Christian Devotional – June 30, 2026

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 37

No reward. Read Daniel 5:17.

The idea of giving someone a reward for doing what we want them to do is a pretty popular idea. We see often that people are willing to say “thank you” in a more tangible way by giving gifts or favors. Here the king was trying to do the same thing with Daniel. The king wanted the message interpreted, so he was promising gifts and favors to anyone who would be able to do it.

Daniel knew that through God, he would be able to interpret the message that God had given the king. But, he didn’t want even the slightest hint of the idea that the king had bribed him. As a result, Daniel very candidly told that king that he didn’t want any of the gifts. Daniel didn’t want anything the king was offering. No reward. No recognition. Nothing.

Are we willing to forego the rewards that people may be offering, just to be able to share the message of God without any hint of it being tainted or corrupted. Since the king wasn’t giving any gifts, he could never say that he had bought Daniel. The same needs to be true of us as well. We are not to seek any reward from man. Our reward is always only from God. Is that the only reward that we are seeking?