“At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.”
~ Daniel 6:4
Hi James and Ellen,
How would you like to be thrown into a den of hungry lions? What would you do if you suddenly noticed that an angel was protecting you? Daniel was thrown into a den of hungry lions. God sent an angel to protect Daniel. Daniel was an Israelite people group guy. Daniel was one of God’s specially chosen guys as an Israelite people group guy. Daniel was living as an exile in the city of Babylon. When the Mede and Persian people groups’ armies overran the country of Babylonia, Daniel – because of his administration acumen, became the top overseer in the government of King Darius. The true story of Daniel’s emergence as an extraordinary leader and then what took place when Daniel violated a King Darius mandated edict is found in Daniel 6. Verse 4 describes what kind of guy that Daniel was as a God-follower: “At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.” Because he was one of God’s specially chosen guys, Daniel – when he was a young guy, made a commitment to God to always do what was right in His eyes. Daniel – as a God-follower, would consistently pray three times a day to God. Whenever Daniel prayed to God, Daniel would go to his upstairs room, face the city of Jerusalem through the upstairs windows that faced towards the city of Jerusalem and get on his knees to thank God for being his Almighty God. Because Daniel was such a zealous God-follower, Daniel was putting himself on the path to a den of hungry lions.
A den of hungry lions can be just that – a den of hungry lions. A den of hungry lions can also be the pursuit of power, position and prestige by misguided, jealous guys and gals. When King Darius set up his new government, he assigned 120 guys as province satraps, princes, lieutenants and viceroys and he appointed three guys to be overseers over the 120 guys – with Daniel being one of the guys. Daniel emerged as being the most responsible administrator between the three administrators which brought to the surface the spirit of jealousy that was in the other two guys and the satraps that would ultimately lead to an encounter with a den of hungry lions and a protecting angel. Because of the intense jealousy that the other two administrators and the satraps had of Danial, they came up with a plan that would lead to Daniel being ripped apart and eaten by a den of hungry lions. These guys tapped into King Darius’ spirit of pride. It sounded to King Darius like a really good ego building idea to have every guy, gal and kid – over a thirty days stretch, bow down only to him. King Darius was quite ready to have a royal decree sent that explicitly instructed every guy, gal and kid to bow down only to him over a thirty day period. Because Daniel’s two fellow administrators and the satraps knew that Daniel always prayed three times a day to the God that the Israelite people group guys and gals worshipped, these guys knew that they could ‘get’ Daniel the first time that he prayed to his God after King Darius’ published edict went into effect – which would be an obvious violation of the decree to only bow down to King Darius. Even though King Darius did not want to throw Daniel into a den of hungry lions – as he really did like and trusted Daniel, King Darius did not have any choice but to have Daniel thrown to the lions. After King Darius encouraged Daniel before Daniel was thrown into a den of hungry lions by telling Daniel ‘may your God that you serve rescue you’ and after he watched Daniel be thrown into the den of hungry lions, King Darius had a fitful night as he waited for the morning light to find out what happened to Daniel. When King Darius found that Daniel was still alive and after Daniel told him that God had sent an angel into the lions’ den with him – to keep the mouths of the hungry lions shut, King Darius had the guys who had come up with the plan that had Daniel have an encounter with a den of hungry lions, thrown into the same lions’ den. The wives of the guys and even their kids were also thrown into the lions’ den. The hungry lions had a feast. The hungry lions grabbed the guys, the guys’ wives and their kids and began crunching their bones even before they hit the floor of their den.
How often do you hear how compassionate and loving that God is? How often do you hear how vengeful and fearful that God is? God will be just as protective of His specially elected guys, gals and kids as He was with His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – especially guys, gals and kids who make a commitment to serve Him – as Daniel did, and who do everything possible to live out their commitment to worship only Him. As you grow up into a guy and gal – if you have not already experienced it, you will feel or sense being thrown into a variety of hungry lions’ dens. Your grandpaa feels like he just escaped a hungry lions’ den when he was asked in an e-mail to make three unconditional commitments. Even though your grandpaa knows that he is not the most tactful guy, that he will sometimes blurts out something and that he sometimes acts in ways that offends a guy, gal or kid, it seemed to your grandpaa – and to other guys and gals, that for one guy to require another guy to unconditionally support him as his supervisor is an inappropriate request for any guy or gal to ask of another guy or gal to do. When your grandpaa did not acquiesce to the guy’s stipulations, your grandpaa ended up on the ‘chopping block’ – a lion’s den, and . . . your grandpaa now feels that an angel saved him. Your grandpaa as of the reediting of this missive – which is now over eighteen years since the day when he was confronted with needing to ‘bow down’ to another guy in order to . . . has been blessed over and over again with opportunities to use the gifting that God has hardwired in him to aways use.
Daniel 6 (792)