christ, and the time to make the changes that will carry us through the rest of our lives is now. Ecclesiastes 12:1 tells us to, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come…”
When change comes in the future, we will build on the character we are building today.
-COMMITMENT. Read Daniel 6:6-10.
Why did Daniel pray 3 times a day, on his knees, with facing Jerusalem? I don’t think it was for show, although others saw what he did. He wanted to remind himself who he was, and whose he was—not a Persian nobleman, or an exceptional bureaucrat, but one of God’s chosen people. He made a lifetime commitment to live as a child of God, and he sealed that commitment 3 times every day in prayer.
When we make commitments, we are anchoring ourselves against the winds of change.
A commitment to worship every week, or a personal devotional time, reminds us that God comes first.
A commitment to healthy habits makes us strong for the next stages of life.
***When my father was in his 40’s (and I though he was old), I noticed 2 changes in behavior. I saw him riding his bicycle to work in the morning, and I saw him reading his Bible every night. A lot of things changed before he died at age 94, but those commitments carried him through a lot of those changes.**
A commitment in marriage vows provides security, as challenges come, bodies change, and life gets complicated. A commitment in baptismal vows (or dedication vows) helps Christian parents keep their priorities aligned when life gets busy and other activities are more pressing.
A commitment to serve God, in whatever way he calls, makes life meaningful into retirement and old age.
-FAITH: Read Daniel 6:11-28.
As the door was shut on Daniel in the lion’s den, we can only guess what went through his mind. His faith however, was not based on wishful thinking, but on God’s faithfulness in the past.
The lions were real, and our lions are real, even if they don’t have 4 paws.
The lions might be people who are hungry to destroy us. Psalm 57:4 says, “I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.” The lions are liars, detractors, rumor-mongers, and rivals.
Our threats might be even fiercer: war, natural disasters, terminal illness, or an untimely death of one we can’t imagine living without.
How will we react if we have to face a disaster like that—a disaster we can’t even imagine?
In Isaiah 7:9, the enemies of Judah are massed outside the walls, ready to attack, and King Ahaz and all the people are shaking with fear. Isaiah prophesies to Ahaz, saying, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” In other words, if you lose your nerve, you are doomed.
Sometimes we need to hear that message from God. A parent, struggling with a teen, needs to persevere in their resolve. A person stricken with cancer needs to hang on to God’s goodness. A couple struggling in their marriage needs to stand firm in their commitment, fighting to get it right, and trusting in the God of miracles. A person facing death can do nothing except trust in the God who has been them whenever they turned to him.
Daniel’s story ends well. Not only was he protected from the lions, but his enemies fell prey to the trap they laid for him. Darius praised God, and Daniel continued to prosper, even into the reign of King Cyrus.
I wish I could say that if we have enough faith, we will always have such a happy ending. That is not true, of course, as many martyrs have shown.
Instead, our faith is rewarded by a greater guarantee, for the end of our story will vindicate our faith. Paul puts it so well in Romans 8:31-39, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Change will come—some good, some not so good. If we place our trust in Jesus Christ, the One who raised Christ from the dead will deliver us also.
