It is easy to be thankful when things are easy, but is it possible to be thankful in difficult days?

The Old Testament prophet Daniel lived in a dark time in Israel's history, far away from home in Wicked Babylon.

And yet, this faithful man exemplifies a life of gratitude from beginning to end.

Scott Pauli takes us to Daniel today to learn more about being thankful and difficult days. When you think of great Bible passages on the subject of thanksgiving,

typically your mind goes to the Psalms or to one of the passages in the New Testament

that deals with giving of thanks.

But this week I want us to examine a most unusual portion of scripture as it relates to giving

of thanks, and it's found in the Old Testament book of Daniel.

Recently, I was reading through the book of Daniel again just devotionally, and it was striking

to me that here is Daniel living in a very difficult environment, living through one of the

most difficult seasons the people of God had ever endured, and yet twice in the book of Daniel,

both of them in the context of real persecution and difficulty, we find this word thanks.

And I've been meditating on this thought that I think one of the great secrets

to Daniel's life of victory for all those years

was that he was truly a thankful man.

Think of this. Daniel lived through the entire Babylonian captivity.

I mean, he went into the Babylonian captivity as a young man.

70 years later he comes out on the other side,

an old man. How do you stay right with God in such a wicked environment through all of those years?

How do you stay pure? How do you keep your spirit excellent? Well, I think the key to dealing

with difficulty, with persecution, with darkness, is that you have to live

every day with a heart filled with gratitude to Almighty God. I want you to mark these two

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