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God’s Servants, the Old Testament Prophets

In Isaiah 20:3, 2 Kings 17:13, and Jeremiah 26:5, the prophets are referred to collectively as God’s servants. Considering many of their lives and service to God, it is easy to see why God thinks of them this way. Like Abraham, Moses, and David, they were characterized by humility, obedience, sacrifice, trust, and devotion.

The prophet Micah, for example, reminded us of the need for humility. Daniel also exemplified the qualities of a servant we have observed—humility, obedience, sacrifice, trust, and devotion. In Daniel 2, Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were promoted to seats of honor and power. In the next chapter, they would face an immediate test of their faith. In chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold that was ninety feet high, commanding all citizens to bow down before it in worship. As devoted servants of God, this was not something Daniel and his friends were willing to do. Because of their refusal, Nebuchadnezzar would attempt to have them killed by throwing them into the fiery furnace.

But Daniel’s friends responded with humility and obedience, willing to sacrifice their lives for that obedience, full of devotion and trust in God.

We see these same characteristics in Daniel in Chapter 6. While Daniel held a prominent place in Darius’s kingdom, his enemies devised a trap for him. They convinced the king to sign a law that forbade citizens and inhabitants of the land from praying to anyone other than the king. After it was signed by the king, the Bible records Daniel’s response: “When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (6:10). Trapped between obedience to God and disobedience to the king, Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, only to find God once again faithful to His servant by sparing his life.

We can learn much from these Old Testament figures. In particular, each of them is an important example of servanthood because of the character they possess. Each of them was marked by humility, obedience, sacrifice, trust, and devotion.