Don't Be Fooled

Don’t Be Fooled

Life in Exile: Part 5
Daniel 6
October 4, 2026

_______________

As a result, the other officers and the chief administrators tried to find some problem with Daniel’s work for the kingdom. But they couldn’t find any problem or corruption at all because Daniel was trustworthy. He wasn’t guilty of any negligence or corruption.

So these men said, “We won’t find any fault in Daniel, unless we can find something to use against him from his religious practice.”

~ Daniel 6:4-5

_______________

Craig J. Sefa Don't Be Fooled

Download

New empire. New king. Same old problems.

It’s interesting how no matter who is in office, we always seem to put a lot of weight on the next election to fix all our nation’s problems, and when that doesn’t work, we look ahead to the next. The succession from Nebuchadnezzar and his son in Babylon to Darius in the new Persian empire reminds us that it doesn’t really matter who is in charge or which side they serve, the same patterns keep showing up.

Daniel 6 is almost a repeat of Daniel 3, now under new management. Royal advisers threatened by Daniel’s position and wisdom, a king manipulated into a decree he never wanted, and a public spectacle to make an example of anyone who doesn’t fall in line. All we’ve really done is switch out the fiery furnace for a den of lions.

Daniel had served God faithfully under multiple kings, and he wasn’t about to stop now. When the decree was passed to pray to no one but the king, Daniel didn’t even bother to close his window during prayer so he wouldn’t be seen. His prayer life had become so much a part of his routine it never even occurred to him to change it up or try to be a bit more subtle about it.

What if this is less a story about yet another instance of God rescuing Daniel, and more about a lifetime of faithfulness regardless of the circumstances? It makes us ask what kind of spiritual practices we have built into our lives that are so natural and automatic that we wouldn’t break our rhythm even if our lives were on the line.

It’s easy to pray when we need something or when we’re having a hard time, but for Daniel, being in communion with God was as much a part of his daily rhythm as a cup of coffee or an evening walk might be for us. Perhaps we are seeing a glimpse of what Jesus meant when he said to abide in him, to stay connected to the vine.

Weekly Practice: Keep the Window Open

This week, protect one ordinary practice that keeps you honest with God: a few minutes of prayer, a walk, a Sunday you show up even when it’s inconvenient. Don’t hide it and don’t make a show of it either. Just keep doing it, especially on the day it would be easier not to.

Written on the Wall

Written on the Wall

Life in Exile: Part 4
Daniel 4-5
September 27, 2026

_______________

They drank a lot of wine; and they praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Right then the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the king’s palace wall in the light of the lamp. The king saw the hand that wrote.

~ Daniel 5:4-5

_______________

Craig J. Sefa Written on the Wall

Download

By the time we get to chapters 4-5, Nebuchadnezzar has seen God at work on numerous occasions and, quite frankly, he’s found Daniel and his friends pretty useful to have around with this God on their side. The king is blessed by God’s presence, but at the end of the day, he’s still in control. He views the God of his servants as one who serves him as well.

God gives him one more dream, that he has become a great and strong tree, but his reign is not assured. The tree will be cut down. It seems to be a wakeup call, and the king praises God. But in chapter 5, his son Belshazzar falls back into the old ways, worshiping the gods of gold and silver and using the vessels of Israel’s God to worship his own gods just as his father had once done.

Immediately, a human finger appears and writes a visible warning on the wall. Some theologians have used the phrase, “finger of God” as a description for the Holy Spirit. It’s no longer a secret vision hidden in the king’s dreams, but a vision for all to see. Daniel interprets the writing, declaring that the king’s days have been numbered, that his deeds have been found wanting, and that his kingdom would be divided and distributed among the Persians. That very night, the king is killed.

We often wish that God’s will seemed more clear, as though it were literally written on the wall. But Belshazzar had completely ignored the lessons his father had learned. No matter how directly God’s will was revealed, he was determined to be in full control of his own life, not second to any god, especially the God of the people his kingdom had conquered.

Todd Agnew writes a song about this particular story that says:

You sent them dreams and visions and Daniel to figure them out. They’d listen for a moment and obey for an instant, and then they’d go their own way but I wouldn’t know about that.

