The Daily: Saturday July 5th, 2025 Copy

Read Daniel 6:10-28 (NRSV, The Message)

Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!” Daniel 6:16

Daniel is a beautiful example of how one lives in the midst of empire without participating in it. Daniel refused to indulge in the diet of his Babylonian captors, he maintained the habits of his faith and culture.

And he refused to bow down to the king. He continued to worship God. In our time and place, it seems on every side there are those who would deny their values and bend the knee to empire for a little more money or a little more power.

What if we had faith that, if we refused to participate in the sin of our empire, if we refused to bow our knee, that God would close the mouth of the lions and keep us safe in the fire?

Prayer
God, we trust in your care for us. Forgive us for the times we have neglected your wisdom and compassion and instead followed the fear and scarcity of empire.