The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Daniel 6:3, 5-7, “…Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom… Then these men said, ‘We shall not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.’

6 Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: ‘King Darius, live forever! 7All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions’ den.’”

One of the supreme difficulties in any endeavor is determining who is in charge! It’s not unusual, however, for a king to elevate someone beneath him as a viceroy, or second-in-command. Further, it is usually a quiet, intelligent person, who has not “bucked” for the position. Daniel was just such a man. It is not-at-all difficult to see why King Darius would have selected him. But, there was opposition.

The spiritually exciting aspect of this plot is that the plotters could find nothing against Daniel himself, but were forced to seek something negative about Daniel’s God. The probability of that is a double negative!

It’s interesting that Daniel’s opposition references him by his Hebrew name rather than by his Babylonian name, Belteshazzar. There are slurs cast at him, such as “this Daniel” and “his God.” Still, Daniel’s enemies could not deny

his integrity or his devotion to the LORD his God. So, they plotted against him, using King Darius and the Medo-Persian law. Whether “all the commissioners…prefects and…satraps (a subordinate ruler) had agreed to this plot is not known; however, that is how the situation was presented to Darius, the king. Whatever concealed this clumsy plot from Darius himself is beyond belief! What veiled his eyes from such nefarious action must remain a mystery.

Oh, there’s more to this – much more! But for now, we must see that whenever the LORD puts us into a situations of

leadership, there will be opposition. There’s an old song that envisions the Noahic flood that says, “I’d rather be on the

inside lookin’ out, than to be on the outside lookin’ in.” It equally applies to Daniel. Leave the others to their schemes; Daniel’s focus is ever on the LORD.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”