Daniel and Darius
“Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him: and his sleep went from him.” Daniel 6:18
Daniel was sentenced to a den of lions because he refused to abandon his worship of the God of Israel and cower before Darius, the king of Persia. However, Darius favored Daniel and had a great hope that Daniel would be delivered by his God, but not a firm belief and trust that God would keep Daniel safe. Darius wasn’t the one who came up with the decree that if anyone asked a petition of any God or man for thirty days other than asking the king, he would be thrown into a den of lions (Daniel 6:7). Darius signed the decree. Perhaps he wasn’t considering who it might adversely effect or perhaps he felt compelled to sign it since he was the king, and the decree fed his ego. The men who came up with the idea of the decree were only trying to get rid of Daniel. If Darius did have a confident assurance that Daniel’s God would deliver him from the lions, then I believe he would have gone to bed and slept rather than tossing and turning all night. But that’s what we humans do when stressed and worried about some situation. We can’t eat or sleep, and we can’t function in our normal daily routine. We say we have prayed and turned our troubles over to the LORD, but we don’t act like it.
After his fretful night, king Darius arose very early and quickly made his way to the lion’s den. He hope that he would find Daniel alive and well, but he was fearful of what he might find. He might have had pictures in his mind of a mangled body or what was left of it, not a very comforting thought. He arrived and called out to Daniel in a sorrowful voice as if he didn’t expect a reply. He said, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?” It was then that the sweetest voice that Darius had ever heard rang out from the depths of the lion’s den, “O king, live forever”.
Daniel continued to speak to him, giving God all the credit for his safety and survival. Rather than becoming a victim, Daniel became a victor because of his faithful dependence on God. He was restored to his position in Darius’ court and remained there into the reign of Cyrus. God’s purpose for Daniel was to represent Him before the Gentile world and as an instrument by which God would reveal the future, both of which Daniel carried out faithfully.
Daniel is one of my favorite Old Testament figures because he was such a faithful servant of the most high God. There was not a hint of scandal in his life, and his dependence upon God was made evident by his life. We need some more Daniels in these days of fear, doubt, deception, and self-centeredness.