can i ever know your mind

i'm handing you mine


A sermon on Daniel in the Lion's Den; Daniel 6:6-27:


The typical way to hear today’s passage is as some finger-wagging exhortation to say your prayers. No matter what. 

And make no mistake, this passage is about prayer. But it’s about true prayer. And how such prayer actually comes about. Which no amount of tut-tutting can make happen.

Just ask Daniel…


According to the well-meant but completely off base interpretation of this passage, Daniel is the model of commitment. He prays three times a day. And he’s so punctilious, he even makes sure to pray in the right direction! 

But Daniel’s not the safe harbor for obligation you may think him to be. 


Don’t forget, Daniel prays in direct violation of the king’s decree! And he does so fully aware of his infraction! 

If Daniel’s prayers were motivated by nothing more than rule-following, he’d at least have the discretion to close his windows. Instead, he just knelt down and offered his supplications in full view of the rest of the world!


Which begs the question, if Daniel’s not praying to follow rules, what is it that’s got him praying so regularly and sincerely?


Well, perhaps we can answer that question with another question. And a relatively straight-forward one, too. What is it that gets you praying? 

Because if you’re anything like me, it isn’t any shoulds or oughts. Is it? 


No, what really inspires prayer is having your back against the wall. Feeling the breath of the lions on the back of your neck. When you don’t need anyone telling you to pray because you can’t help but pray!


…When you interpret this passage through the uninspired lens of some theoretical call to disciplined prayer, you miss the beating heart of this passage every time!

Want to be inspired by today’s scripture? Consider this: Daniel’s prayers weren’t regimented. They were desperate. 


Daniel knew about the king’s decree. Didn’t he? He knew he had already effectively been sentenced to death. Daniel prayed so recklessly and relentlessly because he had nowhere else to turn, and nothing left to lose!

What makes for real prayer isn’t willpower. It’s anguish!


And I bet you have plenty of that these days. Don’t you?

Well, that just means YOU already have everything you need to pray! And it isn’t some schedule or sense of obligation. It’s life.

Prayer, like scripture, like God, is for real life! Real people living real lives. Real people living real lives full of real problems.


When life has you undone, there’s nothing more you need to get your prayer life together! The Holy Spirit will be busy taking your cries and turning them into holy, God-pleasing prayers! In fact, Jesus himself will pray with you!


Those moments you pray to be delivered from are the ones Jesus puts his own words on your very lips! When you cry, “remove this cup,” you’re ready to be filled with God’s best gift, the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! And the Holy Spirit that raises you from this death! 


The Holy Spirit has been at work in your life. Although, not in the way you expected. Not by sparing you from the lions’ den, but by meeting you in the middle of it!


What you need to faithfully pray isn’t some program. It’s all those things that chew them up! And the God who can defang their destruction by making it scripture-shaped!


Everything you’ve been praying to be delivered from has made your life resemble today’s scripture! Luther, and Jesus himself, would call it nothing less than evidence of God’s hand at work in your life.


But here’s the promise hidden on that other side of this disorienting experience, God can use the lions’ den you’ve found yourself in. In fact, God can even turn that place into the one where real prayers are uttered. 

Jesus-shaped prayers. Jesus-shaped prayers God can’t help but send the Son to take upon his lips when salvation is bestowed. Jesus-shaped prayers God can’t help but send the Holy Spirit to sanctify.


Those places in life you are afraid will devour you are the ones God is meeting you most powerfully! Closing the mouths of all those threats and opening your ears to hear God’s word of promise and comfort!


So receive that word: Everything that keep you awake at night is nothing more than a call to prayer. And even better is the God who’s busy turning those cries into prayers! Bending your life into the shape of salvation, the shape of the cross.

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