Out of the Lions' Den

Introduction:

Last week Cadet Audrey was up here giving her testimony. She let everyone know that we have four children. I think that children can be the most persistent people. A few months after our oldest daughter had started to walk, my mom and stepdad took her over to my aunt’s house. She had saw some of her older cousins outside and I guess that she wanted to join them. The unfortunate thing is that the glass door was shut. She walked toward the door and bam… she hit her head on the door. I feel like she was not sure why the door was opening and continued to hit her head on the door a couple more times. She ended up getting a bruise on her forehead and, while she was persistent, the door did not open by her hitting her head on it.

Fast forward to when she was in high school. Her freshman year started out rough with some emotional problems. This would affect the rest of the year, losing some friends and having to search within herself and God for answers. She ended her senior year with more friends and knowing more of who God wanted her to be. As we walked together out of her graduation ceremony, she looked at me and started to cry. She said, “Dad, I cannot believe that I finished!”. It was a happy sad moment. High school started out as a struggle for her due to the emotional problems but she graduated by her persistence and the Lord seeing her through it all.

There may have been times that she felt that she was alone but God was with her. He did not take her out of the situations or stop the emotional problems that she was going through but He was there going through this with her. The persistence that she showed is like the persistence that we see in Daniel 6.

There are several times throughout the Bible that we have seen God’s people persist through what seems impossible. We will be looking at portions of Daniel 6 and see how God saved Daniel from the lions’ den and He will be with you through your “lions’ dens”.

1. Respect Comes at a Price

As Cadet Audrey has read, the first part of Daniel 6 tells us that Darius the Mede has appointed satraps and administrators to look over things in his kingdom. Satraps are basically protectors of the land and they answer to the administrators. Daniel 6:3-5 reads: 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. 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. 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 was well respected by the current king and former kings. He was wise, intelligent and devoted to God. It does not tell us why the satraps and administrators had a problem with Daniel. It may be because he was put in charge of them. It could also be that he was Jew and one of the exiles from Judah. Whatever the reason they are trying to charge him with something and the only thing that they can charge him with will have to do with God.

I feel that Daniel would have been feeling like Jeremiah. Jeremiah 20:10 says: I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!” All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.”

Now the satraps and administrators are not his friends and they are trying to get rid of him. They went as far as to convince the king to issue a decree or law. They were able to gather up all the officials of the kingdom and convince the king to put it in writing that no one can pray to any other god or human being. This would be in place for the next thirty days. The punishment that was associated with this decree is being thrown into the lion’s den.

2. Persistent Prayer Becomes Punishable

The Jewish practice of daily prayer was to pray to God three times a day:

· Morning Prayer at Sunrise

· Afternoon Prayer

· Evening Prayer at Nightfall

(The Jewish Practice of Prayer & The Prayer of Jesus, n.d.)

The Jewish prayer life would have been about persistence and consistency. This would be true for the devout Jew and Daniel was included in this. The daily prayers were for every day not just on days that were convenient for them or anyone around them.

As we look at Daniel 6:10-11, it says: 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. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.

We don’t know what exactly Daniel was praying about but we know that he was asking God for help. I would be praying that God helps to void the decree, changes the hearts of the satraps and administrators, or getting me out of the punishment that would come about for praying. My guess is that he knew what the punishment of praying to God was and wanted to be persistent in his prayer life. This would not change because of the decree that the king issued.

The satraps and administrators went to the king and reported David for praying to God. The king knew that the punishment for violating the decree was to be thrown into the lions’ den but he worked all day until sundown to figure out a way to get Daniel out of it. He then ordered Daniel to be thrown into the lions’ den, rolled a stone over the entry, sealed it with his and his nobles ring. The heart of Darius was convicted and he did not eat, sleep or have any entertainment throughout the night. When the sun broke for the new day, he rushed to Daniel but was unsure what he was going to find. Was Daniel dead or alive?

3. Persistent Prayer Is Rewarded

Daniel 6:20-23 says: 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?” Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! 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.” 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.

Daniel was devoted to God and it was evident in his prayer life as well as how he conducted himself every day. When the decree was issued, Daniel knew that he could be thrown into the lions’ den for praying but he was persistent in his prayer life. The king happy to see that Daniel was saved by God. He then had the accusers, their wives and children thrown into the lions’ den. The lions attacked, killed and crushed their bones before they even hit the ground. These are the same lions that Daniel spent the night with.

This seems like a harsh punishment for the wives and children. I would not want my kids or wife to suffer any punishment for something that I have done. “An ancient writer named Ammianus Marcellinus wrote of the Persians, ‘The laws among them are formidable… by which, on account of the guilt of one, all the kindred perish’” (Guzik, n.d.)

Conclusion and Final Application

Now that Daniel is safe, the accusers have been dealt their punishment, Darius makes a new decree and it is written in verses 25-27: Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly!” “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.” “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

It is not known whether King Darius was converted or believed in God. It is known from scripture that he respected God and proclaimed it throughout his kingdom by the issuance of the decree. God was with Daniel and saved him from the lions’ den. Daniel was a devout Jew, had a persistent prayer life and God saved him time and time again. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

The lions’ den described in Daniel contains lions that are angry and hungry. Have you ever felt like you were thrown into a lions’ den? The lions’ den will be different for all of us. This could be decisions that you have to make at work, at home, on the streets, on your phone, your walk with God, basically every aspect of your life. We all experience times in our life where we want God to intervene and just take it away. Even though God does not take it away does not mean that He does not care, it means that He is going through it with you.

I would like to invite you to the altar if you are going through a time that feels like a lions’ den. If you would like someone to pray with you at a social distance then come to your left, or if you would like to pray alone at the altar then come here to your right. If you would like someone to come to you in your seat and pray, then raise your hand and someone will come to pray with you. Don’t go through your lions’ den alone.

Spiritual Direction: People to search their lives for the lions’ den that they need help with.

Physical Direction: Come to the altar or raise their hand for social distancing prayer.