This morning in my daily Bible reading, I am reading about the classic account of Daniel and the Lion's den (Daniel chapter 6). If you're not familiar with this story, let me give you a little background information first.
Daniel was a Jewish exile currently residing in Babylon. He was among several Jewish men who were drafted into the king's service in Babylon. One of the first things we read about Daniel that reveals his character, is that even though as a King's servant he was going to be subject to eating and drinking certain foods from the royal kitchen, the Bible says:
"But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way," -Daniel 1:8 NIV.
This may seem odd to us how someone could be defiled by what they eat or drink, but the Jewish people had very specific dietary laws and what they ate and drink mattered greatly to them. We are getting a very clear picture here of Daniel's integrity and character. When up against a situation where he could have been killed for refusing to comply with the rules and guidelines of the royal service, the Bible says that Daniel resolved to not defile himself this way. That word resolve means, "to make a firm decision about." Daniel knew that even though it could cost him his life, he was going to stand on his principles and beliefs and not be shaken by what was in front of him, no matter what. This is one of the things that made Daniel such a great man of God.
As the book of Daniel continues, we see him be used by God in multiple ways that are very consequential. He interprets dreams for the king, again at the potential risk of his own life because of what the interpretations meant, but he stands his ground anyways. Daniel knew that although his occupation was in service of a regional king, that his true king was God himself. Daniel knew that no matter what happened or what was going on around him, God was in control, and he had nothing to fear ultimately.
With all of this in mind, I am not at all surprised when I read chapter 6 in the book of Daniel, which is where we find the account of the Lion's den. In this account, we find Daniel in service to a new king, but his integrity and character remain unchanged and solid in his devotion to God. When the chapter starts out, we see Daniel being set apart for a position of high leadership in the kingdom because of how he has conducted himself with integrity:
"Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom," -Daniel 6:3 NIV.
Because of this, a group of other government administrators are extremely jealous of him and are plotting to find a way to take him down. The problem is though, Daniel is just too good of a person and too devoted to God:
"Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God," Daniel 6:5 NIV.
These corrupt officials go on to trick the king into enacting a new law that would essentially force the death penalty on anyone who prays to a god or person other than the king in the next 30 days. Obviously, they craft this law specifically with Daniel in mind because of his devotion to God, they are absolutely confident that he will continue in prayer anyways, and they were absolutely right:
"Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before," -Daniel 6:10 NIV.
Isn't it remarkable, that even in the face of what seemed like certain death, Daniel does not waver one bit in his faith in God. I wonder how often we have the sort of faith and resolve that Daniel has in this situation? I wonder how often, we have the sort of thinking that expects out of our service to God that things should just go a certain way in our life. We may not say it like that, but I think if I'm being honest about myself here, sometimes we definitely think that way. When the chips are down, we often express our frustration with God because things aren't going the way we think they should.
In Daniel's case though, he knew that God was real, and no matter what was going on in front of him he was going to live his life in full submission to whatever God was asking him to do, even if it cost him everything. As the rest of this story plays out, we see that the king actually really loves Daniel and is extremely disturbed when he realizes he was duped by the other officials into signing this law, and he tries everything to save Daniel, but ultimately has to honor the fact that he signed this law into existence and Daniel is thrown into the lion's den. God sends an angel and closes the mouths of the lions overnight, and when King Darius runs to the Lion's den the next morning he finds Daniel alive and well testifying to God's goodness, which flows into King Darius and he writes a proclamation for all the people of the land to worship Daniel's God. How remarkable!
One thing I think we have to be careful of is taking the ending of this account as a prescription for how God should manage our lives. The reality is that not every account ends with a happy ending. When Daniel made decisions to stand firm in his faith and service to God he knew that it was at the potential cost of his life, and he stood firm in his decision to serve God and God alone anyhow. We have to always remember that God is the one who sees everything and who is ultimately in control. When we know who God is we can take comfort and knowing that even if we give our lives for his sake, we don't have to worry because we can trust him and we know that death is not the end on this earth. We can be confident in who God is by spending time with him by reading his word and in communicating with him through prayer, and also by being in community with other believers with the same values as us.
Living in a world that is broken and tainted by sin can be very difficult at times. The challenge for us as believers in Jesus Christ is not to trust in our own strength and circumstances, but to place our full trust in the one who created everything. No matter how the storms may be raging around us, we can know that he loves us, and he has our best interests in mind in all circumstances, and that he is in control of everything in this world. When our faith is grounded in such wonderful knowledge, we can be confident that even if it costs us everything, a life lived in service to God is the one worth living.
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