He Is Able; I Think

Daniel 6:20

And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?

Darius made a foolish law that nobody could pray to any person or any god other than himself. The enemies of Daniel knew this, and that is when they set a watch to catch him praying because they knew that he was a man of prayer. Once they caught Daniel, the law required that he was to be killed. They brought him to Darius, who himself realized the foolishness of the law that he had made, but had to follow through with it and have Daniel sentenced to die.

However, this is what I want you to notice. Darius regretted the making of this law and having to sentence Daniel to death. However, he told Daniel in verse 16, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. The confidence and faith of Darius seems to have no doubt. Not only did he believe that God would deliver him, but he spent the night praying that God would deliver him. The next morning, Darius quickly went to the lions den and cried out to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Hold on! Is not this the same man who confidently declared that God was able to deliver Daniel from the lions den? What I love about this passage is that God, despite the doubt of Darius, still answered his prayer and delivered Daniel.

What Darius was saying to Daniel was: I know that God is able to deliver you; I think. This coincides with what the three Hebrew children said to Nebuchadnezzar. They said, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. However, the next three words they said were: but if not. Again, we see that God recorded their confidence and faith that God could deliver, but he also recorded the doubt as to whether He would deliver them. The three Hebrew children were saying to Nebuchadnezzar: We know that God will deliver us; we think.

The Scriptures certainly command us to pray without doubt. Jesus says in Matthew 21:21, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. It would seem as if Jesus is commanding us never to have any doubt when we pray. However, when you read the book of Daniel, you see that God still answers the prayers of those who have doubts in their prayers. Why? Because Psalm 78:39 says, For he remembered that they were but flesh…. The fact that God remembers that we are flesh is what allows Him to be able to answer the prayer of the saint who prays in faith, even though there is some doubt in their mind.

My friend, you are but flesh, and you will at times have doubt when you pray, but you don’t allow your doubt to stop you from praying. What God is teaching us is that we are to act on the faith that we believe that He can answer prayer, and not on the doubt that tries to keep us from praying. When we act on the faith that God can answer prayer, despite the doubt in our heart, that is when we prove to God that we believe He is real. Don't let the doubt keep you from praying, but act on the faith that you do have, and you will see that God will answer your prayer.