Daniel 6: 3-5 “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”

Daniel had many characteristics.  In “MARKED BY CHARACTER” we explored the issue of his character.  Daniel however was not content as a servant to the Most High Living God to be a man of character.   Daniel was a man of competence.  Daniel invested in himself.  In the first chapter of Daniel we meet Daniel for the first time.  We are told that he was part of a group of “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace[who were to learn]the language and literature of the Babylonians”(1:4) who were taken forcefully from their homeland. In other words he is from good stock. However, notice that the entire group had this basic foundation.   Under these conditions Daniel had several options:  he could go with the flow whatever happens happens; study and learn this Babylon system and become a part of the culture or learn and study this system without bowing down to or absorbing the culture norms. Daniel chose the latter. He chose the route of godly competence: acquiring the required skill, knowledge, qualification and capacity to effectively function in the Babylon system without becoming a part of Babylon itself.

Daniel along with his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah from the beginning did a careful evaluation of the foreign culture and took a particular stance.  This was a stance of not defiling themselves. Interestingly enough, they were a part of a group of exiles yet only the four of them took this stance.  This makes it clear that our values system if not reinforced will be overpowered by the dominant oppressed culture around us.   They invested themselves without losing themselves.

For Daniel and his friends their obedience to God brought God’s favour: “To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds” (1:17). God had been standing ready to grant them wisdom and he gives generously without finding fault (James1:5).  The ultimate test came when the king questioned them and he found that “in every matter of wisdom and understanding…. he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom” (1:20).  That my friends is the grace of God.  Only when God gives you divine insight you end up being ten times better than those born and raised in the system.     

Daniel did not only invest in himself and demonstrated competence at the beginning of his career but this was a mark of his entire career.  When we meet Daniel again in Daniel 6, despite the different changes in government, he had “so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities”.  Now Daniel was not a show off. He just stood out because he made certain choices.  The first choice was he was circumspect in his conduct.  He knew that he was representing God in his conduct and so that principle governed his every decision.  Secondly, he lived in a corrupt society but he chose to not practice corruption, he would remain above board.  Thirdly, he was not negligent in his duties.  No one could catch him napping on the job.  As a Director he knew his job, he did it well and with distinction.  In case you think that it was Daniel that was blowing his horn, it wasn’t.  It was his enemies that said these things.  It was his enemies that said “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel…” Praise God.  Daniel was so competent that even with his enemies investigating his behavior they could find nothing to pin on him because he studied his job, he was competent.  Fourthly, Daniel realized that in this Babylon system he needed divine inspiration and so he sought it three times a day.  Daniel knew that despite what he saw, God was in charge and was just a prayer away. Daniel prayed in the morning before he went to work.  He prayed around mid-day to cover him for the afternoon session and he prayed in the evening at the end of the day.  What a model to follow.  Spending that time in prayer ensures that he knew that heart of God for the situations that he faced on an ongoing basis. 

What about you and me?  Are we competent, not corrupt nor negligent in our duties?  Can our enemies look at us and say we will never find any basis for charging them?   Or we seeking God’s wisdom and divine inspiration several times a day, to handle the different systems around us or are we slowly being absorbed into the foreign culture?  Let us check ourselves before….

Let’s take a leaf out of Daniel’s book of experience and learn and apply it to our lives.

PRAYER

Lord you the God of Daniel are still the same today.  Forgive me for relying on self and being absorbed into the foreign culture.  I sit at your feet and ask you to teach me to be competent, to be mindful, conscious and dutiful.  Give me the discernment to see corruption in its various forms and the will to stay far from it.  Let me never bring disgrace to your name.  In the power of Jesus Christ who resisted the temptations to sin.  Amen.