Standing Before Kings And Great Men And Women (Part 11) Proverbs 22:29 by Pastor Caleb Ajagba
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REFUSE COMPROMISING OVERTURES – PART 1
When you are standing before Kings and great men, know how to politely refuse overtures including gifts that will make you compromise your principles. Let them know you as a man or woman of deep principles and convictions. When they make such offers and you reject them, they may feel disappointed or express their initial displeasures but in the long run, you will win their admiration and confidence. They will get to know and appreciate you as a person that cannot be easily bought over or one that exhibits high sense of integrity.
Don’t forget this could as well be one of the tests you may have to go through to convince them that you are both dependable and reliable. Daniel’s response to the King to compensate and promote him after he had done what he (the King) wanted him to do for him, humbled the King completely. In the book of Daniel Chapter 5:13-18, Daniel made the King to know that he was priceless.
Also See: Standing Before Kings And Great Men And Women (Part 9)
“Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of thee that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom, Dan 5:13-16.
In verse 16, the King said to Daniel “…now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the Kingdom” (KJV). However, look at the response Daniel gave to the King in relation to his offer of promoting him in verse 17, “Then Daniel answered and said before the King, Let your gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the King and make known to him the interpretation” (KJV). Daniel could not be swayed by the promises of the King so as to give the King a favourable answer, especially when he had promised to promote him and make him the third in command. If Daniel were to be a desperate and ambitious person he would have given the King a favourable response and then go back to God in prayer and fasting to try to change the mind of God concerning what God was set to do.
Many of us who have unique opportunities of standing before Kings and great men, should be careful how we communicate the untainted truth especially about God’s mind to those placed in authority. Many of us had misused the opportunities that God placed in our hands to change the course of things positively by simply seeking for personal gains and promotions.
Some of us may be wondering why Daniel decided to answer the King rather ‘roughly’ in verse 17. A further look at verses 13-14, will show how derogatorily the King addressed Daniel initially by reminding him of the fact that he was a slave that came from Judah as a captive. Verse 14 is quite revealing “I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent spirit is found in thee”. Telling Daniel that he had even heard of him, was very derogatory and unserious of someone who was in dire straits and needed urgent assistance. His intention by going the memory lane was to remind Daniel of his slavish and ‘common’ background and to exploit same in order for Daniel to give him a favourable answer in reward for a lifting or promotion. It sure was a BIG deal for a captive slave from Judah to suddenly become the third in command in a vast empire. Any gullible and ambitious person would have fallen for the cheap ploy. However, Daniel knew that promotion comes from God and he could not be found compromising in order to receive worldly promotion from a worldly King by bending God’s will, and altering what God had said.
