I learned a lot of Bible stories in Sunday School growing up, and one of the most popular tales was Daniel In The Lions\u2019 Den. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re not familiar with the story, stop right now and go give it a quick read<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Essentially, Daniel was a Jew who had become powerful in the kingdom of Babylon, but was condemned to death for praying to the one true God. They tried to execute him by throwing him into a den of lions, but God shut the mouths of the lions and he survived!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The end. Hooray for Daniel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The moral of this unique story<\/strong> was always something like \u201cGod protected Daniel from the lions, so he\u2019ll protect you too!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a child who struggled with anxiety and irrational fears, this was comforting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as I grew older, I started to get wise to the fact that\u00a0God doesn\u2019t always rescue everyone<\/a><\/strong>, and I struggled with that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I read through the story of Daniel and the lions again recently, I realized that Daniel\u2019s rescue wasn\u2019t the end of the story after all<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Daniel came out of the den unscathed, the pagan king of Babylon was absolutely dumbfounded. After a bit of housecleaning (read: tossing everyone who was involved in the plot to kill Daniel into the lions\u2019 den themselves), he did something incredible<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He was so in awe of what God had done in rescuing Daniel, that he \u201csent [a] message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world.\u201d Here\u2019s what the message said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. Because of Daniel\u2019s story, the most influential man<\/strong> in one of the most powerful kingdoms of that time declared that our God is the one true God, and he made sure that the entire world<\/em> knew it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God didn\u2019t save Daniel for Daniel\u2019s own sake. This is not a story about God promising to protect us \u2013 it\u2019s something better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel was faithful, and because of that, he had the unimaginable privilege of being used by God to spread the message of His greatness to the ends of the earth. God chose to protect Daniel that time, but He doesn\u2019t promise to always keep our physical bodies safe<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What you can<\/em> be sure of, is that God is always working<\/a> through your story. When you\u2019re faithful, He can use you to make His name great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter what becomes of this temporary body that I occupy, I can\u2019t imagine a better fate than being used by the Most High God to glorify his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For he is the living God,
and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
and his rule will never end.
He rescues and saves his people;
he performs miraculous signs and wonders
in the heavens and on earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n