Courage in the Face of Danger | Daniel in the Lion’s Den | Daniel 6:1-28

Show Notes

Episode 681:
In this episode, we read through Daniel chapter 6, reflecting on Daniel's unwavering commitment to his prayer life, even when faced with the threat of being thrown into a den of lions. His decision to pray openly, despite knowing the risks, serves as a powerful example of faith in action. We emphasize the importance of maintaining a disciplined prayer life, drawing parallels to our own struggles with distractions and pressures that often interrupt our connection with God.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. Two dudes talking Bible, making it real. One mission, one mission, there's us. Today we're talking about Daniel in the Lions, then one of the. Most classic that's rough. Yeah, so lions, politics, faith, under fire. That's what we're talking about, because I think it's gonna be great. But before we do that, we have a segment by Desiree and that. What's a terrible rolling? By the way, was it? I keep going, Okay, I don't mind it. No, no, no, no. Desiree said that today because we're talking. About lions and the lions. Then here's what she. Says, Uh, let's do a draft of your favorite animals. Do rock, paper sciss. You gets first pick, and then choose five animals each totly cat. Let's just say, Chris right off the top. Your teddy bear doesn't count? Teddy Bear? What are you talking about? Okay, okay, right, we got ready, okay, one two three? Shoot? Oh we both went scissors one two three shoot? Oh Well that was that was slow. That was slow. I was going to do rock and switch to scissors, and you had paper, of course, one two three, shoot scissors again, one two three shoot. Oh you got me rock over scissors. All right, very good. So my first animal is going to be a an otter. Really, I thought you were gonna do cats. Nos are great, okay, playful, they're spontaneous, they're always Have you. Ever taken one of those personality tests that tells you what what your personal yes? Are you ant? That's what I thought? Yep, okay, is my dominant? Yeah, speaking of that lion for me of course, of course, yeah, lions. I love lions. I love lions. I've had the opportunity privilege to see many of them in the wild in Africa, and I'm just totally amazed every time. Yeah, so you're a D. I Actually I'm a very high I in D is almost the same. Well that means your order? Ye? Well no, so a high eye high high high D is a different thing, is a different thing. Yeah yeah, huh okay, So sorry because yeah, anyway, sorry. About that little journey everybody. But okay, here's my second animal. I'm gonna choose a cat. I already chose the lion. What I'm laying claimed all the felines, domestic cat, domestic cat. Okay, all right, I'm going to say grizzly bear. Why because the only other time I was intimidated by an animals when I was by a grizzly bear. I was by a lot of animals. I was like one hundred yards away from this grizzly bear, two hundred two hundred yard away from this grizzly bear, and thinking I don't think I'm far enough away. Yeah, yeah, it was scary. Yeah. Huge. I've actually gotten intimidated by a donkey one time. Really. Yeah. It was feeding it and it's bucking and yeah. Show his teeth and stuff. Yeah, yeah, I got some choppers. You said, the only other animal is a grizzly. Okay, that's not true at all. That's true. I got intimidated by a cobra. Okay, that was scary. Wow. All right, So my third animal, I'm gonna choose a dog, a domesticative dog. I love dogs. Okay, so you're domestic cat and domestic dog. Yes, next one, I'm predicting. I'm predicting goldfish. I have not. Okay, okay, okay, so I was gonna say. Next for me is giraffes. Again. Being in Africa, many times I'm riveted by drafts. I can watch drafts for hours, Like every time we pull our truck away, when we leave a group of drafts, I'm disappointed. So they're just they look so goofy, But then when you're with them, they're so huge and so graceful. They're really really amazing. Yeah, I agree, I've seen my shirt draft. Yeah, and then how about this, I'm gonna go with shark. Oh that was my next one? Which is that was my next one? It was it was the it's the it's it's the goldfish on steroids. Yeah, exactly, it's not not a gold fish. Actually, believe it or not. One of my things on my bucket list is to dive in a cage. I want to go. I want to do that too. We should do it together. Fifty fifth birthday. Let's do it. Hey, you want to Okay, we gotta do it. Yeah, that's expensive. We're gonna have to have some rich friends that want to do it too. Okay, all right, hey, okay, this is our invitation. Okay, rich cave, cave like a cage, dive with them. Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, I want to do that too. Yeah okay, So how many did you do? You did four? I did four? Yeah yeah okay, And so this is my fourth one. I think gorillas. Oh yeah, I love gorillas. Yeah, they're great, They're very interesting to me. Yeah yeah, okay. And then how about this? So I went like friendly dog cat, I did orders cause I love otters. I did shark, which are awesome. So I'm gonna go with duck bill platypus. So I will say the duck billed platypus is almost it's almost like, well we got a bunch of extra spare parts. Just look at that. Well, you know the One's why I chose it to make you laugh? Yeah, because nobody, nobody would have chosen that one. Yet that's a great one. Yeah okay, let me think of the last one. Oh you know what I'm gonna say, Yeah, Panda bears. Oh yeah, okay, So they're dumber in the box rocks and they're mean. Yeah, but my wife cried when I took her to the San Diego Zoos to see him. Oh yeah, so wow, gives me nice memory. Now, have you ever seen Tropic Thunder? No? The movie with Ben Stiller. I know about it, yes, okay, so he it's it's hilarious, right, not the cleanest movie in the world. It's got some customers in it, but but in terms of like humor, it is one of the classics. And Ben Stiller uh uh sees this the beady eyes in the forest, and he attacks this animal. He doesn't know what it is, and then come to find out he kills a panda. Oh no, and then and then all of a sudden he wears the skin of it. You know, it's hilarious, terrible, it's terrible. That's terrible. But he feels so bad because he sees this. The lightning flashes and there. So that's what you think, I say, panda, and you want to kill the panda? I think of tropic immediately. Okay, well there you go. So now if we had ours fight against each other, oh yeah, I think mine would win. Well, that wasn't the assignment, was it. Well that that's next everything between you and me, he's leading to a fight. I'm let me to say that. I'm pretty sure a grizzly versus a duck boat platypus wouldn't be too much of a god. But you've got sharks. As long as mine stay out of the water will be good. But yeah, that's right, that's funny. Okay, well, actually sharks would win. Yeah, talking about staying out where the animals are. Oh hey, it's an easy transition in this one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So today we have of Daniel engaging with lions, and I'm going to guess if he played this game, he would not say lions were his favorite. No, although maybe he did become friends with them after the end of chapter six. Maybe maybe. So. In Daniel, if you didn't know, we're going kind of through all the key passages in the Bible, and we've been in the Old Testament for quite some time now. Yeah, we're all the way up to Daniel chapter six, and it says this, Darius the Mea. Do you remember the Meds and the Persians overtook overtook the Babylonians. I don't remember personally, but remember when we read about Belshazzar. Yes, yeah, okay, so it says here Darius the Mead decided to divide the kingdom into one hundred and twenty provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The King also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the King's interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers, and because of Daniel's great ability, the King made plans to place him over the entire empire. Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn't find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. So they concluded our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel being connection with the rules of his religion. So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, long live King Darius. We are all in agreement, we administrators, officials, high officers, advisors and governors, that the King should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days, any person who prays to anyone divine or human, except to you, your Majesty, will be thrown into the den of lions. And now your Majesty issue and sign this law, so it cannot be changed, an official law of the meeds and Persians that cannot be revoked. So King Darius signed the law. But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home, knelt down as usual in his upstairs room with his windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. Then the officials went together to Daniel's house and founding praying and asking for God's help. So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days, any person who prays to anyone divine or human except to you, your majesty, will be thrown into the den of lions. Yes, the king replied that decision stands. It's an official law the means and Persians that cannot be revoked. Then they told the king that man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day. Paying this the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. In the evening, the men went together to the King