…the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.
Daniel 6:4 (NIV)

Political maneuvering is as old as humanity itself. Every couple of years it comes around like clockwork. In the midst of an election cycle, we hear the moans and groans about how bad and negative politics have become. While I agree that corruption and character assassination are still too prevalent on every side, the truth is that episodes like the Steele dossier and Watergate have been happening for as long as human beings have attempted to gain personal power and take down their political rivals.

Today’s chapter of Daniel is all about political maneuvering. Daniel is an old man at this point and has successfully served in successive administrations starting with King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian empire and now Darius, a Mede, who was governor of Babylon under Cyrus and the Persian empire. Daniel has continued to keep his head down, work hard, and do a successful job with honesty and integrity. The Persian Governor loves Daniel. Transitions of power are fraught with uncertainty and risk. Daniel may have been one of the only people this foreign Governor could trust, as Daniel was both competent and trustworthy.

Daniel, on the other hand, has been a fixture on the political landscape of Babylon for decades. He was an old man and there were plenty of powerful young men who wanted his position and power. So his enemies hatch a plan to get rid of him. Knowing that Daniel faithfully prays to his God three times a day, they get the governor to sign a decree stating that for one week no one can pray to or worship any person or any god but Darius himself under the penalty of death. When the decree was signed by Darius and could not be revoked under the laws of that day, Daniel’s enemies watched him go to prayer as he did three times every day, and they brought him up on charges.

What’s fascinating to me is how reminiscent this is of what happened with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego decades earlier. Daniel’s rivals may have had no knowledge of that particular episode and how it turned out.

In one of the more famous of Biblical stories, Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den overnight and is still alive the following morning. His enemies are thwarted and, in an ironic twist of fate, end up becoming the lions’ dinner themselves.

What’s often known or remembered about this story is Daniel’s miraculous survival in the lions’ den. What is often forgotten is the fact that it was Daniel’s honesty, integrity, and faithfulness that had successfully made him an asset to multiple rulers across two political empires for upwards of 60-70 years.

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded of a handful of episodes in my career in which doing the right thing happened to be the costly thing to do. More than once our company has lost client relationships because we were honest and shared the truth about what data revealed when it was politically unpopular to do so.

But this is what I’ve learned having been at this for a quarter of a century. The handful of lost client relationships certainly stung for a short period of time, but I can also point to far more clients with whom we’ve enjoyed on-going relationships for decades because they know that we will always serve with honesty and integrity, and we will always tell them the truth. The profitable results from those long-term client relationships exceed those we may have lost along the way.

I certainly have made a host of mistakes along the way. In fact, as I’m writing this my conscience is stabbing me with examples of so many ways I’ve screwed up both in the past and in recent weeks. Still, Daniel reminds me of the lessons I’ve learned. The further I get in this journey the better I understand the long-term value of doing the right thing.