Daniel 6:10,11 “Rocks”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁰And when Daniel knew that the writing was written, he went to his house and windows being opened to him in his roof-chamber toward Jerusalem and three times in the day he [was] one kneeling upon his knees and one praying and praising/thanking before his God as he was one doing from before this. ¹¹Then the men those stormed in and found Daniel asking and requesting before his God…

There is so much in this passage, it’s hard to stop. Another thing we see here is a living illustration of David’s question in Psalm 11:3, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” David’s answer in v.4 was, “The Lord is in His holy temple.” What can the righteous do when the world seems to be falling apart around them? Actually, the answer is not in what we do. As the very next line in that Psalm says, “The Lord is on His heavenly throne.” What is most important to us is remembering just that – the Lord is on His throne. That is exactly what Daniel is doing. When he hears the frightening news, when suddenly this world threatens his very life itself, what does he do? “When Daniel learned the decree had been issued, he went home…got down on his knees and prayed…”

The lesson he watched Nebuchadnezzar learn was simply this, “The Most High rules in the nations of men.” It’s that simple. Belshazzar wouldn’t learn it and now he’s dead. For Daniel, that very truth was the rock on which he built his faith. “The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord is on His heavenly throne.” That was Daniel’s hope in 539 BC and that same truth flows into our New Testament invitation: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). The rock of that truth is what made Daniel a rock, and it will do the same for you and me if we’ll only let it.

Another thing that is perhaps instructive is to notice the difference between Daniel and Esther. When Daniel hears of the evil decree, he simply goes home and prays. There is no indication in the passage that he made any effort to appeal to the king. That is a huge contrast to Esther and Mordecai’s response to Haman’s evil decree. There, godly Mordecai “tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly” (Esther 4:1). We learn too that “there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing” (v.3). In that case, the answer came down to Esther risking her own life to go to the king and plead for her people.

I personally don’t believe that Daniel’s apparent calmness means he had more faith, nor that Mordecai and Esther’s weeping and wailing and going to the king means they had any less. There is no doubt much to learn just in observing the difference. For one thing, in Daniel’s case, that was exactly what the decree demanded—that Daniel should go to the king, rather than to God. Daniel may have simply felt he needed to make his choice clear. In Daniel’s case too, he was the only one threatened. Yes, the decree would technically apply to all believers, but Daniel knew he was the only real target. For Mordecai and Esther, their story very quickly shows their alarm was not for their own lives but rather for the lives of their people. Haman’s decree was an attack on the Jewish people as people. Now the decree in Daniel is very specifically an attack on faith itself.

I’m sure Daniel could have prayed for deliverance and perhaps even gone to the king about it all. Even Jesus could pray, “Let this cup pass from Me.” However, what we learn from both Daniel and Esther (and Jesus!) is that faith may prompt very different responses in very different situations. The important thing, again, is not in what we do, but in what we believe, what we remember: “The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord is on His heavenly throne.” Being confident in the Lord’s wisdom and power and goodness allows you and me to rise above our fears and decide what we truly believe is the best way to respond, in whatever specific situation we find ourselves, whatever is today’s terrifying threat—and that whether it is in reality big or small. Again, our invitation is, ““Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”

Let us then “come boldly before the throne of grace.” Daniel did and you and I can too. That is where we’ll find our Rock, and that is what will make us rocks…like Daniel.