daniel— the lions den
Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I cannot believe it’s 2024. I also can’t believe I’m saying this but… I missed writing. It feels so nice to be back and writing again. If you had told me a year ago that I would miss writing, I would’ve laughed in your face. Seriously. Writing was probably pretty high on the list of things I’d rather not do. Probably right under “take a picture with a mascot” (iykyk). Isn’t it funny how God works sometimes? He often calls you to the things you feel least capable of. He’ll put you in uncomfortable positions that result in putting you in a position to lead people to Him.
This month, I wanted to do character studies. So for the next three weeks, I want to dive into three different influential people in the bible and discover who they were. I want to examine their life stories and turn them into practical examples of how we can live today.
Daniel is a man who was put in situations that I’m sure were uncomfortable, but those situations put him in a place to serve the Lord– to make a difference for God. Daniel was an awesome man. If you don’t know much about Daniel, I recommend you go read Daniel ASAP. The King (nebuchadnezzar at the time) instructed his eunuch to bring “some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:3-4). That was Daniel. So, Daniel was taken from his home in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon. So Daniel was held captive in Babylon, basically kidnapped…yikes.
One of my favorite stories of Daniel is when he’s thrown into the lion’s den. King Darius was tricked into writing a law that prevented anyone from worshipping any God besides the king. Of course, Daniel continued to worship God. Because of this Daniel was thrown into the lion's den. King Darius didn’t want to throw him in, but because of the law, he was forced to.
As Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, the King declared “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” (Daniel 6:16). That night, the king fasted and could not sleep. So the next morning he ran to the den to check on Daniel. The stone was removed and the king yelled down asking if Daniel’s God had saved him.
“Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 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.”
Daniel 6:21-22
Obviously, God did. Reading that story gives me chills. To think about being thrown into a den of lions that are ready to maul anything that comes in and Daniel walking out of that den with not a scratch on him. It almost seems impossible… almost. ;)
There is so much to unpack in Daniel’s story. Daniel was a man who had full faith in God. Everything he did was for the benefit of the Lord. Because of Daniel’s faithfulness, he was put in a position to interpret the King’s dream. It led him to interpret more dreams and when a new king took over, Daniel immediately had favor from that King. It led to him walking out of a den of lions unscathed.
I want to have this kind of faith. A faith so strong and so deeply rooted in God that when I face my own version of the lion’s den, I can be filled with confidence that God has my back. If God did all of this for Daniel, what will he do for you?
Takeaway: Daniel was the embodiment of what it means to truly be rooted in faith. To stand firm on the word of God, no matter the circumstances we encounter.