and said, your majesty, you know that according to the law Means and Persians, no law that the King signs can be changed. So at last the King gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The King said to him, mayor, God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you. A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep at all that night. Very early the next morning, the King got up hurried out to the lions den, and when he got there, he called out and anguished, Daniel, servant of the Living God, was your God, whom you served so faithfully able to rescue you from the lions? Daniel answered, long live the King. My God sent his angel to shut the lion's mouths so that they would not hurt me. For I have been found innocent in his sight, and I've not wronged you, your majesty. The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race in the nation and languish throughout the world. He's some prosperity to you. I declare 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. And he has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. And so Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Well, there you go, that's a good one. I'll tell you what I like that one. I I literally almost getteria. I'd reading that it is. It is unbelievable. This I'd like to see this played out in a movie. You know why because when it says that the king had spent all day trying to find a way to rescue Daniel, I mean I want to feel that comment. Like he's looking for loophole. He's looking for. He's desperately trying his best. And so think think of that, the entire day of him worrying and fretting and trying his best to you know, legally look for a loophole. And so his love for Daniel and his appreciation for him is I mean, think about it. Think about like the the feelings and emotions as he's you know, going, uh, he has to obey the decree that he signed. He feels like he's been tricked and manipulated. And so as he's lowering Daniel and he says, may the God, may the living God whom you serve faithfully rescue you. And and then and then and then has you know the the rock the stone placed over the mouth of the light. I'm telling you that's that's an emotional thing. And and then he can't sleep all night, he refuses to be entertained, gets up the next morning, cries out in desperation. I'm telling you this is this is amazing. The sometimes people will listen to go, well, he was king, he can do whatever he wants to do. Right. Uh. In their culture, the you know, it was clans. It was groups of leaders that would all agree to follow a strong king. And the way that they balanced out the king's power was once the king signed a law, he couldn't revoke it, which meant kings rarely signed laws. Right. They might have statutes, they might have requirements, they might have they'd find all these other ways. But once a law was signed, the law of the Meds and the Persians could not be changed even the king. The king couldn't do it. If the king did it change his own law, he would most likely be executed. He would certainly lose his position. And that's how they balanced his power where he wasn't just going off making all kinds of stupid laws all the time. If that's the case, you would be very slow to ever sign an actual law. And so he was an extraordinarily Darius. We know this Darius. There's several Dariuses in history. This Darius was known to be a very effective leader. But in this situation, they tricked him into saying, hey, you're pretty important, dude. Why don't you have people pray to you? Make you a guy? Which means either he believed in like a pantheon of God's tons and tons of the gods, and you know, if you have tons of gods, it may be easy to kind of play around with that just a little bit and make yourself a god. Or he didn't really believe in religion at all, and so, oh that sounds like fun, right, right, he knows everybody else does. But he's a king. Kings are smart, we don't need the gods. And so it might have just been, hey, that's a good idea. These are super religious people. Let's make them pray to me for a while. That'll make their loyalty be even stronger. Right, It was an expedient decision, and so he does it. But so, how old is Daniel at this point? He's an older guy. He's an older guy. Yeah, yeah, So it says that. He is on his third king right since his kept capture. So as you can remember, in Daniel chapter one through four, he was under King Nebu Kidnezzer from Babylonia Schevyck, Meechek and Bendigo we're throwing in the furnace. We know that Nebu k Nezer became insane for seven years, I mean, so this is a long time. And then after that we discovered in Daniel chapter five and then seven and eight they big reference to Belle Shazar right from Babylonia, and then and then Darius comes later from Meto Persia, and