or is that letting go and trusting God for the freedom God wants us to have?

Daniel 6: 1-23

I wonder if you've ever considered committing suicide? (Great start to the new year - know why we came to church tonight! Strange start to a sermon. No, I'm not going to tell you how!)

Why do people want to take their own lives? I would suggest that 99.9% of the time it's to be free of whatever is burdening them - whether it's an illness, debt, a phobia, dependency on drugs of some sort, abuse, depression - the list goes on. People who commit suicide generally think that by taking their own life they will be rid of their problems and that they won't be a problem to anyone else.

They think that by killing themselves, the pain that they are feeling will disappear. I guess from the point of view that they are no longer around, this is true but what people don't always think about is the pain of those left behind who will often blame themselves for not being more supportive and loving to the one whose life has been lost.

So what's that got to do with Daniel? Well here was a man of God who faithfully prayed everyday without fail. He knew that God was part of his life and that God gave him fulfilment, joy and peace. So to have turned his back on that same God would have resulted in stupidity - it would have been like denying a special friendship that he'd had for years and years.

Daniel always did his job for the King to the best of his ability - he was faithful to his employer and he was faithful to God, yet his immediate colleagues, who were on a similar level to him in the government, detested him.

Why? Simple: Jealousy. You see he did his job so well, and was so trustworthy, that he gained promotion very quickly. I wonder if you've ever felt that others don't like you or don't want you to do so well at work or in life, and they try to bring you down in whatever way they can because you appear to be content.

Sometimes it's because of your personality - maybe you are popular with certain people; sometimes it's because of your faith in God - maybe they would love to have a personal relationship with God; sometimes it's because you are comfortable with who you are - maybe you are gay or lesbian and you are really comfortable with that and out to everyone you know and they are still struggling to come to terms with their own sexuality.

For whatever reason they are incredibly jealous, but of course, when you are on the end of the comments, the bullying, the snide looks or the avoidance tactics, it hurts and that's when it's hardest to keep doing whatever it is we do best, or being whoever it is that we are, or keeping faith in the God we serve.

Daniel was in that very position. He was one of the main leaders in King Darius' Kingdom. He had gained that position of responsibility because of his trustworthiness and his faith in God which the King respected. He had never done anything wrong, yet his 2 main colleagues hatched a plan to try to get rid of him because they thought they should be more popular. How wrong they were.

When others try to hurt us they usually try to hit at the most important thing in our life don't they? Sometimes people will complain about our partner to our face - it hurts; sometimes people will tell us we are spending too much time on our hobby when we should be doing something else - it hurts when they try to make us feel guilty and they try to take the enjoyment out of it;

Sometimes people say we are too involved with the Church and God, so they taunt us or say we take it all too seriously and try to get us to let go of the faith we have. It's easily done and we are easily tempted to give in to their ridicule because it hurts.

Daniel didn't. He was completely secure in his work for his employer; in his culture as an Israelite; and particularly in his faith in God. His employer was gutted that he was about to send his best employee to the lion's den.

He trusted Daniel and he respected his culture and his faith but he had written the law and he had to follow the law through and that meant sending Daniel into the lion's den. It was certain to everyone that Daniel would die and the King felt responsible. Well you would wouldn't you if you had written the law in the first place?

What would you have done in Daniel's shoes? I have to say I would not fancy being the dessert on the lion's menu very much and I would go as far as to say that if I had to face that today, I would definitely consider taking my own life first before being thrown to the lions. Daniel already knew what the outcome would be. He knew the law that had been passed and he knew the consequences.

I mean wouldn't you at least have prayed in secret so that they thought you had stopped? But no, he continued to pray 3 times a day to God whom he loved and trusted in front of a window where everyone could see him. He was not going to be bullied or pushed into doing something that God had shown him was right.

Daniel had just about everything against him and had every reason to commit suicide without suffering pain given half a chance, before the lions got him, but he didn't. He chose to continue with the path that God had led him down because he trusted God completely. The peace and security that must have been in that man's heart was incredible.

He wasn't going to change from the person God had made him to be just because of bullies, or the law, or fear, or even death. He wasn't going to stop worshipping God and he certainly wasn‘t going to hide or take his life to avoid the hassle. He would remain where God wanted him because he knew that God would not leave him or forget him.

You know, I think one of the problems that has been in society for ever is the need to control. Everyone seems to want to be in control of everyone else today. No-one seems to be really happy until they get their own way.

Look at Hitler: he wanted to be in control of the world, so he tried to get rid of those whom he felt stood in his way - he forgot to ask God what was right for society then; look at the fundamentalists who think you cannot be gay and Christian or who think you cannot be a Christian if you live with a partner - they forget to ask God what is right for the church and its people today;

Look at Saddam Hussein - he tried to get rid of all those who wouldn't bow down to his extreme law - he forgot to ask God what was right for his country; Daniel's colleagues wanted him out of the way so that they could be in control; many times we are pushed around in life by those who want to be in control of what we do because they think they know what's best.

What we often forget is that it should never be about what we think is right or who we think is right - but it should be what is right before God. Perhaps we need to start asking ourselves what does God want and how can we best serve God in our lives and in our Church?

How many of us respond to trouble in the way that Daniel did and the way that Daniel was able to? Not many I guess. Daniel was so sure of his faith, so sure of his identity that he was able to continue to be the person God had called him to be even in the prospect of facing death.

Daniel didn't need to fight to try to be in control, he didn't have to lord it over people to gain his worth; the position of administrator over the whole of Darius' kingdom, was handed to him because of the way in which he served both his employer and God.

That's ultimately what the jealousy was about - he didn't have to tell everyone how great he was or how good he was at his job - he just got on with it and did it to the best of his ability and he was rewarded for it by being given a high level of responsibility.

Daniel had even learnt to let go of the controlling part of his own nature by giving himself completely over to God. Some of us panic about that because we feel that we could lose our identity, but what we don't realise is that it is at that very moment, as we relax into our spiritual and sexual selves before God, that we become who God intended us to be.

It was as Jesus gave everything up to God on the cross that He became the person God intended Him to be - the Messiah. It was as Daniel gave himself over to God daily that he became at peace with who he was and it was for this very reason that he was able to enter the lion's den with strength and confidence in that same God.

Some of us may feel that we enter the lion's den every day - may we remember that as we give ourselves to God more and more, so God can bring us the inner peace and confidence that Daniel had and as we face the ones who have the ability to devour us with their words and actions, so we can know that God will deliver us and keep us safe, just as God brought Daniel out of the pit in complete safety and wholeness.

Let us not be afraid to let go of ourselves and our need to control, but let us be confident that as we let God lead us and guide us fully, and as we seek to serve God and others with the love of Christ, so we will experience victory and peace as we face problems daily, and we will realise suicide is not the answer but letting go of our need to control is, so that God can enable us to be inwardly calm about who we are and who God has intended us to be, and God's piercing light can shine through us to others in truth and justice. Tonight may we leave this place willing to let go and let God.