Daniel

"Daniel's Answer to The King" by Briton Riviere

"23The 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 6:23 






Vitals
Focuses on : Daniel 6
Job Description : Man appointed to a high official position because of his talents(notably dream interpreting)
Significant events in worldly position : Interpreted dreams and messages to Kings, defied the King's law of praying to nobody but the King for 30 days
Aftermath: Exited the lion's den without sustaining any form of injury
Is this person one with desirable traits of a Christian?

          The book of Daniel has a bunch of interesting stories with many diverse themes. The one that caught my eye the most was the situation of Daniel in the lion's den which is in chapter 6 of Daniel. The story takes place under the reign of King Darius. Because of Daniel's history filled with exceptional deeds, the King favored Daniel and put him in a position more distinguished than any administrator or satrap that was out there. These people with less authority than Daniel wanted to expose him for any negative trait that they could find. They eventually pin-pointed his faith in God as a target. They persuaded King Darius to issue a law that anyone who prays to anybody other than the King himself will be sent to the den of the lions. Daniel would neglect the content of that command and continue to pray three times everyday. He would be caught much to the dismay of King Darius who liked Daniel. Daniel would spend the night in the lion's den only to be discovered by a jubilant Darius in the morning to be still alive. Daniel told him that his God had sent an Angel to save him from the lions. The accusers that wanted to rid the kingdom of Daniel would than be sent to the lion's den, where they would be brutally ripped apart. 

          In life, there will always be people who will wish to persecute you and set you up in a situation where nothing but death seems to be in store for you. Daniel is this week's featured "Servant of The Weak" because he didn't care about the law, he insisted on praying and defying the King's decree. He put himself in danger just because of how much he loved God and the end result would work out for Daniel because of his powerful belief.  

          It's just amazing at what Daniel really did in this chapter. An order from the highest power in the kingdom was given, it was an expectation to be obliged to these rules. Daniel chose to turn the other way and continue to pray to God. And the punishment wasn't a simple five-dollar fine or two hours of community service, it was sleeping with the lions which is pretty much identical to a death penalty. Despite knowing all of this, Daniel just acted as if the decree was never made, he knew what he was getting himself into.

          If there was any sort of law to charge someone when you pray, I'd probably be hesitant to do it. If anything, I'll probably do it when nobody's looking. That wasn't the case for Daniel, he just pretended like nothing happened. He didn't hide it, he allowed himself to be seen by the accusers. He just didn't let any elements of this command to change his routine whatsoever.

          When Daniel was sent to the animal cage, everybody thought it was over with for him. I mean, who in the world can spend a whole night with hungry beasts such as lions? But someone like Daniel was able to do it. Still, Daniel didn't protect himself by scaring, slaying, or amusing the lions in any fashion. He really didn't do anything at all, he just remained there. Daniel claims that an angel was sent to cover the mouths of the lions. This just really goes to show how great God is, God was able to shield Daniel from the blood-thirsty lions and safety was the only thing that happened to Daniel throughout his time inside. 

           Daniel is a considerably strong example of how to act in times of distress. It was illegal to pray and what did Daniel do? He prayed. Lions were going to absolutely destroy him and Daniel didn't have to do anything. He put all his trust in God and his life was saved.

            The force of a prayer can be tremendous. It's powerful enough to hold off a pack of lions from eating a man. The horror of being persecuted can really get into your skin, but you have to remember this. It's a symbol of your strength when you express your faith in moments of peril. 

          In Matt 5:10 the beatitudes actually say that persecution is a positive thing. 

          "10Blessed are those who are persecuted

                     because of their righteousness,

               for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

         No matter how bad it looks, we just have to think and look at the huge picture that it can't actually be that bad. If we stop and ponder for a second, we will be able to realize that the impact of how bad things could be have a limit. A problem or conflict might be overwhelming at first, but putting our trust in God is how one can rise above it all.

          Daniel could've cared less about the decree. He knew that he was going to be okay because he knew his God in whom he prayed for. He had nothing to fear of because he knew that he was under God's wing and God will never let go.              

Thanks Maria Lim for telling me about this chapter!