DAY 341

DANIEL & THE LION’S DEN

Daniel 5, 6 & 7 and 2 John 1

There is a lot to cover in Daniel today. I will try and cover chapter 7 tomorrow. Today I want to get you thinking about chapters 5 & 6.

In chapter 5 we read of the “finger of God” writing on the wall. The king and his crew were using the holy vessels from the Temple of Jerusalem as their personal party vessels and God “moved his hand”—or really his finger. What I find amazing is that when they find themselves in a corner they reach for God’s person, Daniel.

Then of course we have the episode in the lion’s den. Daniel has been elevated to a very high government position, there is jealousy, a plot which includes trapping the king in his own edict, and Daniel caught up in the trap and thrown into the lion’s den. The king is much distressed knowing that he was tricked, and knowing that Daniel is his best official. The king prays… May your God deliver you…and Yahweh does. The result is that the king praises “Daniel’s God” and instructs everyone in his kingdom (and by the way this is a huge kingdom) to do likewise.

I have made the point in so many blog posts that you are sick of reading of it that the purpose of the people of God is that they (we) live our lives in such a manner as to proclaim who our God really is, and to give him glory. I have pointed out that many times we turn inward and want our God to serve our purpose vice His. In the book of Daniel we see the personal story of someone who “gets in & lives it.” Daniel is amazing in his resoluteness…and because of that people come to hear about just who this God really is…may we live in the same way.