The Success Dilemma

     Have you ever had those moments of being spoken against, and when you found out about it, everything in you cried “foul! That’s not true!  I can list a dozen things about me that are pathetic or wrong, but that one is not one of them!  That one---that one is something I did RIGHT!  Why in the world would I be maligned for doing something right?!”
     Or perhaps you are facing one of the many “-isms—” racism, sexism, ageism, schoolism, family sizeism (it’s a thing!)—those things that are a-moral, which are simply just part of you and your identity.  I’m sure you can come up with your own list.  We as humans are exceptionally gifted at finding the “–isms” that we encounter against ourselves. 
​      Our sense of justice bristles.  Our mind fixates.  Our sleep runs away from us.  And we cry out to God, “bring justice to me!  Judge between me and -------” and we insert our own enemy-of-the-day. 
     Perhaps you have found yourself following the Lord, doing your best, and it seemed like things were going well.  You could project out your destiny, it would seem, and it looked great.  But as we all are familiar, apparent success breeds resentment and envy in others. 
​      God gives us a clear picture of just such a contrast in Daniel’s story:  

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” Daniel 6:1-5
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​     Now sometimes, in my experience, the painful experiences that people have in their own lives, perhaps verbal abuse, the hurt of perfectionism placed on them by others, a false standard of success, or maybe their own “—isms” that they have been hurt by can cause such insecurity and frustration that the only way they know how to process their own identity or perceived lack is by making sure that someone else does not seem to succeed either.  Insecure people often feel a need to minimize or cast aspersions on others because they do not want to be shown up for who they are in relation to who they believe in their heart they ought to be.  Rather than taking hold of the grace and mercy of God in Jesus, they dwell on their need to reduce everyone around them.
     I know I resonate with that.  I know that I have been guilty of this same tactic to hide my own insecurity and comfort my own pain by bringing pain to others.  Rather than rejoicing in someone else’s pleasure, my mind has looked for ways to minimize their good qualities to justify my own experiences.  
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Let’s remain—faithful and thankful.
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​     While these moments will certainly come to each of us, that of needing to support and enjoy someone else’s apparent success and of responding to others’ hurtful designs to undermine us, what can we do in response? 
   Most certainly the first inclination of our self-centered thinking is to fight back, speak badly about them also, justify ourselves, and set up our battle lines. But that’s not how we see Daniel respond:

Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. v. 6-10
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     ​Daniel looked at the situation for what it was but continued to practice his relationship with God undistractedly.  He remained dedicatedly in the position in which God had placed him without running, hiding or equivocating.  He was real, he was genuine, and he continuously demonstrated his belief in God by practicing daily worship.   
      While this does not mean that we should never flee persecution (Matthew 10:23), it does mean remaining in the calling of God and continuously walking in obedience wherever God wants us to remain.  
     This is hard, isn’t it?  Even when half-starved lions are not our potential fate at the end of our conflicts, it is often so much easier to be evasive or ambiguous about our relationship with Jesus, to run away, abandon our callings, ministries, or even families, or to cave in to the demands to conformity with a godless culture. 
    As tempting as this can be at times, the result is devastating.  Jesus said that it was possible to gain the whole world---fame, fortune, health—and lose our very soul in the process: 
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“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
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​     As hard as this choice seems, though, when we consider the depth of relationship Daniel had with God, I think we can see why it wasn’t such a hard choice after all.  I think Daniel recognized that his relationship with the Lord, so beautiful, intimate and personal, so full of mutual love and honor, was more precious than any position the king could have offered him. More precious even than life itself. Over and over throughout the book of Daniel, God calls Daniel “greatly beloved.”  Daniel and his God loved one another deeply.  
​     When we regularly practice worship and intimate fellowship with God through Jesus, we find His Word precious.  We crave His voice.  Our dry and parched soul enjoys His presence like a refreshingly cold spring in the desert.  It is a mutual relationship of genuine love that is worth more than anything else in the world and could never be compensated for or replaced by empty and cheap imitations.
     I imagine that Daniel talked to the Lord about what was happening. But what is most remarkable to me, is that he continued to thank the Lord.  When I experience frustrating or scary situations where I have no idea how my immediate story will end, thankfulness is honestly not the first thing on my mind. 
    While confronting and fighting is not really my thing, whining or complaining to God or my family most certainly is more of a temptation.  In fact, as soon as I feel injustice, being a verbal processor, the first thing I want to do is to call my husband and tell him all about how upset I am! 
   What if we were thankful instead?  What if our attitude to God was one of gratitude, acknowledging His hand at work, His faithfulness, His goodness, and trusting His plan to work all things out for our good (Rom. 8:28)? 
     I believe that it was this acknowledgement of God’s goodness to Daniel that was a huge part of the spiritual battle waging over his own soul and that of the king and subjects of the kingdom (Daniel 10:13).  While the enemy certainly was designing evil against Daniel, God was purposing all the while to show His goodness and power to the one hundred and twenty provinces that spanned the greater part of the world’s population at the time!  

