My God sent His angel and shut the lion’s mouths. Daniel 6:22 (NKJV)
It is one of my favorite stories in the Hebrew Scriptures. Daniel, a Jew,
is a counselor to the Persian King, Dairus. Daniel is well liked by the king and because of that he receives favored status. Others who surround the king are jealous of Daniel and try to find a way to discredit him. Ultimately they convince the king that everyone in the kingdom should honor the king and that anyone who honored and prayed to someone other than the king should be fed to the lions.
Of course, Daniel, who is committed to honoring God, cannot bring himself to follow the hastily adopted law. So, Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den. The king, who loves Daniel, is distraught and races to the lion’s den the following morning to discover that, indeed, God has closed the mouths of the lions and saved Daniel.
I love the story of Daniel and the lion’s den because I believe all of us face the lion’s den most days of our lives. I imagine that there are many days when we feel like we are going to be “eaten by the lions.” Of course, we always have a choice. We can honor God, and trust in God’s care for us, or we can be paralyzed by the fears before us. Daniel chose to put his trust in God. Perhaps that is the real lesson here. When we are facing the “lions’ of our days and nights, we too might do well to put our trust in God and know that “in life and in death, in life beyond death, God is with us, we are not alone, thanks be to God.”
Holy One, Creator of all things, lover of all life, remind me that no matter what the day brings, you are with me. Amen
It is an honor to serve along-side you!
Your friend,
Mark David Jackson