then and then afterwards we're going to see in the later chapters Daniel's tent through twelve he actually is under King Cyrus from the same empire. So four administrations, yeah, four administrations, and so Daniel is, yeah, he's an older guy right now. I looked it up. It says Daniel was likely in his early eighties when he was thrown in the lions. Then wow, and here's why. He was a teenager, probably somewhere between fourteen and seventeen years old when he was taken to Babylon during the first Exile, which we know historically is six oh five BC. Yes, and then the events of Daniel six take place under the reign of Darius the Mead, shortly after Babylon fell to the Medo Persian Empire in five point thirty nine BC. That means around sixty six years from the time he was taken from Darusa to the time he was serving Darius. And it was sometime after Darius becomes king that he gets in it. So if he was fifteen at six oh five, he'd be about eighty one years old in the five point thirty nine Wown't that neat? Yeah? It was very neat. Yeah. So then it says old man, steal backbone, faith like fire. There it is there, it is old man. Yeah, steal back bone, steal back. Bone, faith leg fire. Yeah. That's awesome. So yeah, I mean imagine that. So now that that paints a whole different picture. Now, so King Darius most likely is younger than eighty right, So he looks to Daniel in a lot of ways, probably like a mentor. Right. So Daniel proves himself more capable. Think about all the wisdom, you know, God had blessed member Daniel with favor and wisdom and everything else. And so now Darius loves Daniel so much that he plans on making Daniel over the entire empire. Yeah, at eighty one. At eighty one, yeah, which means, you know, I mean, he had to be pretty strong, pretty you know what your heavier. Wits about the figure. Yeah, I mean, And I'm only saying these things because you and I and everybody else knows a lot of eighty one year olds. Who you know probably shouldn't be in office, oh. Right, or or or even you know, a lot of eighty one year olds personally that you know that aren't necessarily on the top. Of their game, or a lot of them aren't wanting that anymore. Right, The just the fierceness, the struggle of that, the responsibility of that. You know, Hey, you said at a point you want to enjoy your retirement, right and right? Yeah? So he anyways, Uh, Daniel is an older gentleman at this point. And there's a note in here that I loved it says, and we love the Life Application Study Bible so verst tenses Dan Daniel stood alone although he knew about the law against praying to anyone except the King. It says that he knew it. When Daniel learned that the law had been signed. Yes, he went in and prayed anyways, And it says he continued to pray three times a day as always had. He didn't change his character, he didn't change his routine, he didn't change his walk with God. Daniel had a very disciplined prayer life. Our prayers are usually interrupted not by threats, but simply by the pressure of our schedules. Don't let threats or pressures cut into the into your prayer time. Pray regularly, no matter what, for prayers your lifeline to God. You think about he's so powerful at the time, the most powerful kingdom in that region, and that the king is thinking about putting him in charge of everything. How busy is that guy? I bet he's busier than I am, right right, And yet he still took time every single day to pray. And so you wonder how did Daniel ascend to such a heights. I think it's because he walked with God and made time to do so, so he had the favor of God in his life. Yeah, that's awesome. And let's talk about the fact that they threw a rock over the lions den, and so you would imagine that it would be completely dark in there, right, yeah, I mean a den is not going to have light. There's no windows, right, and so uh and then all of a sudden the angel shows up. So in my mind, I'm always thinking, you know, theatrically, I'm thinking, does the angel glow? Is the angel of the night light? Right? Like? You know, like you know that would be cool? Right? Do you never thought that? No? I never had. I mean, because you know, somehow he knew there was an angel there. Right right, you know. And and if you're in a den with a rock ceiling the entrance, chances are it's going to be so black you can't see much at all. So you know, uh, the angel to come and shut the mouths of the lions. First of all, how did that look? You know? Was it magic? Was it magic rope? No? Just snapping them on the down, down, down, as we do to our dogs. Did you do that? You go lay down? It's so funny. I was thinking magic rope like Wonder Woman, the glowing rope. Oh okay, yeah, yeah, no, that's that's actually not it'd be way better. It's not just down Now I'm