Caught in a Snare
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”

The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
Daniel 6:10-12 (NIV)

Life is full of traps, isn’t it?

This text teaches us that the trap laid for us in life can often be associated with our faithfulness to God, with attempting to live our lives in faith and joy according to the Scriptures, and with making God our highest priority in life.

Attempting to live like this can cause the enemy to create traps in an attempt to lessen the sovereignty and the undisputed power of your God.

You can’t avoid all of life’s traps. You can go through this life saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost, anointed, baptized…and traps will still ensnare you.

So the question becomes, how do you deal with them? I think Daniel teaches us that he trusted prayer to keep him from absorbing everything he was exposed to. He could not stop what he was exposed to, but he did not have to absorb what he was exposed to. What repelled it was the discipline of prayer.

Prayer, for Daniel, was not just a chance to talk to God, but a gift to sanctify his life from all that was trying to invade it.

Friend, you can’t avoid all the traps that will be laid for you in life, but whatever else you apply as a coping mechanism and a strategy for survival, let your prayer—and the same belief in prayer that makes you a target—keep you layered in protection, covered in eternal security, hedged in from all life’s threats.

Let prayer sift all that you encounter and purge you of counterthoughts.

Let prayer help you navigate life with strength, with trust, and with hope.