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Extreme Gratitude
Text: Daniel 6:4-10
Make time for gratitude
- Daniel’s backstory as a child deported to Babylon and rose to the top of government. That government was overthrown by the Median and Persian empires. Daniel retained his bureaucratic status in the Persian empire. Now, he is the target of a political assassination attempt via lawfare.
- Daniel, as busy as he was running a nation, he made time to be grateful three times a day. he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
- David did the same thing as a king, Psalm 55:17.
- But there is something else in here that needs to be noted. There is a supposed time frame on this ordinance – 30 days. Look at verse 7. Now, Daniel could’ve easily said I’ll wait until the 30 days are up, then resume my prayers.
- But a man like that is not someone God can use. Daniel was used by God because he didn’t make those kind of compromising decisions.
- Second, if Daniel had waited 30 days before resuming his prayer schedule, do you think that would’ve been the end of it? Of course not because the only purpose of the law was to get rid of Daniel. And if in 30 days they couldn’t get rid of Daniel, the same people who dreamed up this stupid law would come up with another plan.
Give thanks to God
- The LORD is the audience.
- Institutional gratitude for God’s people in Leviticus 7:13-15
- Fear of people will prevent you from being publicly grateful for what the Lord has done in your life. Daniel’s options are he can either quit thanking God or be fed to the lions. But this need Daniel has to appreciate what is good in his life makes him the kind of person that can be promoted and rule well.
Appreciating the good in your life
- his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem…
- Daniel opens his widows toward Jerusalem and appreciates all the good that has come to his life because of the God of Israel.
- Enter his gates with thanksgiving
- Gratitude is the disposition into God’s presence
- Two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, have done much of the research on gratitude. In one study, they asked all participants to write a few sentences each week, focusing on particular topics. One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation.
- Moral reinforcement
- Romans 1:20-25 – Moral degradation coupled with high self-esteem
- Gratitude focuses on what is good. Notice our culture has made all that’s negative in your life a status symbol. It’s victim mentality.
- Gratitude is an indication of morality. Published by the American Psychological Association in Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant: (a) a moral barometer function (i.e., it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person’s moral actions); (b) a moral motive function (i.e., it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people); and (c) a moral reinforcer function (i.e., when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future). The personality and social factors that are associated with gratitude are also consistent with a conceptualization of gratitude as an affect that is relevant to people’s cognitions and behaviors in the moral domain. By McCullough, Michael E.,Kilpatrick, Shelley D.,Emmons, Robert A.,Larson, David B. Psychological Bulletin, Vol 127(2), Mar 2001, 249-266
- In everything give thanks in spite of circumstances
- Bethany and Sarah illustration
