Good Morning!
Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus
unto him, King Darius, live forever. All the residents of the kingdom, the
governors,and the princes, the counselors, and the captains, have consulted
together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever
shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall
be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing,
that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Wherefore king
Darius signed the writing and the decree (Daniel 6:6-9).
Daniel, Old Man….they're coming after you! They've counted the lions in the palace dens and they think your best place of service would be in the belly of hungry lions. The greatest danger to Daniel the Prophet of God was flattery. Oh, he was not subject to flattery, but his new king, King Darius, had a weak place in his makeup for flattery. McGee comments on this:
"The plot of these princes and presidents and petty politicians was very subtle. King Darius was a good man. That is obvious from secular history, and I think it is certainly the implication of the Book of Daniel. But Darius had a vulnerable spot (many of us have it), and that was his vanity—he yielded to flattery".
I've heard it said many times that we should not listen much to what people say to us or about us. I'm not nearly as good as my friends say I am and I am probably not as bad as my enemies say I am. There is always a great danger of being carried away by flattery and a great danger of being beat down by the tongues of our enemies and even by well-meaning but misguided individuals who think we are wonderful or wretched.
McGee comments further about the scene: "These men flattered Darius, and he yielded to it. He thought, My, this is great! So he drafted a bill, and it was made a statute. He thus elevated himself to the position of deity, and prayer was to be offered only to him."
Neither flattery nor undue criticism is effective upon its victim unless it is swallowed. We don't have to swallow it. Spit it out! Like you, I have seen flattery make fools of some people as they snuggle up to the person who is stroking them to use them or to extract a sum of money from them. And there are not a people who have committed suicide or left home in the night never to return because of an angry, sharp tongue. I've wondered many times if a wicked tongue has not destroyed more homes than alcohol and drugs. Flattery is sweet like honey, so how could it be evil?
There is such a thing as legitimate honor. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor (Romans 13:7). For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death (Matthew 15:4).
But honor can be misapplied and become crippling.Jesus said How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? (John 5:44)
When Daniel knew that the awesome invisible God had spoken and that he was alive and well in Babylon, he was encouraged to stand with God and His word.
Do you think God has died? Do you think He can't manage the world He has created??? Daniel is in good hands.
Consider this: For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (2Chronicles 16:9)
Memory Verse for this week:
Let the word of Christ dwell in richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in
Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
(Colossians 3:16)
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