DANIEL—A YOUNG MAN WHO REFUSED TO DO WRONG
Blake Brown
There are many interesting stories in the Bible that help us understand how God wants us to live. One of those accounts is about a young man who refused to do something he knew was wrong. Here is what happened.
A powerful king by the name of Darius was the ruler of the Medes and the Persians. Darius had gone to war against Belshazzar, king of Babylon. He killed Belshazzar, and took many people hostage, including Daniel, a young Israelite. Daniel apparently was an honest person who was a hard worker because Daniel 6:3 tells us that he “distinguished himself since an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought about setting him over the whole realm.” This made some of the people in the king’s court very jealous of Daniel. As a result, we read in Daniel 6:4 that “they sought to find some charge against Daniel, but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.” Even though Daniel had done nothing wrong, these evil men got together to try to figure out a way to get rid of Daniel. Here is what they decided to do.
They went to King Darius and convinced him that none of the people in his kingdom should pray for thirty days—unless they prayed to him as the king. The king fell for this trick, and signed a law which said that if any person prayed to anyone except to him for thirty days, that person would be thrown into the lions den to become food for the king’s lions.
Even though Daniel was one of the king’s most trusted servants, he believed in God and did his best to obey Him. Daniel knew that he would be violating the law if he prayed to God instead of to the king. Yet Daniel prayed to God anyway! In fact, Daniel 6:10 tells us that Daniel prayed to God three times a day—just as he had always done.
The evil men saw Daniel praying, and they told the king that Daniel had disobeyed his law. This news made the king very sad because he really liked Daniel. But the law the king had signed said that anyone who did not pray to him had to be thrown into the lions den. So, that is exactly what happened to Daniel.
During the night, however, the king was unable to sleep. Early
the next morning, he rushed to the lions’ den and called out to Daniel to see
if he was still alive. And he was! Daniel
yelled to the king, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they
have not hurt me” (Daniel 6:22). The king was so happy that he told his
servants to immediately remove Daniel from the lion’s den. The Bible says in
Daniel 6:23 that “no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.” Daniel’s belief in God—and the
fact that he was willing to obey God no
matter what—had saved him from being eaten by the lions.
When the king realized how the evil men had tricked him in order to try to kill Daniel, he was so angry that he ordered his servants to throw all of those men and their families into the lions’ den. And what happened as a result? Daniel 6:24 says, “The lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they even got to the bottom of the den.” The evil people who had tried to kill Daniel because of his belief in God ended up being eaten by the same lions they hoped would eat Daniel.
Daniel is a good example for us to follow because he prayed to God, even though the law said he should not. In Luke 18:1 Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray, and never lose heart.” Daniel did exactly that! In Acts 5:29, Peter told the Jews who had tried to keep him and the other apostles from preaching the Gospel, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” That is exactly what Daniel did! He obeyed God rather than men. And God blessed him for it. The lesson for us today is that we should always do what is right, even if someone tells us not to or tries to prevent us from doing so. In the end, God will take care of us—just like He did Daniel.