June 21.
Beating All Odds

Daniel 6:10

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

Many people begin life with the deck stacked against them. An X was placed by your name and you were given little chance of ever accomplishing anything. For a while you believed it yourself. In the school that I attended they had a book going around and they put stars by the people that were most likely to succeed. I was not in that crowd that was to succeed. These students dressed well, made good grades, and came from families who were known in the community. They were set aside to make it. But God knows the end from the beginning and has His own plans for the one who’s on the other side of the track and was overlooked. You would have to put me in that category.

Daniel is the central figure of this passage. Daniel now is not a young man; he is in his eighties. When you look at his life and his record, he beat all the odds. When he was sixteen, he was captured and carried to the land of the Chaldeans. They brought him there because he had a brilliant mind; he was one of the upstart Jewish kids in the community. They saw Daniel and planned to take him and deprogram him. However, Daniel’s parents had already implanted in his heart and mind the word of God with its truths and principles. Good parents will spend time teaching and training their children in the ways of the Lord so that someday the enemy will not be able to overtake them when they leave home and the enemy wants to deprogram them. Daniel knew right from wrong. He also knew his God was a might God and was the one, true God. Daniel knew He was the only God worthy of worship. Daniel had courage enough to stand against the odds.