Lately I am reminded of the story of Daniel. Daniel 6 holds the famous account of “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” that we’ve all heard since Sunday school. There are some interesting parallels in this passage that have encouraged me at times and I hope they will encourage you too. You see, in the time of Daniel, the other leaders tried to find something against him… They couldn’t find anything except that he was a man of prayer. So they got King Darius to pass a law against prayer. What did Daniel do? HE PRAYED ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!!! It got him thrown into a lion’s pit. However, as we know, God is bigger than any lion! He closed the mouths of the lions. And Darius was grieved and upset because he had passed the law! But when he went to get Daniel the next day – sure enough, God had delivered Daniel from the lions! Darius pulled him out and threw the ones who made the stupid law in the lion’s pit.
I say all that to say, while I agree we are to obey the laws of the land as Paul says in the Romans 13, I also know there are exceptions to that! The exceptions include when the law causes us to sin, or keeps us from worshipping or praying to God! I mean, we could say Daniel “crossed the lines.” He could have kept his window shut and prayed silently to the Lord so that he was keeping in line with the laws and still praying. He did what he felt he was supposed to do. He may have done what the law says he was not supposed to… But in reality he really didn’t do anything wrong. It seems that just as in the time of Daniel, some of our laws have been made erroneously and are gross misinterpretations of what our founding fathers intended when they established the Constitution.
Historically, our founding fathers came to this land and established the Constitution to escape religious persecution FROM THE GOVERNMENT. Separation of church and state was never intended to keep the church out of the government. It was established to keep the government out of the church! Our forefathers did not establish this “NATION UNDER GOD” as a “NATION UNDER WHOEVER YOU THINK IS GOD…” They never intended religious freedom to mean people who worshipped Satan or pagan gods to do so openly in our country!! Their intentions were that we would all worship THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD… AND BE FREE TO WORSHIP HIM AS WE EACH SEE FIT! If they saw the gross misinterpretations we currently have of the original intents of the law they established and the laws that have come from that misinterpretation, they’d have a fit!
Now, don’t misunderstand what I’m getting at here. Again, I know that as Christians we should “obey the laws of the land.” I know God puts leaders in place and we have a responsibility to pray for them and follow them as long as they are not leading us to sin or away from God. Still, I find it interesting that Daniel did not say, “Ok, well, I’ll go pray silently with my window closed so I am both praying and keeping the law.” Also, I find it interesting that his peers, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t looking up all the laws and getting in Daniel’s grill about how he needed to obey the law, how he could do that and still pray, etc. The opposite is true too. It’s not recorded anywhere that Daniel called all of his peers together and told them to keep their windows open and pray louder. In fact, it may be that some of his peers simply prayed silently behind closed doors and windows. THEREIN IS MY POINT – RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IS LETTING PEOPLE WORSHIP GOD HOW THEY ARE COMFORTABLE! If the “Daniels” of the world want to open their windows and pray aloud even though there may be some silly law against that, LET THEM! And if others want to close the windows and pray silently – LET THEM! God knows what we are going to say before we even say (or think – Psalms 139) it! He knows the cries of our heart! He hears our prayers! And He answers – be they silent or loud!
Now, the “Daniels” need to know they may end up thrown in a lion’s den. Just as God delivered Daniel, He can and often delivers us as well! Furthermore, just like He took care of the ones who started the mess by passing this ludicrous law, He can and will take care of evil doers today. Finally, just as He made Himself known through this entire situation to Darius and others, He can make Himself known through our life’s messes.
All that to say – KEEP THE FAITH! (The title of a sermon I’ll be preaching in a couple of weeks at church if anyone wants to come…) Remember whose side we are on! Whether praying in the closet or out the window, we are on God’s side and He is on ours! JUST KEEP PRAYING! KEEP LOVING AND GROWING IN HIM!
