Daniel-life before the lions

The story of Daniel in the lions' den is a well-known one, probably because we heard it as children. We have seen over the past few weeks that the Bible is unflinchingly honest in its portrayal of human failings, so it is with relief that parents and Sunday School teachers seize on this story of a young man who does seem to set a good example. Here are the virtues in action- Daniel acts with integrity and courage.

If we want to discover how Daniel was able to act in this way when it mattered, we need to go back a few chapters in his story, and see how he was cultivating character.


Daniel continued to go to his house, which had windows in its upper room open towards Jerusalem, and to get down on his knees three times a day to pray to his God and praise him, just as he had done previously. The conspirators came and found praying and seeking mercy before his God.

Daniel 6:10,11

Daniel and his friends had been taken into exile, and were living in Babylon. The society which now surrounded them offered a different definition of a good life from the one they had been brought up with. But here in chapter 6 we see that Daniel regularly makes time to realign himself with what he knows and trusts to be right. He opens a window in his house towards Jerusalem- not because there is some ritual that taught him to face Jerusalem when he prayed, but because it was a physical reminder for him that his true home was not this land that he found himself living in. The messages from his new surroundings, new job and new king were loud and insistent, but Daniel had found rhythms of life that helped him continue to hear the still small voice of God. Three times a day he prayed, and he prayed on his knees, seeking mercy.

What are the things we do morning, noon and night? Where are the places that help us centre ourselves, remind us what is important? This weekend, might it be time to do an audit of our habits?

James K. A. Smith writes this:
Christian worship, we should recognize, is essentially a counterformation to those rival liturgies we are often immersed in, cultural practices that covertly capture our loves and longings, miscalibrating them , orienting us to rival versions of the good life. This is why worship is the heart of discipleship. We can't counter the power of cultural liturgies with didactic information poured into our intellects. We can't recalibrate the heart from the top down, through merely informational measures. The orientation of the heart happens from the bottom up, through the formation of our habits of desire. Learning to love (God) takes practice.

"You Are What You Love" James K. A. Smith 2016