Daniel in the Lions Den.

“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.” – Daniel 6:27

Photo by T S on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

May “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’” (Numbers 6:24-26).

Trust God to deliver, prosper, and rescue in any circumstance.

In life, Christians should anticipate opposition. I spent a few years working in human resources for a large construction service provider after I graduated from college. One day, I was recruited to work for a big corporation with a striking headquarters and a publicly traded stock. The large corporation offered me a sizable sum of money to join their team.

I believed that working for a bigger company would advance my professional career. I recall my first impressions of the stunning campus and structures. There was a sizable water fountain outside, and striking tier steps leading to the main structure. A two-story building that hosted a couple hundred executives most with huge offices. What I didn’t realize was that malice was around every corner. I was walking into a spiritual battle that I was not prepared for, and my youth was naive to the corruption that is within man’s heart. In my situation, people were jealous of my youth, a lot of opposition came in the form of slander and gossip whose aim was character destruction.

The story of Daniel 6, reveals the character of opposition that lurks around every corner for the believer in Christ. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy of some of these characteristics, in the following:

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. ⁶ For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. ⁹ But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also. ¹⁰ Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, ¹¹ persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! ¹² Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. ¹³ But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Divisions:

• Daniel is appointed by King Darius and opposition increases. (6:1-9)

• Daniel is thrown into the Lion’s Den, but an Angel rescues him. (6:10-22)

• Daniel is rescued and prospers in a foreign land by living by faith. (6:23-28)

Truths:

Living by faith requires us to live differently than the culture. ^“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2

We are never outnumbered when we are close to God. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” – 1^st John 4:4

Trust God in all seasons of life and everyday affairs. “¹ Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, ² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. ³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. ⁴ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. ⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.” – Psalm 1:1-6