In the Lions Den
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever heard of a law and thought I wonder why thats in place.
Because this past week I was looking up some weird laws from different states and this is what I found:
In North Carolina it is illegal to have a bingo game that last longer then 5 hours.
In Arizona its illegal to put a donkey in a bath tub after 7PM
In Connetict it is techniquly illegal to kiss your spouse in public on a Sunday
In South Carolina you have to be 18 to play pinball
In California its illegale to eat a frog if it died during a frog jumping competition
In Kansas its illegale to throw knives at men wearing stripped suits
Men where a stripped suit if you go to kansas
An then finally in our beloved state of Michigan if you have a Crocodile or Allegator you can not tie them to a fire hydrant, kind of like what you might do to a dog if you have to run into the store.
They need a little extra supervision
But I was reading these laws and just thinking what in the world inspired these…
And really today we are continuing our series called “In The Fire” and we are looking at a pretty weird law that gets put into effect,
And really its actually extreamly harmful.
And so today we will be in Daniel 6 and if you have been with us we looked at these guys who were taken from their country and taken to Babyloin
And last week we saw a new king named Beltshazr and he was told his reign was comming to and end
and between last week and this week there is another new king named Darius
And so we are going to be starting in the first 10 verses and its a pretty big section of scripture so try to stay with me on it. It says this:
1 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 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. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 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.” 6 So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.
So the immediate part that I am drawn too is all the other high up officials see Daniel and they are immediately jealous of him.
In fact we see them get this law to get Daniel in trouble, because they draw up this law where you can only worship the king for 30 days.
And if you worship anything else you will be thrown into a lions den.
And we are going to go back and talk about some of the other pieces of the story but before we get to far I have to point out that there are things that try to push us away from our faith.
And we are lucky that where we live there are not a ton of laws that do that, but regardless of if there is a law or a situation, there are things that push us away from who God has called us to be.
And I guess my question is how do we respond when there is somthing pushing us away from our faith,
Because what will often times happen is those things can push us closer to God or further from Him.
Its kind of like when you drive in the snow- no one likes driving in the snow, but there are two things that happen when you have to drive in the snow,
You get better at it and become amazing at it
Of you crash.
And really in our walk with God when things come our way that push us from God are we letting those things push us further from God, or closer to Him?
And so I want to look at the characteristics that we see in this story that show us how we can be a people that let the trials push us closer.
And in verse 3 you probably saw this but it said the people saw Daniels Spirit.
And it dooesn’t says this but I think it implies it that they saw whose spirit was in Him.
In fact I love the word that is used in the Bible for filled with the Spirit because it is actually a word that is taken from a sail boats said being filled with wind.
Its almost like a word picture, because in our walk with God if we want to live a life where we grow in the persecution or even the things that just pull us away we need to be filled with God’s presence.
Because a sail boat without wind will probably crash in the waves or on shore, but a sail boat that has wind can go places and navigate the waves.
It is being used how it was created.
We need God’s presence in us to not just navigate, but to thrive and to be the person God has created us to be.
And lets keep moving because one thing you will notice is as the other officials get Jelus is in verse 6 it says that these admistrators “went” to the king (show verse on the screen)
That word for went is actually litterly translated “to gather tumultuously”
Meaning they came and were wanting to rush the king into making a decsion before even thinking about what it meant.
And the king makes a mistake, but really he had almost all of his administraters (120 of them) coming and saying you need to pass this!
And the king was probably thinking thats a good idea, and signed it without thinking.
And here is what I want us to understand so often we make a descion with a job or an action, and we do not really sit and think about if this is good in God’s eyes, but we look at our immediate situation.
I mean have you ever bought something and had immediate buyers remorse.
I mean you buy a car and it seems like such an amazing idea in the moment, and they you go home and sleep on it and all of the sudden you go “what did I do?!” “why did I buy this, we can’t afford this!”
It amazing how when we have a big decision happening how just sleeping, praying and listening to God can make a huge difference.
And it is actually amazing how much heart break it can save us from.
And lets look at this next part because this was signed into law and is undooable.
and look what Daniel does as soon as he hears this. It says this:
Daniel 6:10 (NIV)
10 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.
So he does this and he does not go wow I guess its just 30 day , but he goes I cannot go 1 day let alone 30 days without God.
And it actually says he goes straight to his room, opens the windows and prays 3 times a say and you might have caught this, but the last part of this verse says “just as he has done before”
You know this was not Daniel saying I am going to stick it to them,
But Daniel at this point is believed to be around 80 years old.
And from what we can tell Daniel has done this everyday probably for most of his live.
You know habbits are hard to break aren’t they?
Whether it is a good habbit or a bad habbit it is hard to break.
When I was a swim coach kids always would swim like this (fingers spread) and they need to have their fingers closed because it helps scoop more water.
But it is so hard if a kids has been swimming like this forever because its so unatural, because when they get tired they fall back to opening their fingers.
And this is so true in our walk with God
And especially in times when there are things pressuring us or we are tired we fall back on these habits.
Which is why if you have made it a habit to to lash out at the smallest thing, of course that is going to happen.
If you made a habit where you have a lust issue and you feed that you will give into it
But on the other hand
If you love your family how God has called you too and you have a terrible day at work, you might be tired but you will be reflecting God’s love to them (because you have made a habit)
I always point this out in living a generous life style and in giving.
Arika and I tithe as an act of worship, and there have been times in our marriage where I sit there and go it would be really nice to have some extra income because things are tight.
But we do it because God has provided in the past and we have made a habit of doing it regardless of how things look.
When you pray to God three times a day for 80 years there probably not a ton that can make you stop that habbit.
What would it look like for our habits to be shaped by God, because things can happen, but its really hard for them to pull us away from God.
And lets look at this last part because the advisors see Daniel do this and they tell the king (and he has realized he made a huge mistake) but his advisors tell tell him you need to follow through on this (infact the law is irriversable). and it say this in verses 16-23:
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” 17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. 19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” 21 Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” 23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
So Daniel is in the Lions Den and theres a really important part here, because Daniel was still among the lions, but the difference is that God was with him and sent an angel to close the mouths of the lions.
In life God does not always get us out of a situation, but He always sees us through.
And sometimes that is through a miraculous deliverance and other times it is through just being with us while everything is falling apart,
But as we close today I imagine there are some of us who are in a great place and we are going I don’t know if I feel pressured or worn out but can I point out that probably 90% of what we talked about today were things that you do before so you are ready.
but then there might be others of us who feel pressured to make a choice or are going through a hard time and it would be so easy to run from God
Can I just tell you God will not leave you, and its not to late to start building these habits,
It might be dificult, but whats amazing is how when God is part of it, we can alloow Him to shape us even in the lions den.
And as we close I wanted to fast forward a few hundred years to the story of Jesus, because during one of the most difficult period of Jesus’s life we see Him not bitter or going why would this happen?
But we see Him having a meal, and this was a meal that we call the last supper and really it was a meal where Jesus brought together His followers and explained what He was about to doo for them.
Because he breaks the bread and says this is my body broken for you
And He raises the cup and says this is my blood shed for you (referring to the cross)
And whats amazing is he gives it to every person around that table, as a way of saying I am doing it for you.
I am dying on the cross the one of you that runs away
I am dying on the cross for you whether you have your life togheter or whether its falling apart.
And this morning He is extending this to us.
Whether you are in the lions den or a situation thats okay, but the question is will we accept it?
Will you pray with me?