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.

Satisfaction. In the 12^th chapter of the gospel of Luke we read about the Rich Fool.

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on you guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Then Jesus tells the story about the rich fool. This farmer who had produced an abundant crop. But instead of celebrating his good fortune, he instead devoted his attention to determining how to get more. To have more, he needed to build bigger barns to store the additional crops. So he began building barns.

Now, there is nothing particularly wrong with having more or building barns. But Jesus tells us to “watch out” because greed easily becomes the focus. Concentrating on having more instead of being more traps us into a shallow life with shallow rewards.

¹⁹ And I'll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for may years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”

“But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.”

Whoa! While building the barns, while concentrating on what he could have, the farmer may well die! Ah, there is a tragedy. Imagine, all of that concentration on building barns. He's not even a carpenter. He's a farmer. He's not even doing what he loves to do because he's concentrating on how to have more.

Later in the chapter, Jesus tells the crowd that it is much better to concentrate on giving more and letting God provide the abundance. He compares a lily to king Solomon, one of the richest men in history. How beautiful is the lily and yet it's beauty comes at no cost at all.

It's really a matter of how you measure satisfaction. Will you find satisfaction in building abundance? Or will you find satisfaction in building up those around you. Will you invest in having more for yourself? Or will you invest in give more to others? Will your focus be, “I need more?” or Will your focus be, “I have so much to give.” Sometimes it is easier to imagine what will be written on your headstone. Imagine these two possibilities, “Here lies Joe, he built barns.” or “Here lies Pete, he built lives.”

Build a Boat

Patience. How long did it take Noah to build the Arc. The Arc was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 3 stories high. It certainly must have been the largest boat ever built at that time. Noah only had a few hands and hand tools to build it with. Every day for years he would have needed to saw a board, put it in place, hammer a few nails and then determine where the next board would go. The daunting task of constructing this enormous vessel would have taken hundreds of years. He would have done this with thousands of curious looks over time. He probably heard 10,000 sneers and jibes. But Noah was patient. He had an ability to remember the reality of God's Words. He certainly must have concentrated on that memory minute by minute by minute, day after day after day.

Why can't we be patient for even a year? A month? A day? God has his purposes for each of us. We worry and fret and wonder, “Where is God? Why does He not answer my prayer?” and we prayed only minutes ago. A 1000 years is as a day and a day as a 1000 years with God. Today is a good day to start practicing the art of being patient. Wait on the Lord today with a mind full of the knowledge that God is in complete, well timed control. He will be faithful. His purpose will be accomplished. Bless God with patience and begin living in peace.