Consistency

Daniel Chapter 6.

Consistency. Chapter 6 of the book of Daniel tells a story of jealousy in government. Daniel was good at what he did. He had been appointed as one administrator of three who were overseeing 120 bureaucrats in charge of the account of the king, Darius. Because Daniel had obvious skill performing this duty, Darius decided to make him the overseer of the entire kingdom. The administrators and bureaucrats, being overcome with jealousy, decided to trip Daniel up in a point of lawso that Daniel could legally be killed. But Daniel was of such character that no legal reason could be found. So they manufactured a temporary law they knew with absolute assurance that Daniel would break.

The law was simple enough, under penalty of death, the citizens of the kingdom could not worship any other god or man except the king for thirty days. The end result, of course, is that Daniel was convicted of breaking this bogus law and was sentenced to death by animal dismemberment in a pit full of hungry lions. We are familiar with the story of how Daniel was saved any harm at all and gave credit to an angel who closed the mouth of the lions.

But one point that should be noted, possibly above all others, is that Daniel was prepared for such a cataclysmic event due to his consistency in his prayer life. Upon learning about the law, Daniel first goes to his prayer room to pray. His commitment to the true, living God is shown to be preiminent. The ironic twist is that it is exactly that consistent, daily shown commitment that even made the scheme possible! And it is exactly that consistent, daily commitment that built the relationship between God and Daniel that enabled the salvation to happen.

There is only one method to building a relationship between two persons. If a relationship is to be built, time must be spent. Daniel chose to have a relationship with God. He built that relationship by spending time praising, talking to, listening to, and thanking the one true God.

Daniel went to his prayer room three times each day “just as he had done before.” Why did the law work? Because of Daniel's consistency. Why did it ultimately fail? Because of Daniel's consistency. Why was Daniel spared? Because of his relationship with God. Why was that relationship so worthy of such grace? Because of Daniels steady commitment to a consistent, daily, even hourly communication with God.