Challenging Life Lessons from Daniel

Do you believe every Bible book has lessons for our lives? I am on a journey to discover lessons from every book. This week, we explore lessons from Daniel. At the end of this post, I will give you links to a couple of other book lessons. Please, keep reading!

The book of Daniel gives us highlights from Daniel’s life from youth to old age. Three of these lessons are from Daniel’s youth demonstrating that a good start is so important to a good finish. There is one lesson from Daniel’s friends, also young men and another lesson from his old age. I hope you find a few lessons, too, as you read this wonderful book.

Do not compromise

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

Daniel 1:8 (ESV)

It is evident from this verse that Daniel already had established patterns in his life that were in accordance with the word of God. He was faithful to the law and was unwilling to compromise on the most mundane things such as diet.

He knew that compromise in small things often leads to compromise with bigger more important things. And that is the lesson for us. When we are following Jesus, we cannot compromise. We need to be striving to be more like him every day. I have good days and bad days in this regard but I will continue to strive to be like him.

Every little thing is important. Compromise is like putting sour milk in your coffee!

Trust God

Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

Daniel 1:11–13 (ESV)

Daniel was not in a position to make demands. Even as he was resolved not to compromise, he realized that he needed to tactfully make his request known. He demonstrated respect for the steward who was responsible for Daniel’s diet. He gave him a way out. But Daniel trusted God. He believed that God would ensure he could continue to follow without compromise. He made his stand and trusted God with the outcome.

We know that after this test, God proved faithful and Daniel could continue in service without giving up the diet that conformed to his convictions.

We can trust God. When he gives us direction, he has already made a way for us to continue down the path with the result he has in mind. Trusting God in every situation is essential.

Wisdom and Tact

The story of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is dramatic. It is recorded in chapter two.

He has a disturbing dream. The problem is, he cannot remember it! He desperately wants to know what the dream is and what it means. He assembles the sorcerers and magicians and astrologers of the land demanding that they tell him the dream and what it means. Of course, they cannot do it so he demands that all the wise men of the land be executed! This included Daniel.

When Daniel heard about the decree, he used tact to ask for time. It was granted to him and he immediately sought his friends help to join him in prayer for an answer from God. God answered his prayer. Daniel received the revelation and passed it on to Nebuchadnezzar.

So instead of death, Daniel was promoted!

Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

Daniel 2:48–49 (ESV)

So often when we are faced with bad circumstances we say, “that’s not fair.” Daniel certainly had the right to make such a pronouncement. It truly wasn’t fair or right.

But he demonstrated the right course of action in the face of extreme adversity. Act with tact, recruit your friends to pray together and trust God for the outcome.

Unwavering Faith

The king set up a huge obelisk of gold. He demanded that the people fall down and worship it. If you did not participate, you would be burned to death. Daniel’s friends refused to comply. They would not worship anyone but the Lord – even under the threat of a horrific death. Here is what they said.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Daniel 3:16–18 (ESV)

They demonstrated a powerful faith and an equally powerful devotion to God. I wonder what we would do if faced with such a choice. Would we bow down to preserve our lives while saying to ourselves, “I’m not bowing in my heart”?

Unwavering Devotion and Integrity

When Daniel was an old man, things had changed. A conquering ruler, Darius, had taken over the kingdom. Amazingly, Daniel survived the takeover and continued his duties as a trusted administrator of government affairs.

He conducted himself with integrity and diligence, so much so that the other authorities were jealous of his success, recognition and despised his conduct. As long as he retained authority, they could not engage in corrupt activities. So they approached Darius with deceit and convinced him to issue a proclamation that effectively prohibited prayer and petition to anyone but him.

Daniel was predictably undeterred in seeking God. The conspirators found him in prayer and turned him over to Darius to carry out the sentence of being cast to the lions. Darius was appalled at the consequences of his decree but the officials pressed him to keep his word and his established law and he reluctantly sentenced Daniel. We know the rest of the story, how God closed the lion’s mouths and Daniel’s life was preserved.

Again, this raises the question about our devotion to prayer. Would we continue our times of prayer if prayer was suddenly outlawed? Would we continue to pray with a threat of death hanging over us?

Your Turn

I would love to hear what you have learned from this book. But more than this, I hope you will dive deeply into God’s word and allow him to speak to your heart and change your life.

Now available is the complete: Transformational Life Lessons from the Bible in Kindle format. Click here for more information.