In case you didn’t catch it, that last line is a bit of sarcasm. Who among us doesn’t know what it’s like to have had a clear sense of how God wants us to respond, and done our own thing anyway. In Luke 16:31, Jesus tells a parable in which Abraham warns that if people won’t listen to Moses or the prophets and they would not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead. These words are also prophetic, and perhaps even more applicable today than we might like to admit.

Weekly Practice: Read it Honestly

This week, notice one thing you already suspect is true but have been avoiding, a habit, a conversation, a decision, and let yourself actually look at it. You don’t have to fix it today. Just stop pretending you don’t see it.

The Cost of Faithfulness

The Cost of Faithfulness

Life in Exile: Part 3
Daniel 3
September 20, 2026

The herald proclaimed loudly: “Peoples, nations, and languages! This is what you must do: When you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, lyre, harp, flute, and every kind of instrument, you must bow down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Anyone who will not bow down and worship will be immediately thrown into a furnace of flaming fire.”…

… If our God—the one we serve—is able to rescue us from the furnace of flaming fire and from your power, Your Majesty, then let him rescue us. But if he doesn’t, know this for certain, Your Majesty: we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you’ve set up.”

~ Daniel 3:4-6, 17-18

Craig J. Sefa The Cost of Faithfulness

_______________

This week we turn to the famous story of Daniel’s friends in the fiery furnace. Many Christians interpret the fourth man in the fire as Jesus himself, and they use this passage as evidence that God will save them when they stand up for their faith. Taken in isolation, it almost makes sense, but given the long history of actual martyrdom in the Christian tradition, using this story to guarantee divine protection seems a bit short-sighted.

This text doesn’t promise a good outcome when we feel persecuted, but there are at least two other applications worth considering.

First, the question of loyalty tests. In verse 8, an elite group of the king’s advisers called the Chaldeans seized their chance to attack the Jews. This was not a matter of religious persecution by the government. Nebuchadnezzar highly valued Daniel and his friends and even came to respect their faith as we saw in chapter 1. This was a particular group of powerful individuals who felt threatened and manipulated the situation to trap their opponents. Until now, loyalty to the king and loyalty to God were not in conflict, but the Chaldeans created a religious conflict that would put the king in a no-win situation. It reminds us that it is possible to love both God and country. But there are always those who will see that coexistence and mutual flourishing as a threat to their own religious or political power and who will demand absolute loyalty to one side or the other for their own personal gain.

Secondly, what if God doesn’t actually save us from the fire? In verse 18, we see that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not so certain themselves. They express genuine hope and faith in God’s provision, but they also make it clear that their worship and loyalty to God is not dependent on the outcome. Even if God does not rescue them, they remain faithful. It raises an important question for us about our own faithfulness. Do we worship and follow God because we want God’s provisions, or do we continue to trust even when the outcome is nowhere close to what we had hoped?

Weekly Practice: Stand Anyway

This week, name one place where doing the right thing might not turn out well, and do it anyway. It might be a hard conversation, an honest answer, a boundary you’ve been avoiding. You don’t need the outcome to be certain. You only need to be faithful in it.

The Eternal Kingdom

The Eternal Kingdom

Life in Exile: Part 2
Daniel 2
September 13, 2026

But in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will be indestructible. Its rule will never pass to another people. It will shatter other kingdoms. It will put an end to all of them. It will stand firm forever.

~ Daniel 2:44

Craig J. Sefa The Eternal Kingdom

Download

_______________

Daniel has earned the respect of Babylon’s king, and like Joseph in Egypt, he is also given the gift of interpreting dreams. In Daniel 2, the king is deeply troubled by a dream of a great statue built upon a crumbling foundation. None of his sages can discern the meaning. The king is enraged and orders them all put to death.

Miraculously, God reveals the dream to Daniel, who in turn shares the interpretation with the king. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom is the gold head of the statue, but it will be followed by many more kingdoms, each weaker than the last, like the descending metals of the statue in the king’s dream. Eventually, every earthly kingdom will become like chaff, brushed away by the wind, and only the everlasting kingdom of God will remain.

