Resolve Day 4: Response

Day 4: Response

     Rudyard Kipling wrote a noble but perhaps idealistic poem about the Thousandth Man. I say it "perhaps idealistic" because I tend to believe that such men are much more rarer than one in a thousand. 

Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't bide

The shame or mocking or laughter,

But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side

To the gallows-foot - and after!

Today's devotional is about finding someone who will respond in your time of need with a resolution to pray for you. It also challenges you and me to be that person who will respond to others in times of need by truly resolving to pray for them.

¹⁶ So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”

¹⁷ Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.

¹⁸ Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. ¹⁹ Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. ²⁰ And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

Daniel 6

Response from others: When you are weak in prayer, ask for others to stand with you. 

     We began these portraits of prayer by looking at the intercession of Moses with Aaron and Hur upholding his hands. This is not unique or unheard of. Even Jesus asked others to intercede for Him in the Garden (Matt. 26:41). Esther asked for all of the Jews to fast as she approached the king (Esther 4:16). Paul frequently asked for prayers of others to lift him up (1 Thess. 5:25). 

      Daniel himself had fasted throughout his life and now the king, who it is not for sure whether he was a true believer, also fasted for Daniel. Whether he was yet a believer, the king soon would believe! The king had undoubtedly seen Daniel’s example, but now it was the king’s turn to be the example and fast and pray.

If you can no longer see an example, it may be time to be an example.

    Do you long for someone to mentor you or be someone to influence you but find no one around to show you the way? As I have served in the church for more than 25 years, I have found that there are a lot of wise guys but very few wise men. Many a man will be quick to joke, be business-minded, sports-minded, or politically opinionated, but very few are truly and consistently wise in their examples and counsel.

     That night, King Darius encouraged Daniel,

“Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” 

      The next morning, the king posed his statement into a question,

“Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

     Do you see the irony of all of this? The governors and satraps had made a decree that no one could petition any god or man other than King Darius. Now here was King Darius fasting and possibly praying. To whom? Himself? When it came right down to it, even Darius could not answer his own prayers. Only the living God, whom Daniel continually served, could deliver him.

     Until you pray, there is nothing more you can do than pray.

     In other words, when everything you try fails, when there is no other alternative, when your options have all run out, you are not the most powerless. It is then that God is most powerful to answer.

    Resolve to pray. And to encourage yourself to pray, resolve to be Solomon's one in a thousand man..