Daniel and The Spirit of Excellence

Excellence is… A spirit?

Daniel 6:3 says so. “Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.” (Emphasis own).

I am at a leadership conference as I share this post. One of the discussions we have had has been on discovering the traits God desires us to embody. We had an assignment that involved coming up with biblical truths that express God’s expectation of us as Christian leaders. We had various verses in mind but Daniel 6:3 landed in a particularly heavy way on my discussion table.

We asked ourselves, “Just how excellent was this man Daniel that the Bible had to spell it out?” We realised that no-one else in scripture was defined as having the spirit of excellence like Daniel. It was his main trait. It was like the exceptional wisdom and artistry Bezalel and Oholiab had. The next question we asked was, “What sponsored Daniel’s excellence?” And the more I let this question simmer, the more convinced I am that it is not an ‘it’ question, but rather a ‘who’ question. The pattern of excellence in Daniel can be traced back to the Being he served: God.

Daniel was priviledged. He was handsome, smart, wise and was considered noble. He stood above his peers and this earned him the priviledge of being selected as Israel’s choicest men exiled to Babylon’s circle of young leadership. But even then, the one thing that started his journey of distinction was not his looks nor his wits. He “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank”. (Daniel 1:8 NKJV).

The king’s delicacies here can be used to symbolise compromise for worldly pleasures and priviledges and temporary comforts. Daniel knew the God he served and probably knew that God honoured those who honoured Him (1 Samuel 2:30). So he kept off the defilement of Bablyon. He also had a vibrant prayer life and spent quality time in the presence of the Lord. He constantly sought understanding of the deep things of God. Indeed God honoured him with distinction. I have not seen a verse where Daniel asks God for a spirit of excellence and this strikes me too.

It is truly comforting to know that when we genuinely pursue God’s kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), God brings us what is necessary for the attainment of purpose in His will. God knew that Daniel required perculiar excellence to showcase His splendour in a pagan land and He knew the language that the pagan rulers would understand would be a special kind of excellence in leadership (which Daniel showcased). Leadership that was pure and had high levels of integritty. Dependable leadership. Wise and strong. Unrelenting. Unfazed.

We see how frustrated Daniel’s counterparts were when they could not find anything to pin on him that they used the devotion to God that Daniel had to trap him. Their plan failed terribly in the end.

So I have learnt one thing this week that I hope I have communicated efficiently to you: We have been called to a life of devotion to the Lord. A defiance to the systems of the world. As we devote ourselves to God, He will grant us tools necessary to make His name and nature known. God can showcase His character through us if we let Him. One of the ways He can do this is through granting us a spirit of excellence.

It is possible to do your work so well that no-one can to find fault in it, by God’s grace. This can come with ease by God’s help.

God is able, friends. And because He grants us the grace to be excellent, we shall be excellent indeed.

May your March be excellent,

Love, J

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