Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, March 27, 2022

Daniel and The Lion’s Den.

Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Daniel and today is the ‘famous’ Daniel story.  The one we *all* remember Daniel for.  Spoiler alert: The lions didn’t eat Daniel!

What is not as well known is how Daniel wound up there in the first place!

This message deals with a preying on a person’s need to feel that we are good for something and how we unconsciously organize our world to validate that perception.  

Today’s story takes place about 60 years from the first chapter of Daniel.  Daniel is in Babylon and has lived quite the life and he thinks he’s finally retired but he would up being present at the very last day of the Babylonian empire and the Meads and the Persians have taken over.  Cyrus is the High King and Darius is ruling Babylon, under Cyrus.

One of the three governors appointed to this role is Daniel.  He’s not young anymore but he’s doing such a good job that King Darius is considering appointing him over all of Babylon.  However, as is typical even today, his co-workers aren’t exactly crazy about his great work ethic.  “How can we trap Daniel?”, goes their thinking and they finally have their nirvana moment, “Hey, Daniel prays to that Jerusalem God” and that caters to the Devil’s playbook.

His enemies go to King Darius and throw Daniel under the proverbial bus.  They ask the King to pass a law that the people of Babylon can only pray to King Darius for 30 days.  This obviously appealed to the King’s sense of divinity and was a cunning political move.  

Daniel continued to pray to the true God of Jerusalem, whereas the snitches turn to the King and turn him in.  The King wasn’t happy with this, as he knew at this point it was a setup but he had to do what he decreed.  The King had to cast him into the den of lions and did so.  But Darius is holding on the the hope that Daniel’s god will save him.

They lowered Daniel into the pit of lions but we know the outcome, don’t we?  

When the sun rose, Darius went to the lion’s den and cried out to Daniel.  Daniel replied back and reminded Darius that he was in the den for nothing that he had done wrong!

The story here is that God can deliver us from impossible situations!

Bible for Hope Study Notes: A Glimpse of the Miraculous (6:23) King Darius and Daniel experienced the miracle of the lions’ den from significantly different perspectives. The king mouthed faithful-sounding encouragement when Daniel was thrown into the pit (6:16), but his sleepless night (6:18) didn’t show faith in God. Daniel, on the other hand, approached his sentence with complete confidence in God’s will. As a result, Darius was only able to witness the event as a spectator, only able to appreciate it from afar. In contrast, Daniel experienced the miracle firsthand and felt the loving, protective hand of God “because he believed.” When we trust in God, we will recognize His touch on our lives.

Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter 6.