Lesson 78 · Unit 12 · The Monday Disciple
Under Authority
When the boss is unjust — Daniel opened his windows and prayed as usual.
Open
Monday morning at the subway exit, you dig your badge out of your bag and hang it around your neck. It is a plastic card; it weighs a few grams. And yet on some days it hangs like a yoke — mostly depending on who you have to see today. Your proposal went up the chain with his name on it. He put you on the spot in front of the whole meeting. The worst shifts on the roster always come around to you. You have counted: he cannot find fault with your work, but every single time he finds fault with you. The thought of resigning has come up and gone back down — rent, your age, the state of the market, all of it solid and real. This lesson wants to stand you behind two people: a man writing to household slaves in the Roman Empire, and a man who was schemed against for a lifetime in the Babylonian civil service.
Scripture
First hear what Peter says to people who have been wronged, then watch Daniel's daily habits while he is being set up. (1 Peter 2:18-23; Daniel 6:4-5, 10, WEB)
18Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked.
19For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.
20For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.
21For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,
22who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
23When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.
(Daniel 6:4-5 and 10)
Daniel 6:4-5, 10World English BibleOpen in the Bible4Then the presidents and the local governors sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion or fault, because he was faithful. There wasn’t any error or fault found in him.
5Then these men said, “We won’t find any occasion against this Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
10When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.
See
A Lord who was wronged first
Peter's letter was originally written to household slaves in the Roman Empire — people with far less recourse than a modern employee: no contract, no arbitration, and nowhere to appeal when a master was "wicked." Peter does not hand them an action plan first; he points them first at a person: "because Christ also suffered for us." This Lord really did stand under an unjust authority — the testimony was false, the verdict was wrong — and he "was cursed, he didn't curse back. When he suffered, he didn't threaten." He was not gritting his teeth and holding on; he "committed himself to him who judges righteously." To commit means: justice will not be absent, it is simply not mine to execute right now. The wrong done to you has a God who judges righteously present through every minute of it — and that is why enduring injustice "because of conscience toward God" is "commendable." It is not the injustice that is lovely; it is that looking upward.
The man they could find no handle on
Daniel stood first among the three presidents of Babylon, and his political enemies ran an investigation as a group — in today's terms, they audited his attendance, his expenses, every document he had ever signed — and their conclusion was that they "could find no occasion or fault." To bring this man down, they would have to make an issue of his faith: this is the most bracing background check in Scripture. On the days you are being squeezed, two things usually give way first. Character gives way: "if he treats me like this, I don't need to take it seriously either." Rhythm gives way: the grievance fills up your thoughts, and prayer is the first thing to stop. Daniel lost neither. The decree had been sealed, and he went on "as he did before," praying three times a day with the windows open — no ramping it up into a protest, and no shutting the windows to hide. Your boss can decide your shifts. He should not get to decide the rhythms of your soul.
When to speak, when to bear it, when to go
"Do not repay evil for evil" does not mean having no line, and three lines have to be drawn separately. When to speak: anything that harms other people, falsifies records, or breaks the law must be spoken — through the grievance channel, over his head, or by a legal report; that is not betrayal, it is faithfulness, and silence is complicity. When to bear it: the wrongs that land on you yourself — credit taken from you, being talked over — can be borne; not hitting back, for the Lord's sake, is strength and not cowardice. When to go: if a job is grinding down your character and your health over the long term, leaving is lawful, and it can also be pleasing to God — Peter told people to endure injustice; he did not tell anyone to sign for abuse. Staying takes courage; sometimes walking away takes more. God goes with you on both roads.
Deeper
The wicked ones (1 Pet 2:18)
the underlying word means crooked, bent; Peter grants that such people really do hold power, and Scripture does not put a good face on the workplace.
Committing (1 Pet 2:23)
handing the right of judgment, along with the grievance, to the God who judges righteously — not giving up on justice, but changing judges.
A handle (Dan 6:4)
the conclusion of an audit run by his enemies was "no error or fault"; character is the first position to hold under injustice.
As he did before (Dan 6:10)
a devotional rhythm that pressure cannot alter; your boss can set your shifts, but not your praying.
Story
In a printing works in Changsha, Lao Cen has been a typesetter for fourteen years, and proofs that leave his hands rarely come back. When the new workshop supervisor arrived, he went after Lao Cen at every turn: the night shifts went to him, his apprentice's mistakes were charged to him, and his name was struck off the quarterly commendation list. His workmates were indignant on his behalf; all he said was, "The plates don't lie." He still arrived half an hour early, and still read Scripture and prayed first thing in the morning — that had been his "as before" for years. He kept bearing the wrongs, until an equipment accident, when the supervisor tried to load the whole fault onto the new apprentice. Lao Cen took that day's handover records to the plant office: "I handed the shift over; here is the record; the discipline should not fall on the boy." Six more months of it, and the shift roster and his medical checkup both turned ugly, and he handed in his resignation — with a clean handover and careful thanks. When the new factory rang the old one for a reference, that supervisor was silent for a long moment, and then said, "The work — you can't fault it."
Respond
Reflect — alone, or talk it through together
1The thing that is wronging you most right now — does it fall under speak, bear, or go? On what basis did you sort it?
2Daniel went on "as he did before" — on the days you are being squeezed, does your prayer get more intense, or does it stop first?
3"Committed himself to him who judges righteously": if you truly believed justice will not be absent, what would you most want to let go of right now?
Saved on this device only — visible to no one but you.
Pray together
Lord Jesus, who was cursed and did not curse back, and committed yourself to the Father: you stood in the most unjust court in the world, and you recognize every one of my grievances. Keep my character, so that no one can find a handle on me; keep my rhythm, so that pressure cannot stop my praying. For the words that should be said, give me courage and measure; for the losses that should be borne, give me the strength not to hit back; and if the time comes to go, open the road and let me walk out with a clear conscience. Judgment is yours, and justice is never late. Amen.
Walk
This week's actionabout 15 min
Write down the one or two things at work that weigh on you most, and mark each one "speak," "bear," or "go." For the ones marked "speak," write out the proper channel and the first sentence you will say. Then arrange to tell one companion what is on that page, and ask him to check on your progress in a week.
Mark it when it happens — this week, at your pace.
Spiritual practice
Hold your "as before" — every workday morning this week, pray before you look at your phone; on the day something makes you angry, add one line: "Judgment is yours; I commit it to you."
Memory verse · 1 Peter 2:23
Whenhewascursed,hedidn'tcurseback.Whenhesuffered,hedidn'tthreaten,butcommittedhimselftohimwhojudgesrighteously.
Walk further
Daniel, on whom no fault could be found; the Lord in Pilate's court; Lesson 64 on boundaries inside love; the theme of justice; and a prayer for workers.