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When it comes to being a strong man, one of the things that should come up is whether or not a man is trustworthy. Surely, when it comes to a man and his circle of friends, the friend he sees as the most trustworthy is probably the friend he will bond with the most. A trustworthy man will have those around him take notice. And when others talk about the strength of his character, being trustworthy will probably be at the center of the discussion because most people consider being trustworthy one of the best traits a person can have.
Even though I believe the above is very true, what about the man who can trust? I mean think about it. If I want to be held in high esteem among my peers and my fellow men…then being a trustworthy person is something I would strive for as it will bring me the reputation I want to be known for. But now what about being a man who has to be the one to trust instead of being the one trustworthy? And now, just like in part 1 of this blog series, here is where this gets really tough. What about the man who is strong enough and tough enough to trust God? A man who trusts God is a very strong man. Here is what I mean by this:
God preserved in human history for us a very important story to spotlight how important it is to trust Him and also what happens when we do. I am going to the Book of Daniel in the Bible and pick this up in chapter 6. There are some very important details to unpack here so let’s get into it.
At that time, King Darius set up 120 governors (they were called satraps) to rule throughout the kingdom with 3 high officials over them, Daniel being 1 of the 3. Of the 3 high officials and all the 120 satraps, Daniel became the favorite and most high to the King because of his character and God’s divine spirit living in him. But then things head south in a hurry for Daniel.
Because of Daniel’s high character and being a man of God those around him got jealous. They got so jealous of him that they plotted against him and when they couldn’t find anything to trip him up because he was a man who followed God, they had to instead find another way to make him fall. The governors and high officials knew Daniel dedicated himself to praying to God daily and often. So, they go to the King and fool him into putting in an edict that even he himself would be bound by. Here is what they did: “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 that 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 the 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.” King Darius signed the document and injunction. (Daniel 6:6-9). Keep in mind, what is so interesting here is that King Darius thought very highly of Daniel, but he had just been fooled into signing something that would put Daniel in the decision of his life! You see the law of the Medes and the Persians meant that once a law was established it could not be overturned, not even by the King who signed it into law. Once that was done, it didn’t matter what King Darius thought of Daniel, Daniel would need to abide by the law or face the consequences. Now, would Daniel abide by this edict or serve the God he knew?
So, how tough was Daniel? Here is how tough he was: “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.” (Daniel 6:10). Daniel was not about to change what he had done before and that was to pray and worship his God. He had a relationship with Him so much so that he was intentional in his time with the Lord, praying to him not once, not twice, but three times. The three times are significant in my mind. It is one thing to pray in the morning when you get up or pray at night before going to bed. If we are not careful, those can almost become robotic or dare I say ritualistic, but to pray three times a day means his relationship with God was active, purposeful, and again, absolutely intentional. He served the true living God! I am also going to go out on a limb and say this about this verse in Scripture as well: Daniel did this with the windows open in clear sight. I don’t think he did this in an act of defiance, but instead so that Scripture could speak and let it be known he was not going to hide his relationship with his God no matter what he might have been facing. Don’t tell me Daniel wasn’t tough! Don’t tell me Daniel wasn’t a real man! He knew the consequences, and yet he knew his God is real.
The story goes on that the men who plotted against Daniel went to the King to let it be known that Daniel went against the edict. The King was distressed as he thought highly of Daniel, but they reminded him that the law that was put in place could not be broken and that he was bound by it. Even though the King had much stress about this, he was left with no option but to deliver Daniel to the lion’s den. The King even goes on to say to Daniel as he is being cast into the den of lions, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” Daniel was then sealed into the den. The King was not able to sleep that night and returned the next morning in a rush to the den in anguish hoping to find Daniel alive, but obviously by the description in the Scripture it is pretty obvious he had no trust in that. However, when he got to the den he 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?” (verses 20-21). Daniel, unharmed, responded: “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lion’s 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.” (verse 21) Scripture goes on to say the King was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den…and here is the whole point of all of this…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. (verse 23). To finish up the story, the King punishes those who did this to Daniel by throwing them and their families into the den where the lions crushed them. Then the King praised God to all the people because of what God did for Daniel because Daniel had trusted in him regardless of the circumstances he faced. The King goes even further to decree in all the land the following: “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.” (verses 26-27) Daniel chapter 6 ends by saying this in verse 28, “So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
Men, if I could be so bold as to hammer out a few things that I feel are extremely important. There are incredible things to see when we trust God as this story makes that obvious, but let’s look at 3 things I want to spotlight in this story so they don’t get lost here. If we are going to be strong men, we better get a grip on this. Here comes the toughest things to deal with, I hope your mindset is ready:
1.) When you are clinging to your relationship with God there will be many times when you feel like you are out on an island all by yourself. The vast majority of people, maybe even your closest family and friends, will think you’re crazy. They might talk bad about you to your face or behind your back and maybe even turn their back on you. There might even be those who plot against you to tear you down and get you to crack. When you are on the right path doing the best you can to live your life doing the right thing, those on the wrong path will ridicule and try to destroy you. Being a real man is to understand this, look it square in the eye, and refuse to break! As with Daniel, with God on your side…here is the message men…YOU CANNOT LOSE! The masses are in trouble as you have a ONE CREATOR army in your court.
