Many of us know the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den which is found in Daniel 6 if you'd like to read it there, but I'll try to summarize it a little bit.
King Darius was over the kingdom at the time (around 605 BC) and he had 120 satraps, or administrators throughout the kingdom working for him. One of those men was Daniel, who at the time of this incident was in his 80s. Daniel had risen to this position through a life of hard work and faithfulness to God. He was so honest that other government officials, who were jealous of him, could not find anything to hold against him to have him removed from office.
But these men came up with a plot to use Daniel's faith against him. They tricked King Darius into signing an irrevocable decree that anyone who prayed to a god or man besides him in the next 30 days would be thrown into the lions' den. Daniel, knowing of the decree did not change his routine of prayer to God and remained faithful. As he had always done, he went home and prayed to God in his upper room. The jealous administrators caught Daniel praying and turned him in to King Darius. The king loved Daniel but was unable to come up with a way to save him from his decree.
That evening, Daniel was thrown into the lions' den. Darius was greatly distressed and unable to eat or sleep all night long. At dawn, he rushed to the lions' den to see if Daniel's God had protected him. Daniel replied to the king, "My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm" (6:22).
Daniel was obviously overjoyed to have been saved from the lions and was taken up out of the den. Verse 23 tells us Daniel was saved because "he had trust in his God." King Darius had the men who had set Daniel up arrested. And then they, along with their entire families were thrown into the lions' den and devoured by the beasts. Then King Darius issued a new decree that people were to respect and fear the living God of Daniel!
Thoughts:
- Can you imagine the presidential election if the candidates lived personal, professional, and political lives so honest, so righteous, and so in line with God's will that other candidates couldn't find something against them? Instead of slander ads we would have ads just stating the positives of the candidates and people pointing out other's strengths. But this post isn't meant to be political, just had to share that part.
- Daniel was an older man when this took place, and he could have simply taken the easy way out, but he remained strong in his faith even when faced with a painful death. We should not grow tired or weary in doing what God wants us to do.
- Daniel was found blameless, yet thrown to the lions anyway. If that's not a biblical example of how life's not fair than I don't know what is. Sometimes you didn't do something wrong to deserve the trial you're facing, that trial may be from God to strengthen you for what lies ahead. Life's not fair. Bad things happen to good people. But good things happen to God's people.
When we face problems, do we try to deal with the problem ourselves? Or do we put our faith in God that if we seek him, he will take care of us as he's promised? The next time you face a den of lions, don't focus on the lions, focus on the Almighty Protector.
King Darius was over the kingdom at the time (around 605 BC) and he had 120 satraps, or administrators throughout the kingdom working for him. One of those men was Daniel, who at the time of this incident was in his 80s. Daniel had risen to this position through a life of hard work and faithfulness to God. He was so honest that other government officials, who were jealous of him, could not find anything to hold against him to have him removed from office.
But these men came up with a plot to use Daniel's faith against him. They tricked King Darius into signing an irrevocable decree that anyone who prayed to a god or man besides him in the next 30 days would be thrown into the lions' den. Daniel, knowing of the decree did not change his routine of prayer to God and remained faithful. As he had always done, he went home and prayed to God in his upper room. The jealous administrators caught Daniel praying and turned him in to King Darius. The king loved Daniel but was unable to come up with a way to save him from his decree.
That evening, Daniel was thrown into the lions' den. Darius was greatly distressed and unable to eat or sleep all night long. At dawn, he rushed to the lions' den to see if Daniel's God had protected him. Daniel replied to the king, "My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm" (6:22).
Daniel was obviously overjoyed to have been saved from the lions and was taken up out of the den. Verse 23 tells us Daniel was saved because "he had trust in his God." King Darius had the men who had set Daniel up arrested. And then they, along with their entire families were thrown into the lions' den and devoured by the beasts. Then King Darius issued a new decree that people were to respect and fear the living God of Daniel!
Thoughts:
- Can you imagine the presidential election if the candidates lived personal, professional, and political lives so honest, so righteous, and so in line with God's will that other candidates couldn't find something against them? Instead of slander ads we would have ads just stating the positives of the candidates and people pointing out other's strengths. But this post isn't meant to be political, just had to share that part.
- Daniel was an older man when this took place, and he could have simply taken the easy way out, but he remained strong in his faith even when faced with a painful death. We should not grow tired or weary in doing what God wants us to do.
- Daniel was found blameless, yet thrown to the lions anyway. If that's not a biblical example of how life's not fair than I don't know what is. Sometimes you didn't do something wrong to deserve the trial you're facing, that trial may be from God to strengthen you for what lies ahead. Life's not fair. Bad things happen to good people. But good things happen to God's people.
When we face problems, do we try to deal with the problem ourselves? Or do we put our faith in God that if we seek him, he will take care of us as he's promised? The next time you face a den of lions, don't focus on the lions, focus on the Almighty Protector.
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