Daniel chapter 6 tells the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. This chapter focuses more on King Darius, however, than it does Daniel. The story is told from the King’s perspective and it focuses on the king’s stress from the moment he feels trapped by his governors to his point of relief and praise for Daniel’s God, the God of deliverance. One of the great things to come out of the king along his emotional journey was the way he acknowledged Daniel’s life of faith. Daniel 6:16-20:
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!”
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. 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.
At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 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?”
The king calls Daniel a servant of the living God and proclaims twice that Daniel serves God continually. What a tribute!
Who in your life would make a similar proclamation? Does your boss know clearly who you serve? Do the important people around you know where your allegiance lies? Daniel’s faith and worship were sincere and on display; not a secret. This faithfulness toward God came across in his work and reliability and made him stand out to his boss, but made his peers jealous because they wanted to get by with corruption and neglect, verse 4.
Pray about being part of a church that is full of people whose everyday lives are marked by faith. Faith translates into prayerful devotion to God and honest hard work in whatever our hands find to do.
Pastor John Riley
Junior High Ministry