Minute Meditations: Daniel 6

We all know and love the story of Daniel in the lions' den, but perhaps it is just a little bit too familiar, and perhaps we miss the full significance of it.

Daniel is one of the top guys in in the Babylonian court. He is the king's right-hand man, so to speak, and this means that other people are really, really jealous of him. Therefore, several of them get together and plot Daniel's downfall. It isn't even that they think they will take his place; they just don't want him to have his place! How typically human that is.

So these fellows get the king to sign a document ordering everyone to worship no one but the king himself for thirty days. If anyone worships or prays to another god during that time, the penalty is a quick trip to the lions' den. The conspirators know that Daniel is a Jew and that there is no way he will ever worship the king or stop worshiping and praying to God. They think they have him.

For a while, it seems that Daniel is indeed in hot water. The conspirators find him praying to God (they are watching for him to do this), and they run straight to tattle to the king. The king, of course, doesn't want to throw Daniel in the lions' den. He likes Daniel, and he relies on him as his top adviser, but he quickly discovers that he is bound by his own decree. With great regret, he throws Daniel to the lions, hoping that Daniel's God will save him.

God does save Daniel. An angel comes and clamps the lions' mouths closed so that Daniel spends the night in peace and doesn't get eaten. The surprised and grateful king lets his adviser out the next morning and throws the conspirators to the lions instead. Since no angel comes to save them, they are devoured at once.

Daniel has taught us some important lessons here. We worship God, period, only God. We do not worship what the world calls us to worship, be that money or fame or possessions or science or government or “experts” or anything else. We worship God, and we pray to Him and trust in Him to care for us. This is what Daniel does. Imagine how frightened he is as he faces those lions, yet he knows that if God wants him to come out alive, he will. If not, then God has something better in store for him. We would do well to remember that, too.