It would be easy for a king to dismiss such an interpretation and kill the one who had the audacity to bring such tragic news before his throne. After all, rulers then and now are not known for responding well to things they do not want to hear. But Nebuchadnezzar is so impressed with Daniel’s clarity, boldness, and honesty that he responds with uncharacteristic humility and elevates the position of Daniel and his friends in the empire.

What I find more interesting, however, is why no one else was able to interpret the dream. Yes, we could simply say that it’s because God revealed the interpretation to Daniel and no one else in order to raise him up to a place of greater influence. But I wonder if there is an even broader truth at play here that still haunts humanity today.

Understanding the dream depended on acknowledging something nobody wants to admit, our own mortality and the idea that what we build in this life will not always last. What if they could not interpret the dream because they could not possibly imagine a day when Nebuchadnezzar’s name would not be at the center of the known world? And even if they could, who would dare tell him? After all, a ruler’s ego is often quite fragile. But we don’t need a throne to share that fragility.

And what of us? What do we do with the knowledge that generation by generation, more and more of our memory and our legacy fades into the dust? How do we trust God with a future beyond ourselves that we cannot influence or maintain? Given our finite lives, what is really worth investing in today, while we are still here?

Weekly Practice: Build Something That Will Last

This week, spend fifteen minutes on something that won’t show results for years: a note to someone who shaped you, real conversation with your kid, a habit you keep even when no one’s watching. Nothing about it will feel urgent. That’s the point.

We Are What We Eat

We Are What We Eat

Life in Exile: Part 1
Daniel 1
September 6, 2026

Daniel decided that he wouldn’t pollute himself with the king’s rations or the royal wine, and he appealed to the chief official in hopes that he wouldn’t have to do so…

… At the end of ten days they looked better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.

~ Daniel 1:8, 15

Craig J. Sefa We Are What We Eat

_______________

Daniel rested calmly in the lion’s den. His friends stood safely in a fiery furnace. God protected them because they remained faithful to God and refused to worship the idols of Babylon’s king. We know the stories, but we also know that life doesn’t always work out so perfectly, no matter how faithful we are to God.

What if these ancient hero stories are less about a promise that everything will go our way if we have enough faith, and a lot more about what it looks like to remain faithful even when there is no guarantee of a positive outcome at all?

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be walking through the heroic accounts of Daniel and his friends. In many ways Daniel is the new Joseph, a faithful servant of God functioning as an ambassador at the highest levels of power. Joseph in Egypt. Daniel in Babylon. As with Joseph, things don’t always go Daniel’s way. There are plenty of times it seems all is lost. Though things worked out well for them in the end, God never promised they would. Their faithfulness, like Joseph’s, is not about cutting a deal with God to protect them if they obey. It flows out of an authentic love for God and a deep trust that goes beyond the outcomes.

This week we begin with Daniel’s refusal to eat the king’s royal food. We are not told explicitly what the problem with the food is. Some suggest it could be connected to Jewish dietary codes. Others say it is simply that Daniel is acknowledging God, not the king of Babylon, as his source of life-giving sustenance. Daniel has already accepted the Babylonian name and the high position the king gave him to serve as an ambassador between the empire and the exile community. He is following Jeremiah’s prophetic call to be a blessing in the place where they are sent, to work for the flourishing of both Israel and Babylon together (Jeremiah 29). But he draws the line on what he consumes from the king’s table.

Dietary distinctions are not a primary concern for modern day Christians, but there are still significant questions about what we consume and who is the source. Mostly we consume material goods and information, but not all of it comes from a good place. The production of certain products may cause harm to vulnerable populations. The information fed to us from places of wealth and power may poison our minds, our hearts, and our souls.

What are we willing to risk to push the plate away and refuse the steady diet of lies, corruption, abuse, greed, and fear, among so many other toxic items on the royal buffet of our own day?

Weekly Practice: Watch What You’re Fed

This week, pick one thing you consume without thinking, (a feed, a show, a habit, etc.) and ask honestly what it’s actually feeding in you. You don’t have to give it up. Just notice, and choose one meal this week, literal or otherwise, that you take in on purpose instead.