The Hebrew prophet Daniel must have been a fascinating fellow: I wish I could have known him. On one occasion, Persian king Darius made an edict that for thirty days no one in all the realm should make any prayer to any god except to himself, the king. Whereupon, Daniel, the scriptures tell us, knowing full well that the king had issued the edict, "went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem; and he got down on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks to God, as he had done previously."

For this, of course, Daniel was tossed into the lions' den - but no matter about that. He had his windows open - this is what matters most. He had them open in the right direction, toward Zion, toward the temple of God. It was Daniel's custom to have his windows open on the Zion side of his house. No matter about Darius and his edicts, Daniel kept those windows open.

And what about your windows? The windows of our lives. Are they open toward God? Whatever may press in upon us, whatever darkness may be around us, we need to keep the windows open on the God-ward side of life. Let us be sure this morning, as we worship here, that our windows are open, open wide, so wide that whatever happens through the week, our God-ward exposure will always be unobstructed and clear.