A Modest Proposal!

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 the administrators and the satraps went as a group to the king and said: "O 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 man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den. 8 Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed." 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

Daniel 6:5-10

The first thing Daniel did when he learned that it was now illegal to pray was to go to his room with the windows open and pray in plain view of everyone!

It would have been so simple to curtail his public prayer times for thirty days and then who would know he was violating the law in private? All Daniel would have to do is pretend that he was obeying the law and there would be no lion’s den for him. Didn’t Jesus tell us not to pray in public, but to go and pray secretly to our closet? So why did Daniel put his whole life on the line by being openly disobedient to the law?

The difference is this: When you pray in public with the purpose of being seen and receiving the praise of men you miss the whole point of prayer. But when you pray private because you fear what men will do to you if they see you pray, you deny the power of God to protect and save you from their evil designs!

In a very real sense in the United States of America there is a “law” today that says you cannot pray in public. We are prohibited from praying to God in schools, at sporting events, public meetings and even meals if the gathering is related to any public entity.

Daniel has not been our example. Daniel stands today and points his finger at followers of Jesus and says, “Don’t you trust God?”

God saved Daniel from the den of lions and God still saves His people when they put their trust in Him.

So I would make a modest proposal. Let us do as Daniel did and blatantly disobey the law (it is not a written law) that says we cannot pray in public. If those who follow Jesus begin to pray in public, not to be praised by men, but to praise God and challenge the effort to stop us from calling on the Name of the Lord, Daniel’s story will be repeated!

Remember, the only way to be saved from the mouths of lions is to get thrown into the lion’s den!