thinking, I'm thinking just magically right, just you know, he walks over to the walks over the lions, and the lions immediately just sort of obey. Right, Yeah, that's sort of what I was thinking. I can't imagine a consequence more terrifying than this one. Right, Listen, if you pray to anybody else but me for the next thirty days, I'm going to throw you into dan allions. So there's a note here that talks about how in Mesopotamia lions roamed wild at the time. Anyways, people were afraid of their their power and stuff. But then the kings began keeping parks of lions and feeding them publicly and then using them for executions. Wow. Right, So the pace how I've been I don't know, twenty line. I probably on my phone, I got twenty different lions. I've been with thirty different lions maybe. And there's been several times where we were in open sided trucks, no walls, no doors, yes, and we just pull up and I'd be within ten feet of a lion and I can barely breathe, and that lion, we can see the lion. It's almost every time I've done it, it is like seven o'clock in the morning, they've already eaten, right, and now they're fat bellies. They can barely keep their eyes open, and so they're not interested in me at all. But I'm still terrified. My heart's beating so fast. And I know I'm with professional guides right when we're doing this. They know what they're looking for, that kind of thing. I've done it several times, and I can barely breathe. My heart feels good. I don't know that there's ever another time that my heart beats out of my chest like that. I think I'm ready to have a heart attack. It's so scary to be thinking, well, if you pray to anybody else for the next thirty days, you're going to be torn apart and eaten alive by lions. That's the consequence. It's terrifying to me. I think I'm just going to confess me now. I don't think I'm a very good Christian. I'd be like, Lord, I'll be talking to you in thirty days, right, there's a deadline. You know, it's only thirty days, right, And the fear of that, the terror of that would be so scary. And we can read on the other side, Oh God did a miracle. Daniel had no concept that God was going to do a miracle for him, right right, Yeah. But you know, also, it's one of these things where I've always thought about this way too. I've always thought, like Daniel thought, Oh, this is an orchestrated thing that flies directly in the face of my dedication to God. And so maybe God has orchestrated this, maybe God has allowed this. And it's almost feels like to me the response that Shadwick, Mischeck and Benego gave that said, Hey, our God is able, but if not let it be known, yeah, right, Like, if he chooses not to let it be know, we don't even have to be careful to answer you, right, king, because we're never going to bow down to the image. And so it's like it's like, really, are you kidding me? Everybody in the Kingdom knows that I open my windows towards Jerusalem. Everybody knows I pray three times a day, and all of a sudden, you're trying to tell me there's going to be a law or decree that says I'm not allowed to pray. Daniel, I think knew that that law was given to make him do something against his God, and so he actually thought to himself I'm going to open my windows. I'm not even going to close them. I'm going to open them like I always have. Yeah, Okay, God, I'm gonna I'm gonna pray, but I'm going to do it secretly in my inner. Room and right exactly. But instead he's like as an altars routine at all. Yeah, he does it on purpose because he's like, Okay, let it come, you know, let it be what it may, because I'm going to do this and this, and God has to show up because this is too much of a coincidence. This flies directly in the face of you know, trying to get me to disobey or dishonor my God. So anyway, I've always thought that that you're right. He did not know that was going to be miracle for sure, right, But he probably knew that this was too much of a coincidence where this had to be. A test and he wasn't. So is that true for us? That's a great question, right, That's a great. Question because the Old Testament was written for example, right, right, right, So if that's true for Daniel, then you and I should be able to have the exact same faith. Faith when HR sends a new policy that's against scripture right right, or when there's some new civil law passed and you know you're going to get a ticket for whatever, right right, we should have that same faith. Then Yeah, I agree, that's that's what I want. I want to be that guy. I hope. I hope because of Daniel that I'll got to remind me of that. Yeah, don't you. Yeah, for sure, I've always tried to be that guy. For sure. It's amazing. Let's be a let's be a Daniel. Hey, that's our time, so we'll see you next time on the Bible guys. M. S.