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Daniel in
the Lion's Den The king realized too late that the princes had tricked him into passing such a law. The king ordered that Daniel be cast into a den of lions. The king hoped that Daniel’s God would deliver him, saying, Thy God who thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. A large stone was placed over the den of lions and was sealed. The king was so worried about Daniel that he couldn’t sleep that night. The first thing the next morning, the king went to see if Daniel had been killed. He cried out to see if Daniel was alive and Daniel answered him, My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me. The king was overjoyed and had Daniel pulled out of the lions den. Daniel was a great man of faith and prayer. When he had to choose between praying to God or facing death for his beliefs, he was faithful to God. In this particular instance, he was protected all night by an angel when he was thrown in a den of lions. We have his example to be faithful and stand up for God. The closing of the lion’s den with a great big stone seal reminds us of the closing of the tomb of Jesus after he was taken down from the cross. In both cases God worked the impossible to save his faithful servants. In the case of Daniel he was saved from the Lions and great glory and honour came to God and in the case of Jesus he was resurrected from the dead. Both stories teach us that God is able to do wonderful things. With God all things are possible. God is not limited by human boundaries and paradigms. God’s way leads to eternal life. God can out manoeuvre all human endeavours and will always be able to check mate the plans that work against his purposes for good. If this is true then what is the point of investing our time and energy in those things which are not of God. Daniel was a man of the world. He held down an important job, had a successful career and enjoyed status, power and wealth. Yet never, never, never did he let his career, his job, his status or his wealth get in the way of his relationship with God. Three times a day he turned to God in prayer just as he had always done we are told. When faced with difficult ethical issues, he was unflinching in his determination to do things God’s way. Running through the centre of his core, his life and his career was his relationship with God who remained his plumbline throughout. What an amazing witness he is to us all. At the service of remembrance for those air men who died in the helicopter crash the following reflection from Michael Josephson was shared: Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass on to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too your hopes ambitions plans and to do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It wont matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It wont matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant. So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured? What will matter is not what you bought but what you built Not what you got but what you gave What will matter is not your success but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, Compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence but your character. What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is not how long you will be remembered but by whom and for what. Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters. Thanks be to God for the courage and witness of men and women like Daniel. Thanks be to God for Jesus our Saviour who died for us for the forgiveness of our sins, so that we could have a relationship with God and who is also the one who rose from the dead so that we might come to understand that what really matters is that which lasts for all eternity, the life we live in the presence and company of God both in this world and the next. Amen. |
