Lent day 12

 17A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed.

18Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him.

19At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions. 20When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

21Then Daniel replied, “O king, may you live forever! 22My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”

23The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Darius Honours God

25Then King Darius wrote to the people of every nation and language throughout the land: “May your prosperity abound. 26I hereby decree that in every part of my kingdom, men are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel:

For He is the living God,

and He endures forever;

His kingdom will never be destroyed,

and His dominion will never end.

27He delivers and rescues;

He performs signs and wonders

in the heavens and on the earth,

for He has rescued Daniel

from the power of the lions.”

28So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrusa the Persian.

The kingdom over which Darius and then Cyrus ruled was vast. Because of Daniel's miraculous survival in the lion's den the order was given that across the whole of this huge empire God was to be worshipped as the living, eternal, rescuing and delivering God.  After decades of faithful praying, witnessing, counsel and courage the final result for Daniel was that God was proclaimed throughout a massive part of the known world.  

Remember what this cost Daniel.  He had been taken from his family, forced to comply with a foreign culture and deprived of the possibility of ever having his own children.  He had known both the favour and the wrath of kings and seems to have spent much of his life being hated by his co-workers who were jealous of his gifts.

As we shall see tomorrow, he didnt just change the face of the middle east he was also trusted with revelations which continue to speak to the church today.

No massive lessons come to me from todays reading. Just respect and amazement at one life so well lived.

PS  Am having a most interesting time praying for people in the midst of this fasting thing. Im not doing anything different apart from not eating, but God seems to be doing deeper and more lovely things when I pray with people.  And bringing unexpected opportunities to pray with people.  Its really interesting. Dont understand it at all.  But happy to be learning. And its getting harder now.  Am daily tempted to give up.