November 29

Daniel 6:1-28; 2 Peter 3:1-18; Psalm 119:129-152; Proverbs 28:21-22

I love the reading in Daniel today. Obviously, it’s a very familiar story. Perhaps, like me, you grew up in church and so have a flannel graph story board picture of the characters in this tale. It’s very dramatic, isn’t it? Bad guys who get jealous and set a trap; Daniel who gets caught; a cave of hungry lions as the punishment – it’s all there. But as familiar as the story is to me, I was struck in my reading today in a whole new way.

Have you ever noticed that this story is actually told from the perspective of the king? Growing up, I was taught about Daniel’s trust and bravery and, yes, those things are there. But, really, this is a story about King Darius. He is tricked into signing the injunction so the other leaders can rid themselves of Daniel. After Daniel is caught, he is in great distress (Dan. 6:14) and works all day to try to find a way out of it for Daniel. When his hand is forced (vs. 15), he commands that Daniel be placed in the den, but not until he gives Daniel some parting words: “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” (vs. 16). Then the night passes, but we don’t see how Daniel is faring with the lions; rather, we see how Darius’ night goes – he fasts, declines any distractions, and doesn’t sleep (vs. 18).

Morning finally comes, but again, instead of first finding out how Daniel is, we see the king arising at the “break of day” and going “in haste to the den” where he cries out “in a tone of anguish” (Dan. 6:19-20). Isn’t that amazing? All night this pagan king has worried over Daniel and has enough faith in Daniel's God that he calls out the next morning. And when Darius learns that Daniel is in fact spared, “he [is] exceeding glad” (vs. 23) and makes an amazing proclamation of faith: “In all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end” (vs. 26). These are incredible words for a pagan to say, let alone a powerful king. In a rare moment of humility and true perspective, King Darius sees how powerful God is. Isn’t that a great new way to think about the story of “Daniel and the Lions’ Den?”

As it turns out, we just recently finished a series in Daniel at church (don’t you love it when your One Year Bible lines up with church?), and I loved what my pastor said about Daniel in this passage. He pointed out that with Daniel’s three friends and the fiery furnace (Daniel 3), they were being persecuted for what they wouldn’t do – bow to an idol. In this passage, Daniel is being persecuted for what he won’t stop doing, namely praying to God three times a day. My pastor challenged us to think about the areas in our own lives, as believers, where we need to look different from the world around us. What are the things we will refuse to do? And what are the things that we will refuse to stop doing, because we love Jesus? Good questions for us all!

- Esther McCurry

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