 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 
Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
​Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.”
 
Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. v. 11-18

     Sometimes it is the people in our lives, those who may be in a position of authority or duty of care for us, that find themselves in a position where they feel unable to use their position in the way that God designed.  All of us have weakness and areas of susceptibility to flattery or temptation, and kings and other officials of power are no different. 
     Here we see the king, in his pride, destroying what was most valuable to him in a place of vulnerable leadership.  With the constant threat of military coups, assassination attempts and political maneuvering, the ability to trust a capable officer implicitly was a precious gift.  But instead of protecting and honoring Daniel as he had intended, the king falls for one of the oldest traps in history.  
     Now Daniel could have understandably been very angry at the king.  He could have cursed him, spoken his last words of bitter hatred, or at the very least greatly disrespected the weakness the king had shown in being so gullible and inept.  Instead, he chose to give honor to the king, regardless of how he was being treated.       Jesus shows us this same example when He was unjustly treated by those to whom He had only been a blessing:  "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2;23).  Daniel chose to forgive the weaknesses of others and to rest his case fully with God, because he trusted that God had a plan that was more encompassing than his own mind could conceive.  Both the other high officials and King Darius were responsible for the unjust evil suffering inflicted on Daniel, but while the enemy means to do evil to us, God means it for our good, "to save many alive" (Genesis 50:20). 
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Persecution is the catalyst for
​restorative relationship with God. 
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     There are people watching our relationship with God and to whom our testimonies, lives and responses are witnessing.  You see, God didn’t want to only have relationship with Daniel, He wants to have relationship with all who will come to Him through Jesus!  God is not wanting anyone to die in their sins, but that all should have eternal life through repentance and forgiveness through Jesus (2 Peter 3:9). 
     In Daniel’s very death sentence and rescue, we see a picture of Jesus’ own death and resurrection to life for us.  Jesus was “crucified to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (Romans 4:25), our restoration to a right relationship with a holy God.  In the same way, Daniel’s descent into the pit and deliverance from death as he was raised out of the pit reflects our own death and resurrection in Jesus because of what He accomplished for us!
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Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,
for he is the living God,
enduring forever;
his kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be to the end.
He delivers and rescues;
he works signs and wonders
in heaven and on earth,
he who has saved Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. v. 19-28
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     So, friends, while our enemy “walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), we can be assured that the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, has our backs.  There wasn't a moment in that pit that Daniel was alone.  There is no enemy who can snatch us out of our Father’s hand” (John 17:2).  We don’t need to be afraid of those who may harm the body, but cannot destroy our souls (Matthew 10:28), nor take away our right, inheritance, relationship or calling with our heavenly Father. 
     May we prosper as our souls prosper!  May we purpose, reverencing and honoring the living God who endures forever, to put God’s eternal and enduring kingdom and dominion into proper perspective in light of the temporal and fleeting kingdoms here.  May we trust in Him who delivers and rescues, who shows signs and wonders so that all of us might have an opportunity to choose to come into loving relationship with Him. 

     May we proclaim the glory of the One who saves--
     even from the very mouths of the lions.  
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