Daniel realized that the law against prayer was really against him. Babylon had captured his homeland but not his soul. To compromise by yielding to a statute forbidding prayer would be to deny the very basis of his life, to deny God’s mercy and care for him.
Daniel’s opponents thoughts they had him in a no-win situation. If he stopped praying out of fear, he was ruined-they would win. If he continued to pray, he was gone-they would win. Failing to understand Daniel’s integrity, they were also blind to the ways of a God who delights to confound the “perfect plans” of cunning enemies of faith.
Daniel neither flaunted his prayer life nor privatized it in response to the law. Rather, he just did his thing as usual, accepted his punishment in the light of God’s power and mercy, and waited for God’s deliverance. Facing hungry lions is pretty scary, but the worse fright was in the hearts of his enemies when Daniel’s God turned the tied-a lesson on who rightly to fear and who to obey when a showdown occurs. Daniel could not deny God or hide his identity as a believer.
DANIEL 6:10 – 10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.