Ripple Effect

Daniel 1:1-14

May 9, 2021 • Mount Pleasant UMC

It has been said that if you have a godly mother or grandmother who has been or is praying for you to come to know Jesus, just give up. There is nothing like the prayers of a mother because mothers don't give up, no matter what. Take a listen to Mark Lowry talking about his mama.

It’s Mother’s Day and we are thankful today for all of our mothers and those who were and are like mothers to us. We're thankful for all the women who have made a difference in our lives, but especially we are thankful for their prayers. Who knows how much eternity has been impacted and eternal destinies have been shaped by the prayers of a mother. Our own movement was shaped in many ways by the prayers of a mother. We usually talk about John Wesley being the founder of the Methodist movement, but at least equal credit should be given to his mother, Susanna Wesley, who prayed for her children regularly. The story is told that the children knew not to disturb Susanna when she had her apron over her head. That was her prayer closet, and most likely, she was praying for them. Her prayers made a difference then and, in many ways, continue to make a difference through the spiritual descendants of John and Charles Wesley. Prayer is like that; is has a ripple effect not only in the time the prayers are prayed but throughout history. Whose prayers have brought you to this moment?

This morning, we’re continuing our series on “Finding Favor,” looking at stories in the Bible of people who were “favored” by God. So far, we’ve looked at Moses, Joseph, Job and a section of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, and one thing we’ve discovered is that being “favored” by God doesn’t mean everything will be easy in our life. More often than not, finding favor in God’s eyes means life will be difficult; the journey of faith is not an easy walk in a park. Jesus himself said we will face challenges, obstacles, hardships and even, as we talked about last week, sickness, but what sustains us in those times is the relationship we have with God. And we practice and experience that relationship most when we engage in the practice of prayer, something Daniel discovered when he was far from home.

If you go with me to Israel in January (yes, that’s another shameless plug), there are places we will go when you will wonder why this piece of real estate has been fought over so often throughout history, why people still fight over it today. The southern part, especially, is desolate. It’s desert—dry and hot. One time when we were in Jericho the temperature was north of 140 degrees—in the shade! Why would anyone want to live there? Well, it’s because it’s a bridge between many different places. To get anywhere, then and now, you had to go through what became Israel. When God wanted his people to get his message out, he planted those people right in the middle of things. Every ancient trade route went right through Israel. So you had superpower after superpower trampling on this land. First, Assyria defeated and deported the northern kingdom, Israel. Then Babylon defeated Assyria and tried to take control of the southern kingdom, Judah. The Temple was plundered, the city was destroyed, and the best and brightest of the people were taken into exile to Babylon (cf. Jones, Finding Favor, pg. 108). Four young men were among those who were taken away from their homeland to live in Babylon—Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The latter three you know better by their Babylonian names—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (or, for those of us whose kids grew up on VeggieTales in the 90s, Rack, Shack and Benny).

Daniel was probably a teenager when he was taken captive—maybe between 14-17 years old (Carpenter, “Daniel,” Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol. 9, pg. 318). So he’s fairly young when he finds himself faced with big decisions, choices that put his faith on the line. Daniel and his four friends are set apart for service in the king’s court, a “highly regarded position in the ancient Near East” (Carpenter 320). So the four young men are put into a three-year training course (1:5) that included cultural, literary and political training. It also involved eating the king’s food and wine, and while the other things don’t seem to be a problem, the food and wine are a line Daniel does not want to cross. Israelites had and have very strict laws about what food they can and cannot eat and even how it is to be prepared; it’s part of what identifies them as God’s people. You won’t get bacon on the breakfast buffet in Jerusalem, for instance; pork is forbidden for orthodox Jews. And so, while we’re not told, exactly, what was on the dinner menu at the royal residence, it was something that did not line up with Daniel’s culinary practices. It wasn’t because he was on the latest fad diet; his food choices were evidence of his devotion to God and his willingness to follow God’s laws (cf. Jones 109-110).

So Daniel asks for permission to bypass the royal buffet and eat only vegetables and water. Now I would expect the “royal official” (who interestingly doesn’t have a name in this story) to say no. After all, he has his orders from the king himself. This is the program; this is how new people are inducted into Babylonian elite society. You wear the clothes, you attend the classes, you eat the food. That’s what we would expect; that’s what should happen. But there’s this little verse in the middle of this story—verse 9. “Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel…” And though there is still an argument and a wager to be made, a test to be carried out, the essence of the story is this: God changed the official’s mind in response to Daniel’s request. God gives Daniel favor here through the action of the official. God caused the official to do something outrageous for Daniel’s benefit.

