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Daniel in the Pit of Lions

Darius (the King of Babylon at that time) decides to appoint 120 governors to hold offices throughout his empire. In addition, he chooses Daniel and two others to supervise the governors to look after the king’s interest. Daniel showed that he could do better work than the other governors. Because he was so outstanding, the king considered putting him in charge of the whole empire. Then the governors tried to find something wrong with the way Daniel administered the empire, but they couldn’t because Daniel was reliable and did not do anything wrong or dishonest. They came up with a plan to find anything which they could to accuse Daniel of doing something wrong. The only thing they could come up with was connected to his religion. So, they went to the king and said “give an order that no one for 30 days is permitted to request anything from any gods except you. Anyone who violates this order will be thrown into the pit of Lions”. Darius signed the order and made it a law. When Daniel learned of the order, he went to his room and prayed three times a day like he always did. A king cannot go back on his order, so he had to go through with it.

 

We know the rest of the story from Sunday School. Daniel was thrown into the pit. The king spent a sleepless night without food or drink. At dawn he went to the pit and called out to Daniel. He was alive! The king was overjoyed; Daniel was pulled out of the pit unharmed. He told the king that his God closed the mouths of the lions. He was not hurt. The men who accused Daniel, along with their wives and children were thrown into the pit and was devoured before they even hit the bottom. It’s a gruesome story for kids. It did make an impression on me. The king demanded that all the people in his kingdom will fear and respect Daniel’s God.

The moral of the story: Chose to obey God rather than man, live a life of exceptional honesty and work ethic, never give up hope, or compromise your values under cultural pressure. God is in complete control and able to deliver His people from the most impossible situations.

We will never be thrown into a pit of lions, but we do have situations in our lives when we have to make decisions between God’s way or the easy way. Always chose God. He always has our back.

Heavenly Father, your way is not always the easy way. We know you are always with us and lead us on the right path. Give us the faith we need; to live the life you have called us to.

Jeanne Palumbo jeannelpalumbo@gmail.com

 

Prayer Concern - That people always put their trust in you and know that you are always with us.