I learned a lot of Bible stories in Sunday School growing up, and one of the most popular tales was Daniel In The Lions’ Den.
If you’re not familiar with the story, stop right now and go give it a quick read.
Essentially, Daniel was a Jew who had become powerful in the kingdom of Babylon, but was condemned to death for praying to the one true God. They tried to execute him by throwing him into a den of lions, but God shut the mouths of the lions and he survived!
The end. Hooray for Daniel.
The moral of this unique story was always something like “God protected Daniel from the lions, so he’ll protect you too!”
As a child who struggled with anxiety and irrational fears, this was comforting.
But as I grew older, I started to get wise to the fact that God doesn’t always rescue everyone, and I struggled with that.
When I read through the story of Daniel and the lions again recently, I realized that Daniel’s rescue wasn’t the end of the story after all.
After Daniel came out of the den unscathed, the pagan king of Babylon was absolutely dumbfounded. After a bit of housecleaning (read: tossing everyone who was involved in the plot to kill Daniel into the lions’ den themselves), he did something incredible.
He was so in awe of what God had done in rescuing Daniel, that he “sent [a] message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world.” Here’s what the message said:
“I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God,
and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
and his rule will never end.
He rescues and saves his people;
he performs miraculous signs and wonders
in the heavens and on earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
Because of Daniel’s story, the most influential man in one of the most powerful kingdoms of that time declared that our God is the one true God, and he made sure that the entire world knew it.
God didn’t save Daniel for Daniel’s own sake. This is not a story about God promising to protect us – it’s something better.
Daniel was faithful, and because of that, he had the unimaginable privilege of being used by God to spread the message of His greatness to the ends of the earth. God chose to protect Daniel that time, but He doesn’t promise to always keep our physical bodies safe.
What you can be sure of, is that God is always working through your story. When you’re faithful, He can use you to make His name great.
No matter what becomes of this temporary body that I occupy, I can’t imagine a better fate than being used by the Most High God to glorify his name.
READ: Why Does God Need Us To Praise Him All The Time?
Melinda Ashley
Digital Specialist, STAR 99.1
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