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If you read the book of Daniel and only see a den of lions and strange visions, you have missed the main character in the book - the sovereign God! Daniel wrote this book not to glorify himself but to exalt the Lord. In every circumstance, in every crisis, Daniel points us to a God who is at work in human history.
To say that God is sovereign simply means that nothing happens that is not planned or permitted by God. That is true of kingdoms and is true of our lives. Daniel's God is not a weak, frustrated deity who sits in heaven, wringing his hands, hoping that everything will turn out right. He is a God who orders all events according to his own will.
The book of Daniel is written in a literary form know as apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic books speak to us in those times when God seems to be absent. The crushed people of Judah in Daniel's day were saying, "Where is God?" Daniel answers their questions by showing them that even in a national catastrophe God is working out his plan and purpose.
Daniel is able to resist compromise because of his relationship to the sovereign God. His obedience was simply an expression of God's kingship in his life. Daniel's courage to proclaim God's message came from his allegiance to the sovereign Lord who reigned as King, even above the kings of Babylon.
