“He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”
– Daniel 11:32
Oh, what a picture here in Daniel 11 of seduction from people in the world, specifically leaders in the world who seduce the people of God with flattery, lead them to violate the covenant. But there are people who don’t give into this seduction, and they’re the people who know their God. And they stand firm and they take action. They obey God. They refuse to be seduced by the flattery of this world. Think about that in your life, all the things around us in the world that are seductive, the lure of money and possessions and fame or acclaim, the lure of sex and success and satisfaction in this or that in this world, in this person or that thing in this world.
So much around us in this world on a daily basis, all throughout the day, that is intended by the adversary, the devil, to seduce us, to pull us away from supreme affection for God, trust in God, surrender to God, obedience to God. And to see this picture of the people who know their God, standing firm and not giving in to that seduction, taking action to obey God even when it goes totally against the grain of this world. Oh, God, make us that kind of people today. I pray this over my life. I pray this over every single person who’s listening right now, from the youngest to the oldest. Lord, we are surrounded by temptations, by seductions, by things in this world, pursuits in this world, pleasures in this world that the adversary wants to use, to pull us away from you.
And we pray that you would help us to stand firm in our knowledge of you, to seek you alone as the satisfaction of our souls, to not give in to temptation. In all kinds of different ways we might face temptation in each of our lives, God, lead us not into temptation as Jesus taught us to pray. Keep us from the seductions of this world. Help us to pursue you alone, to obey you alone, to trust you alone as the one who satisfies our souls. God, we pray that you would make us this kind of people who stand firm amidst the temptations of this world because we know you. We know your goodness, your greatness, your love, your wisdom. And we trust you, and we obey you with our lives. God, we pray that would be true of each of us today. In Jesus’s name, we pray. According to Daniel 11:32, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
