King Nebuchadnezzar had a second dream, and, not for the first time, he acknowledged that Daniel
had the spirit of his holy God within him and was able to interpret his dream (Daniel 4:9).
Daniel’s interpretation of the dream was fulfilled, and, after a period of insanity, Nebuchadnezzar
was restored to his kingdom, and he praised and honored Daniel’s God as the most High (Daniel
4:34-37).
Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar, became the new king, and during a banquet he ordered the gold
and silver goblets that had been stolen from the holy temple in Jerusalem to be brought out for use.
In response to the defilement of such holy items, Belshazzar sees a hand writing on the wall. Once
again, his astrologers are unable to assist him in its translation, and so Daniel is called upon to
interpret the writing (Daniel 5:13-16). As a reward for interpreting the writing, Daniel is promoted
by King Belshazzar to the third highest position in the Babylonian kingdom (vs. 29). That night, as
Daniel had prophesied, the king was slain in battle, and his kingdom was taken over by Cyrus the
Great, and Darius the Mede was made king.
Under the new ruler, Daniel excelled in his duties as one of the administrators to such a degree that
King Darius was contemplating making him head over all the kingdom (Daniel 6:1-3). This infuriated
the other administrators so much that they looked for a way to bring Daniel down. They encouraged
Darius to issue a decree forbidding his subjects from praying to any of their gods for the next thirty
days. The penalty for disobeying was to be thrown into a den of lions. Daniel, however, continued to
pray so openly to God that he could be seen at his bedroom window doing so. With much regret the
king gave the order for Daniel to be thrown into the lions’ den, but not without a prayer that
Daniel’s God would rescue him (Daniel 6:16). The next day when Daniel was found alive and well, he
told the king that God had sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths and so he remained unharmed.
This resulted in King Darius sending out a decree that all his subjects were to worship the God of
Daniel. And Daniel continued to prosper throughout King Darius’ reign.
The lesson from the life of Daniel is that he exercised great integrity and, in doing so, received the
respect and affection of the powerful rulers he served. However, his honesty and loyalty to his
masters never led him to compromise his faith in the one true God. Rather than it being an obstacle
to his success, Daniel’s continual devotion to God brought him the admiration of the unbelievers in
his circle. When delivering his interpretations, he was quick to give God the credit for his ability to
do so (Daniel 2:28).
Daniel’s integrity as a man of God gained him favor with the secular world, yet he refused to
compromise his faith in God. Even under the intimidation of kings and rulers, Daniel remained
steadfast in his commitment to God. Daniel also teaches us that, no matter who we are dealing
with, no matter what their status is, we are to treat them with compassion. See how concerned he
is when delivering the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream (Daniel 4:19). As
Christians, we are called to obey the rulers and authorities that God has put in place, treating them
with respect and compassion; however, as we see from Daniel’s example, obeying God’s law must
always take precedence over obeying men.
As a result of his devotion, Daniel not only found favor with those around him, but above all he
found favor with God and was held in high esteem by Him (Daniel 9:20-23). Notice also in those
verses what the angel Gabriel told Daniel about how swiftly the answer to his prayer was
dispatched. This shows us how ready the Lord is to hear the prayers of His people.
Daniel’s strength lay in his devotion to prayer and is a lesson for us all. It is not just in the bad times
but on a daily basis that we must come to God in prayer.
Jeremiah 30:17
11
'For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,' declares the LORD, 'Because they have
called you an outcast, saying: "It is Zion; no one cares for her."