Daniel 2:14 (ESV) Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. (Emphasis mine)
A little back story, a decree had just gone out that all wise men in the kingdom were to be killed. The captain of the guard Daniel is speaking to here knocked on his door to kill him. Friends, to KILL him! And as we read, Daniel replies to them with prudence and discretion.
I'm not sure about you, but I cannot confidently say that if someone knocked on my door not only with the intent but the legal authority to kill me, that I would respond with prudence and discretion. Hysteria and panic? Probably.
Now this story tells me something amazing not so much about Daniel, but about our God. Daniel surely wasn't able to collect himself with that level of poise on his own. Our God can provide the calm in the storm, the ability to speak with prudence and discretion when facing death; He is the ultimate comforter.
Unlike Pastor Saeed , imprisoned for his faith and battling death daily, I would imagine that most of us don't find ourselves in a situation as dire as Daniel's every day. But maybe we do find ourselves in these:
...having to face a tough colleague or supervisor at work
...feeling the need to defend ourselves in gossip among friends, family, or colleagues
...having parenting decisions questioned by friends or family members ...receiving unfair blame for something we didn't do
...feeling the need to defend attacks against the Word of God online (or any soap-box cause on Facebook really)
And in these situations, Lord, may we seek you first and respond with prudence and discretion!
And look at that, a nifty little image! Want to make one on your own? This is using PicLab for adding text on the image and eZy Watermark lite for the watermark. Both are free apps!
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