Daniel 6:1-9
Daniel in the Den of Lions
6 [a]It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for chargesagainst Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”
6 So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever!7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.
Jealousy is a bitter pill. When you compare your life to someone else, it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, you lose. The fastest way to kill something special is to compare it.
I call this the problem of ER. I want everything you have plus ER. If you are clever, I want to be cleverer. If you are rich, I want to be richer. If you are charismatic. I want to be charismatic-er. I want all you have plus ER… except, if I am honest. What I really want is EST.
And the question that we all have to answer is ‘Who or what will define my worth?’
These satraps were jealous of Daniel’s gifts and position. His success undermined them and theirs. The response was that if they could not rise above him, that they would pull him down. Its a bit like an old scales, if they could remove his success, they would feel that theirs would rise.
I think that we all have something of this inside of us. At my core it is my nature to want you to think I'm important. I want you to think I am popular. I want you to think I am special. However, God does not want us to live for our own glory but for his. When we do, it is incredibly liberating.
If my value is based on God then I can celebrate other people’s success.
This is what I do whenever I feel comparison rise up inside me: I pray for them. I pray that God will bless them. I pray that his favour will rest upon them. I pray that he will make them flourish. I pray that they would know his blessing. I want to sow blessings into the world and not curses. I want to see others flourish and not falter to satisfy my ego. So I pray.
