Work Principles

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Friday, November 07, 2008 - Work Principles from Daniel – II

Proverbs 27:4 says, “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” If you’ve ever had to face jealousy—people who were jealous of you simply because you did the right thing—then you can relate to this proverb. Who can stand before jealousy? That green-eyed monster is ferocious.

Daniel was the victim of the jealousy of his peers. They were so jealous that they devised a plan to get him killed, a clever plan which would make them look good to the big boss and get rid of their hated rival.

Don’t be surprised what jealous people will do, and how cleverly they will try to disguise their jealousy. Daniel was not able to “stand before jealousy,” as it turns out. He was not able to out-maneuver these malicious co-workers who were out to destroy him. They got that decree signed by Darius, that anyone who prayed to any god or man for the next thirty days would be thrown into the lions’ den—and it was an irrevocable decree. Even Darius couldn’t undo it once he recognized their evil scheme.

So, at this pressure point Daniel is faced with a choice: to compromise his faith and abandon his daily practice of praying to his God three times a day, with his windows open toward Jerusalem for all to see, or face those hungry lions. Did you realize that he didn’t even have to worship the king? The decree simply said you couldn’t worship anyone else for this thirty day period. So, he could have shut the windows and prayed privately, or just figured, Hey, thirty days is nothing; God will understand. It’s a small thing, after all. I’ll show these guys they can’t catch me in their evil scheme. I just won’t pray openly for thirty days, and I’ll beat their plan that way. Isn’t it interesting that his co-workers must have been certain that he would not compromise his commitment to his God. They knew he would choose the lions’ den!

Daniel never pleaded his case with Darius. He never bad-mouthed his evil co-workers. He never protested. He simply refused to change his prayer schedule; he refused to let their jealousy cause him to compromise. He was fearless.

None of us have or ever will face lions or threatened death for standing firm to our faith. But we could face the death of a job, the death of a relationship, the death of a career plan. That’s about as scary as it gets for us, after all, because so much of our security and identity is tied up in what we do!

I hope you will take time to read again the first six chapters of Daniel and see how he stayed true to his God in the midst of a very secular and pagan society, in the face of very jealous and evil co-workers.