2.) I don’t want to lose sight of Daniel’s strength and toughness in this story all because of his TRUST in God. And why TRUST and how God rewards that trust is what this is all about. Take a moment to really take yourself back to Daniel’s story. The edict was for 30 days…30 DAYS!!!!! C’mon, this is nothing. Do you think Daniel could have said to himself, “ok, I have to put my prayers on the shelf for 30 days. Or better yet, instead of praying openly, I will just pray to God internally. After all, He is God. He will hear those too and God will understand what I am doing to spare my life. He could have done that. But listen up (and I am speaking to myself as I type this because it just came to me): If Daniel had done just that to spare his life, we would not have this story in human history preserved to teach you and me, a few thousand years later, the importance of trusting in God! How great is our God and don’t tell me the Bible is not God’s written word to us! 30 DAYS MEN, THE EDICT WAS FOR A ‘FLIPPIN’ 30 DAYS!!!!! But Daniel’s trust in God and God’s faithfulness to Daniel’s trust is the ONLY reason I can write you here today! And the only way that happens is if Daniel stays the course to pray openly! That is about as manly as it gets! To our God be all glory. If I am on an island, no problem, I will stake my claim in my God and stand firm on my ONE CREATOR army! With all due respect, if you’re in the masses, you’re in trouble and I say that in love because I am encouraging you to come over here where, MEN, YOU CANNOT LOSE!
3.) This one is a tough one to swallow, but one that shouldn’t be lost in all of this. When God delivered Daniel from the lion’s den and King Darius rejoiced, it was time for evil to pay its price. You see evil doesn’t go unpunished. It just doesn’t. The God of the universe is a righteous and just God! But sadly, something else happens too and that is sin affects the innocent. That is how horrible evil is. It not only crushes and destroys those who do evil, but it can have a consequence that spreads like a poison or disease to everyone around them. When the governors and satraps got paid their price for the jealousy and evil they tried to throw on Daniel, not only did they get thrown into the lion’s den, but so did their families. Evil affects the innocent!!!!! Do you think this is unfair? Fair enough, my human mind does too. However, the truth is the truth! Do you want a couple real-life examples that are easy to understand? How about this: When a husband or wife cheats on their spouse, is the spouse that was cheated on the only one affected by this sin? What about the kids involved or the extended family? Of course, the whole family is ripped to shreds, both the guilty and innocent! How about when murder or rape happens? How many innocent lives are affected by those heinous sins? This is why as human beings we need God. The answer to all of this is quite obvious, the question is what do we do with the answer?
Once again, as we saw in Job, when Daniel trusted God and didn’t falter in serving God, not only did God show up and deliver him, but afterward rewarded him. This is an ongoing theme we should take real notice of. God does not change, has not changed, and will not change. He is perfect! There is no need for God to evolve folks. He was perfect at the beginning, always has been perfect, and he is still perfect now, and will be perfect forever more! To make this point more obvious let me point out this…Job was living in the time of Abraham, estimated 1996 BC, while Daniel was living during the Babylonian Captivity of Judah which was around 586 BC. The point here is simple: God had not changed his ways for some 1400 years so there is no reason to think he has changed today. If we serve God, not letting go in the face of our circumstances, He will not only deliver but deliver BIG!!!!!
So, what do we do with this, men? And why does this all tie into being “tough” men or “real” men? The answer is that none of this is easy, nor is it meant to be. God requires this of us because he wants us to trust Him. If you think of the very nature of trust, trust in and of itself is not an easy thing to do and by nature, trust can be hard to accomplish. And the reason for that is because we human beings can really fail each other in big ways. We make mistakes and screw up. However, when trust is established and that bond is not broken, that is where the best relationships will forever flourish being the best relationship two people can have! Now take that further to when we trust God, the one who NEVER fails, the one who will ALWAYS deliver. That relationship is the relationship that we all need to strive to be tough enough and real enough to cling to! But the “real” and “tough” part for us comes in because we need to do our part. God’s part for Him is easy…I mean, He is God! But for us it takes toughness and it takes fortitude to fight for it no matter the obstacle. And when the obstacles look to be overwhelming against us (lions in Daniel’s case or personal life ruin in Job’s case), that is when God will ALWAYS deliver. The rewards of this will not only be there, but they will always be worth it! After all, we are talking about trusting the King of kings and Lord of lords.
To all men who have gotten this far with me through part 2 of this 8-part series. Let’s keep going! God has a lot to teach us.
Next up…and it’s a good one…David and Faith…let the trash-talking begin!
Have Character!
J. Noah Russell
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