What do you do when you come face to face with a lion? In the story of Daniel and the lion’s den, Daniel is threatened with being thrown to the lions if he prays to anyone other than King Darius. Famously, Daniel remains steadfast in his faith and so is cast to the lions. We may not face lions but every Christian faces pressure-packed moments that test our trust in God.
Maybe one day you get a call from your doctor, and the news isn’t good. Your heart drops to the floor, and you feel a kind of panic, as if a lion were charging right at you. Maybe you’ve dreamed of retirement for years, but when you see that balance on your retirement account, a wave of anxiety floods your heart, like Daniel must have felt as he awaited his fate.
Maybe, like Daniel, you feel the pressure to compromise your faith, to conform to our culture rather than remain steadfast. I certainly feel the pressure to be timid when I should be bold.
What do you do when you come face to face with these lions? If you’re like me, you’re prone to turn inward and try to solve the problem yourself. Or maybe you’re tempted to look outward, to the wisdom of the world and what everyone else is doing. Or maybe sometimes you just feel like giving up.
The story of Daniel is a lesson in how to respond to these lions. Instead of looking inward, outward, or giving up, you can look up to the living God, who will deliver you and prosper you for his glory. That doesn’t mean you won’t experience hardship. Daniel was cast into a den of lions. But it means that God will deliver you through trials and in the end, prosper you for his glory.
God’s promises are especially displayed in this story’s three great reversals.1 God reverses Daniel’s death, the king’s decree, and Daniel’s destiny.
God Reverses Daniel’s Death
Daniel “became distinguished above” the rest of King Darius’ officials (Daniel 6:3), and out of jealousy, his colleagues conspired against him and convinced the king to establish an ordinance that anyone who petitions to any god or man, except Darius, in the next 30 days should be cast into the den of lions (Daniel 6:6–7).
Incredibly, when Daniel hears about this decree, he just continues his normal routine:
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously (Daniel 6:10).
All that Daniel had to do was alter his routine just a little and he could have saved his life. But he doesn’t look inward to solve the problem himself. He could have at least tried to appeal to the king! He doesn’t look outward to the king or to what everyone else is doing. And he doesn’t give up. He gets down on his knees and looks up to the living God, trusting that he will deliver and prosper him for his glory.
And not only does God deliver Daniel; he reverses Daniel’s death.
“And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions” (Daniel 6:24).
“Maliciously accused” is an Aramaic idiom that is literally, “who had eaten his pieces.” God reverses the plot of those who had “eaten Daniel’s pieces”2, and instead of Daniel being eaten by the lions, they were the ones consumed.
This first reversal proclaims the promise that those who trust in him, God will deliver.
God Reverses the King’s Decree
After witnessing the God who “saved Daniel from the power of the lions” (Daniel 6:27), Darius changed course and decreed that everyone should worship the living God, whose kingdom shall never end.
“I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end” (Daniel 6:26).
Through this reversal, God reveals that in the end, his name will be glorified.
Darius’ kingdom was the largest empire the world had ever known3—far greater than the power today of the United States or China or Russia. But today, Darius and his kingdom are long gone. Scholars debate over who this Darius even was because Daniel’s account is the only surviving record we have of his name.4 But what has lasted is his confession: the kingdom of the living God shall never be destroyed.
There’s a lesson here about the power of a faithful witness. This reversal happened because Daniel trusted God. Who knows how God might use your daily walking with him, even when it’s unpopular. Daniel didn’t do anything dramatic; he just continued his simple practice of prayer, and God used it to change the heart of nations. Do you want to change the world? Pray, and seek to live your life with integrity before God.
There’s an even bigger reversal happening here, too. This story takes place in Babylon, the site of the tower of Babel. Early in humanity’s history, people gathered at this site to build a tower, to make a name for themselves. God had commanded them to fill the earth with his glory, but instead, they chose to gather in one place and seek their own glory. And God responded by confusing their languages and dispersing them throughout the earth.
Now here, in that same city, Daniel – instead of making a name for himself like the other officials and like Babel before them – serves the Lord. And God responds by delivering and prospering Daniel in such a way that God’s glory is spread throughout the earth, like he originally intended. The whole kingdom of Persia—the greatest the world had ever known—is told of the living God, the God who delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
God Reverses Daniel’s Destiny
The story concludes with this: “So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (Daniel 6:28). After reversing Daniel’s death and the king’s decree, God reverses Daniel’s destiny. Through this final reversal, God promises to prosper those who trust in him.
When you come face to face with one of life’s lions, remember that far from defeat, your sure destiny is to prosper, to share in the victory and glory of God himself, to experience all the blessings of living in his eternal Kingdom.
Rather than looking inward or outward, or giving up, look up to the living God and remember his promise to deliver and prosper you for his glory.
The One in Whom We Trust
Daniel was a man of profound trust in God. But he’s not only an example to us; he also points us to the one in whom we trust.5
When the rulers of Jesus’ day conspired against him and sought to manipulate the higher authorities into executing him, professing that they had no king but Caesar, Jesus had perfect trust in his Father. He prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done.” Like Daniel, Jesus was arrested while praying. And like Daniel, Jesus was abandoned and left alone to die.
But unlike Daniel, Jesus actually dies. There was no angel to comfort or deliver him.6 He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Daniel’s trust delivered him from death. Jesus’ trust delivered him to death. Because in order to deliver and prosper Daniel and in order to deliver and prosper you and me, the price for our sin had to be paid.
None of us lives a perfectly righteous life. We all neglect what God commands. We fail to pray faithfully, and we cave to the pressure to compromise our faith. Jesus was forsaken that he might deliver us.
And like Daniel, at early sunrise, Jesus was found alive. But unlike Daniel, on whom we’re told no harm was found (Daniel 6:23), Jesus had scars to show. Thomas saw the mark of the nails on his hands and placed his hand in Jesus’ side. The blameless one was harmed, that he might deliver you from harm.
When you come face to face with a lion, remember the lessons of Daniel. Don’t look inward to yourself; don’t look outward to the wisdom of this world, and don’t give up. Look up to the living God who will deliver and prosper you for his glory.
1 Cf. John E. Goldingay, Daniel, 124f.
2 Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, 187.
3 Miller, 177.
4 Cf. Miller, 171f.
5 Many of the following comparisons are from Goldingay, Daniel, 136.
6 Cf. Iain M. Duguid, Daniel, 103.
David J. Schuman is Senior Pastor of Lakeview Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Vernon Hills, Illinois.