.
.Looking for
Daniel
..
by
Rob Clarke
Daniel
had been a bright lad from the word go, good
looking, smart and he had had the benefit of a
good education. It wasn’t altogether surprising
that talent spotters acting for officialdom had
recommended he be given a place in the best
national academy.
Indeed Daniel had gone on to do well. Serving in
successive Government administrations he was
widely regarded as one of the most influential
senior civil servants in the country.
Perhaps what was most remarkable about all this
was that Daniel was foreigner from a small
middle eastern nation and here he was serving
the dominant power in the region. Serving a
people who spoke a different language and whose
culture and religion were vastly different to
his own.
Daniel served diligently and effectively – yet all
the while – his decision making was guided by
his own deeply held faith. Daniel had made no
secret of his belief in God but for the most
part this had not created any serious conflict.
And then one day... Daniel was asked to refrain
from worshiping God. Now Daniel could have
maintained a pretence of following this new law – and he
could have gone on quietly praying behind closed
doors whilst conforming to the new political
correctness in the exterior of his life.
But
Daniel determined that he would not compromise
his beliefs. For Daniel this was a matter of
conscience. He threw open the windows of his
house and maintained his practice of prayer in
full view of those that cared to see.
Within days he was dragged before the courts – and
charged with violating the law. Things don’t go
well in court and he is sentenced to death.
There is a marvelous ending to this story which
you can read about in Chapter Six of the book of
Daniel.
I love Daniel’s courage, I love the fact that he
lives by his convictions. I love the abandonment
with which he says, “I’ll follow my conscience
and trust God with the consequences”.
Right now – here in Ireland and across the
globe – there is a need for a new
generation of Daniels…
This
article was originally published in Life Blog,
(c) March 2015 Spirit
Radio, Ireland. Used with permission.
 Rob Clarke
is the CEO for Spirit
Radio, a national Christian radio
station for Ireland online and also on am
and fm. Originally from New Zealand, Rob
moved to Dublin in 1987 and has worked
extensively in Christian leadership and is
a regular conference speaker. Rob and his
wife Anne are members of Nazareth
Community in Dublin. They have six
children.
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