So, how does all of this fit into our working definition of favor? Let me put that up on the screen again; you’ve seen it for several weeks, so I hope it’s becoming very familiar by now. Remember that favor is “God’s supernatural intervention to bring a blessing into your life” (Jones, Finding Favor, pg. 14). And not only does God intervene in this story to bring a blessing to Daniel’s life, he intervenes and thereby brings a blessing into the king’s life, into the nation’s life, into the life of the whole people. Verse 17 says it this way: “To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds” (1:17). Daniel, in particular, uses those skills for the benefit of the nation, and whatever king is currently reigning. God shows favor to Daniel to bless the people all around him and people he never met as well.

Now, it’s not explicitly said in this first chapter, but we know from elsewhere in the book that Daniel is a man of prayer. We often forget that what gets him thrown into the den of lions in chapter 6 is because he’s praying (Daniel 6:10). What gets Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace in chapter 3 is their refusal to pray to the king; they would only bow before God (Daniel 3:18). Daniel’s ability to interpret dreams all throughout the first half of the book is because of his prayer life with God, and the dreams and visions he receives in the second half of the book are a result of his prayer life. Daniel is a man of prayer, and he continues to pray in the face of opposition because he knows to whom he is praying. Specifically, he knows that the God to whom he prays will answer him. He rejects the pagan practices of the king because there is no power there (cf. Carpenter 320). His strength, his abilities, his “power” comes from the king of kings and the Lord of lords and he is not ashamed to take a stand for that king and Lord. Daniel is a man of prayer.

But he doesn’t just pray for himself and for his own needs. Daniel knows prayer has ripple effects far beyond his own life, even his own time. We tend to focus far too narrowly on prayer for ourselves. I’ve continued to be challenged by a quote from Bob Goff that I posted on my Facebook page a couple of weeks ago. Goff asked this: “If God answered every one of your prayers, would it change anybody’s life except your own?” (Dream Big). Wow. Goff’s point, and I think he’s right at least in my life, is that we pray too small. Well, maybe not too small because I don’t think there are small prayers, but too private. Too many of my prayers are me-centered. If God answered all of my prayers, who would be affected? Just me, or like Daniel, would my prayers affect the whole kingdom, the whole world? You see, prayer is a gift we’re given to use to impact the world. Like a pebble dropped in the ocean, a prayer lifted up from a humble heart can send waves throughout the world. We couldn’t begin to guess the full extent of how the prayers of our forefathers and foremothers—the prayers of people like Daniel—have reached through history to impact this moment. Author Peter Kreeft once put it this way: “I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those prayers down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives” (qtd. in Jones 102). Those are the kinds of prayers that flow from Daniel’s heart. The evidence is in what happens in his world and in his life.

So, here’s the question that lies under this whole story. It’s really at the heart of praying for God’s favor. Does God change people’s minds? I mean, does God literally reach into our heads and change our minds? It’s a difficult question, and I don’t want to get too far into the weeds this morning because Christians have been debating this topic for 2,000 years and no one has come up with a conclusive answer. I mean, God is God and can pretty much do anything he wants, right? But if God makes our choices for us, why would we bother to pray? If God’s just going to do what God’s going to do, why ask him for anything? Do you see what I mean? It’s not an easy question, and Daniel doesn’t make it any easier. Daniel 1:9 specifically says, “Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel…” but then notice what happens next. The official argues with Daniel. He doesn’t give Daniel what he asks for right away. What God apparently does (and far be it for me to explain God’s actions, but…) is help the official see and really hear what Daniel is asking. By verse 14, the official agrees to the test Daniel suggests and when the test is successful, he allows Daniel and his friends to eat what is in line with their faith rather than the royal fare. So it appears that God’s favor here isn’t a direct mind control of the official. Rather, God’s favor opens up the lines of communication, gives understanding, so that the official is able to see that God’s way is the best.

It’s similar to what happens in the story of Nehemiah. The story of Nehemiah also happens during the exile, and Nehemiah gets word that the city of Jerusalem is in bad shape and unprotected. After he gets that report, what does he do? What God’s people always do. He prays. When the king asks him what is wrong he prays again quickly. And the writer reports that God gave favor to Nehemiah in the king’s eyes. In other words, the king was open to hear what Nehemiah said and was able to see that God’s way was best (cf. Nehemiah 1-2). Favor isn’t about God reaching down, changing things so we are guaranteed to get what we want. Finding favor, receiving the blessing God wants to give us, is about following God’s desires, God’s plan for the situation. God giving favor to us in response to our prayers is about the way being opened so that God’s way is followed. In both of these cases and in so many others, the prayers that were prayed had ripple effects. They made a difference not just for Daniel and for Nehemiah, but for all their people and centuries of people to follow.

