I just want to clarify that when we talk about integrity, we’re not talking about your reputation. That is what others think about you. Integrity is much much deeper than that.
We could go on Google and try defining and dissecting what the quality of integrity really is, and I’m sure we’d find some sort of answer. But instead of just telling you what integrity is, let me show you. I wish I was talking about myself, but nah, let me introduce you a man who incarnated integrity, Daniel.
I mean, if there was anyone who really had a reason to conform and scream “But everyone’s doing it” it’d be Daniel, but the fact that he didn’t makes his life an even greater example of integrity.
So, let’s start, not at the beginning, but somewhat in the middle, Daniel 6.
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; 2 and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss.
Little back story. Darius was the king of the Medo-Persian empire, which in Daniel 5, had just conquered the Babylonian Empire. Daniel has been living in Babylon for many years now, after being brought as a Jewish captive. He served under the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, and now he was an official of the Persian empire.
So, Darius has come into power and has appointed some satraps (managers) to run things but he understands that with great opportunity, comes great temptation and there would likely be a large amount of fraud and corruption. He’s only one man. He couldn’t possibly watch over all 120 men. And so he appointed 3 governors to oversee the satraps.
These 3 governors couldn’t be just anyone though. He required men who he could trust implicitly. Or you could say, Darius required men of integrity, those with a level of trustworthiness that is beyond question. Enter Daniel as one of the three.
But how did Daniel earn such a position of trust? Yes, Daniel had been around for a while, being about 80 years old at this time, but it wasn’t simply due to his age. Daniel didn’t just turn trustworthy like it was a birthday. This had been established all the way back in chapter 1 when he was carried to Babylon as a teenage captive from Israel.
To quickly summarise, Daniel was ordered to eat the meat that had been offered to idols and he refused, because it would violate his commitment to God.9 Now God had brought Daniel into the favour and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. From there, his heart of integrity was established.
Men like Daniel were hard to find, so he rose fast through the rankings during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to where he became the leading official in the empire. Just deep it, Daniel was the top official and when the enemy conquered Babylon, he still had a job. That’s how much Daniel was rated.There is always a job for those with integrity, because everybody is looking for trustworthy people.
But Daniel didn’t stop there, according to Daniel 6:3.
3 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.
“Wow, so having integrity really paid off for Daniel. What a nice story, what’s next?”
Well, life usually isn’t that simple, even for a man like Daniel.
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