Proverbs 31 as a professional woman – Part 51
COLUMN: SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY
Dear loyal readers, I trust that you’re blessed and highly favoured.
Thank you for joining me as we continue to unpack success principle ten for Proverbs 31 as a professional woman: “She’s strong, courageous and discerning”. Please read parts 36–50 for context.
In part 50, we reflected on the revelation that: Each season requires a higher level of strength, courage and to discern which type of strength and courage is required in the moment.”
We then considered silence as a form of strength and courage, as revealed in Daniel 6. It is in Daniel’s silence while entering the lions’ den, and his firm faith in God, that we are encouraged to overcome seemingly impossible situations.
We also drew a further insight from Daniel 6: King Darius, who placed Daniel in the lions’ den, was the very person who was restless and fasted through the night on Daniel’s behalf (Daniel 6:18) and was first to seek him out in the morning to see if God had delivered him (Daniel 6:18–19). This shows that the display of God’s strength is not only about revealing His love for you (although His love is inherent in His actions because He is love and everything He does flows from love) — it is also about revealing His strength, love and power to others through you. In Daniel 6:25–27, won over by Daniel’s faith and God’s deliverance, King Darius issued a decree commanding that everyone in his kingdom revere, serve and trust in the Lord.
Entire pagan kingdom
In part 50 we concluded that God’s strength displayed through you is not always about you. His wisdom is not the wisdom of men, and Daniel 6 demonstrates that the faith of the righteous can be used by God to touch and transform the lives of unbelievers — revealing His glory to them.
I am resharing the above from part 50 because I genuinely desire that we collectively reflect on this revelation again. Why? Because as Christians we sometimes focus exclusively on Daniel’s victory when the Lord shut the lions’ mouths, but we overlook the wider impact: his faith moved an entire pagan kingdom to recognise God’s sovereignty.
Daniel’s faith was more than winning a battle; it impacted nations. We are called to make disciples of nations, so start thinking of your faith in global terms, so that the display of God’s strength through you is not just about you, but about the souls He stands to win for His kingdom.
Desire to see God
Daniel’s faith in the Lord’s strength and faithfulness touched the Babylonian realm under two different pagan kings.
Imagine how many lives could be transformed if we stopped negotiating with God about how we want Him to use us. I am not asking you to go and look for a lions’ den to test the Lord’s strength. I am humbly encouraging you to desire to be usable by the Lord, without trying to limit how He may choose to display His strength through you.
Remember, the agenda of heaven does not entertain rebellion or disobedience, and for every King Saul who disappoints God, He raises a David. If Daniel had known that God would allow him to be taken from Jerusalem to Babylon as an exile, only to face the prospect of being lions’ supper, he might have tried to avoid Babylon altogether. Yet his desire to see God glorified — even at the risk of his life — now encourages us that God’s strength is revealed magnificently through those who have already died to self. For such people, the threat of physical death is not terrifying but is approached with the awareness that heaven is home and earth is a temporary assignment.
Shalom.
Thank you for joining me as we continue to unpack success principle ten for Proverbs 31 as a professional woman: “She’s strong, courageous and discerning”. Please read parts 36–50 for context.
In part 50, we reflected on the revelation that: Each season requires a higher level of strength, courage and to discern which type of strength and courage is required in the moment.”
We then considered silence as a form of strength and courage, as revealed in Daniel 6. It is in Daniel’s silence while entering the lions’ den, and his firm faith in God, that we are encouraged to overcome seemingly impossible situations.
We also drew a further insight from Daniel 6: King Darius, who placed Daniel in the lions’ den, was the very person who was restless and fasted through the night on Daniel’s behalf (Daniel 6:18) and was first to seek him out in the morning to see if God had delivered him (Daniel 6:18–19). This shows that the display of God’s strength is not only about revealing His love for you (although His love is inherent in His actions because He is love and everything He does flows from love) — it is also about revealing His strength, love and power to others through you. In Daniel 6:25–27, won over by Daniel’s faith and God’s deliverance, King Darius issued a decree commanding that everyone in his kingdom revere, serve and trust in the Lord.
Entire pagan kingdom
In part 50 we concluded that God’s strength displayed through you is not always about you. His wisdom is not the wisdom of men, and Daniel 6 demonstrates that the faith of the righteous can be used by God to touch and transform the lives of unbelievers — revealing His glory to them.
I am resharing the above from part 50 because I genuinely desire that we collectively reflect on this revelation again. Why? Because as Christians we sometimes focus exclusively on Daniel’s victory when the Lord shut the lions’ mouths, but we overlook the wider impact: his faith moved an entire pagan kingdom to recognise God’s sovereignty.
Daniel’s faith was more than winning a battle; it impacted nations. We are called to make disciples of nations, so start thinking of your faith in global terms, so that the display of God’s strength through you is not just about you, but about the souls He stands to win for His kingdom.
Desire to see God
Daniel’s faith in the Lord’s strength and faithfulness touched the Babylonian realm under two different pagan kings.
Imagine how many lives could be transformed if we stopped negotiating with God about how we want Him to use us. I am not asking you to go and look for a lions’ den to test the Lord’s strength. I am humbly encouraging you to desire to be usable by the Lord, without trying to limit how He may choose to display His strength through you.
Remember, the agenda of heaven does not entertain rebellion or disobedience, and for every King Saul who disappoints God, He raises a David. If Daniel had known that God would allow him to be taken from Jerusalem to Babylon as an exile, only to face the prospect of being lions’ supper, he might have tried to avoid Babylon altogether. Yet his desire to see God glorified — even at the risk of his life — now encourages us that God’s strength is revealed magnificently through those who have already died to self. For such people, the threat of physical death is not terrifying but is approached with the awareness that heaven is home and earth is a temporary assignment.
Shalom.
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