When we pray for favor, then, there are a couple of other issues to keep in mind. First of all, when we ask for favor, it’s not about asking for something specific (cf. Jones 112). It’s not about telling God how to fix things or what to give you or what to do to someone else. It’s about praying along the lines of what Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:10). Now can you think of anything better than to have this place begin to more and more resemble that place? Unfortunately, we spend so much time building our own little kingdoms, building our own empires, that we often have little time left over to seek God’s kingdom. Today’s version of Christianity says it’s enough if we put in our hour on Sunday. Or one Sunday a month. We separate Sunday from the rest of the week and our faith does little to impact the way we live Monday through Saturday. And then we ask God to favor us, to give us what we want. Daniel could have grabbed power there in Babylon. He and his friends were chosen to work in a place of power in a far-off land. If he had just kept quiet, if he had just “gone along to get along,” he could have had power. He could have built quite a kingdom there in Babylon. But Daniel wasn’t interested in that. His life of prayer had shaped him in such a way that what God wanted was his highest priority. Can we say the same thing? Whose kingdom are we building? The path to favor is through prayer toward God’s kingdom.

Of course, we first need to prayerfully consider what God’s kingdom looks like. This past week, at our ministerial association, we had a couple of things that, at least to me, gave me a glimpse of what God’s kingdom looks like. When I read “the end of the book,” I read that the kingdom will be made up of people from every tribe and tongue and language (cf. Revelation 7:9). And then I look around and see the lines that separate us as human beings, I realize that we have failed so far to see the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. That’s become even more evident in the last year. You’d think that our isolation would make us want to accept and welcome and be with people more but it seems to just have made us more isolated, more divided. So this past week, we heard about an opportunity to be involved with the Special Olympics, to share Christ’s love with people who are often left on the outside, who have been told that they can’t do anything, who have been told that they aren’t worth anything. It’s similar to what we’ve been able to do with Night to Shine over the last several years, to share the love of Jesus in our actions and to be part of something where everyone is included and valued. It’s happening here in Terre Haute on June 12-13 and you will have a chance to volunteer, to be a part of this glimpse of God’s kingdom. And then the weekend after that, there will be a prayer event hosted in cooperation with an organization called Civil Righteousness. This group focuses on bringing different sorts of people to the table together, people who don’t often see things the same way. Across racial lines, across denominational lines, focused on Jesus first and foremost. It’s not an event that will solve the racial issues in our community and certainly not in our country, but it’s a first step toward seeing each other as brothers and sisters in the kingdom of God. I’ve been praying, “Lord, heal our land.” At first I was telling him how to do it, but when I stopped doing that, I began to get these glimpses of how he might do it and it’s far different from what I told him to do. Imagine that! We find favor when we seek God’s kingdom rather than our own.

A second thing about favor is that when we’re praying in this way, favor becomes more of a continual state of blessing. It often shows up in unexpected ways (cf. Jones 112), at times when we’re not looking for it. Some people will call the things that happen happy accidents, or coincidences. I prefer “God-incidences” or, as some others put it, “divine appointments.” Do things “just happen” or is God working in some way, behind the scenes? Here’s how William Temple put it: “When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t, they don’t.” True, right? Several months ago, during the latter part of last year, many of you were involved in taking a day to pray for our staff here. This was in the height of the pandemic, and I can tell you we greatly appreciated it, especially when it seemed like there were daily new decisions that had to be made. But one morning, our then-Lay Leader, Missy Burton, sent me this text: “You should know that a random stranger is praying for you.” My response was, “I’ll take any kinds of prayers.” So then Missy explained: “I put a phone number in wrong. However the person who received the reminder text asked questions to clarify. Her name is Angela and she is all in to pray for our pastors and staff.” Now was that just Missy’s mistyping a phone number, or was that a God-incidence? I don’t care to try to figure it out because either way, we got prayed for and who knows what the ripple effect might be or has been from Angela’s prayer? Or from your prayers? Or mine? When we expect blessings, God does not fail because he is a God who gives favor to his people through their prayers.

Her name was Monica, and her life was not easy. She married young but it turned out her husband had not only a violent temper but also a lack of faithfulness. He left Monica after he had an affair, and she raised her three children on her own. One of her sons nearly died of an illness when he was young, and then when he grew up he chose a rebellious lifestyle. Monica prayed and prayed and prayed for her son, and he credits his eventual salvation to his mother’s life of prayer. Her son was named Augustine—now known as St. Augustine—and he became one of the foremost theologians of the ancient world. His thought and writing have continued to influence the Christian world, but to make a direct line, we can say his theology in some measure influenced Martin Luther, whose emphasis on salvation by faith alone caused him to break away from the established church and become the first protestant. Luther’s writing was instrumental in the salvation of an Episcopal priest named John Wesley, whose writings, preaching and theology created the Methodist movement in England, a movement that spread to the American colonies as well. Wesley’s influence is felt in our tradition, as well as in the wider Christian world, still today. And you could say that all began because of a mother’s prayers—a mother’s desperate cry to the Father that her son would come to know Jesus. Ripple effect, indeed. Who knows the power of one prayer? Who can say what impact your prayer for favor will have in your life or in the life of many others? As I said in the beginning this morning, if you have a mother praying for you, give up and give in because that mother will pray for you until you come into the favor of God and the blessed life. That’s why they pray. That’s why we pray. Amen.