Dan. 6
Daneil lived in Babylon many years and, because of his wisdom, was given important positions. King Darius wanted him to be head of all the governors. This made other men envious, and they tried to find a cause for Daniel to lose the favor of the king. But he did his duties so well, no fault could be found.
At last the selfish men thought of a way to find a fault; they knew that Daniel prayed to the Lord three times every day; so they wrote a new rule, and this was what it said,—
“Whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of the king, shall be cast into the den of lions.”
The men took the writing to the king to sign, which he did, and that made it a law. Daniel knew of the new law, but he knelt down in his room and prayed to God the same as he had done before, facing the windows open toward Jerusalem.
The men who hated Daniel came where they could watch and hear Daniel pray; then they went to the king and told him Daniel had disobeyed the new law, and should he thrown to the lions. The king was sorry then for the law; he knew Daniel had not done wrong and tried to have him excused. But it was against the rule of the land for a law to be changed. So that night the king had to order Daniel cast into the lions’ den. The king believed God had power, for he told Daniel that his God would deliver him.
Daniel was put with the lions, and a great stone rolled against the door, marked with the king’s seal, and the seals of the other men, so no one would dare to free him.
The king went to his palace, but he was very troubled, and would eat no food, nor have music and could not sleep. Early in the morning he went to the lions’ den, and in a sad, frightened voice called,
“O, Daniel...is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver the from the lions?”
Daniel was safe, and at once answered the king,
“My God hath sent His angel, and hatI shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me,”
The king was very glad, and ordered Daniel taken from the den. He had not been hurt at all by the fierce lions.
The king then made another law that “all people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God.... Who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” Daniel was honored as long as that king ruled, and by the next kings.
You may wonder why Daniel prayed with his face toward Jermalem, which was several hundred miles away. We might think that could not help him, and that he did not need to let those men see him pray. But many years before, the people of Jerusalem had been told that if ever they were captives in another land, or in trouble, and prayed to God, with their faces toward Jerusalem and the temple of God, that He would hear them (2 Chron. 6:37,3837Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly; 38If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name: (2 Chronicles 6:37‑38)).
Since the Son of God was put to death in Jerusalem, those who believe in Him do not pray toward that city, or any city on earth. But wherever they are, they may pray to God in the name of the Lord Jesus, and He has said He will hear. God does not always deliver His people from danger as He did Daniel, but He will always be their comfort and reward.
ML 07/26/1942