Daniel's Godly Courage

 

In Daniel 6 we are told of the plot against Daniel by his rivals in Darius' court.  Notably, when Daniel learned that the King had signed a decree requiring all his subjects to worship him and him alone for thirty days, Daniel did not make a scene or a speech or seek to placate the king.  He simply went about quietly praying to God three times a day on his knees in his room as he had always done.  Daniel 6: 10.  When Daniel survived the night in the lions' den, he did not upbraid the king but instead praised God, asked that the king live forever, and proclaimed his own innocence, "Oh, King, I have done no wrong."  Daniel 6:21. 

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Nebuchadnezzar's son behaved in a far more blasphemous way than his father had ever done, "So, they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.  As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone."  Daniel 5: 3-4.  

 When Daniel was brought in to interpret the writing on the wall, Daniel was not disrespectful to this sinful king, although he did firmly reject the king's bribe.  "Then Daniel answered the king, 'You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.'"  Daniel 5:17.

 Daniel was not shy, however, in publicly convicting the king for his pride, Daniel 5: 22-23,

 "But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this (the humbling his father Nebuchadnezzar received at God's hands). ²³Instead, you have set yourself up against the LORD of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways."

Daniel behaved in a calm and respectful way both in times of plenty and in times of danger and persecution.