Daniel in the Lion's Den

Here is the latest devotion I wrote for my church recently.

Ephesians 6:13

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

As a young teenage boy, Daniel and other Hebrew boys, were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.  They were forced into a culture that did not follow God’s laws and their Jewish heritage.  But Daniel was faithful because he had resolved beforehand that he would not defile himself with the king’s practices (Daniel 1:8).  Even as a young boy, Daniel proved that he had a strong foundation that rested firmly on God’s word.  This was no accident.  It didn’t happen by chance.  It was a choice that Daniel chose to make daily.

Daniel was tempted, tested and tried over and over again during his captivity.  He consistently remained faithful even when his life was threatened by being thrown into the lion’s den for worshipping God.  He couldn’t possibly have known that God was going to save him and that no harm would come to him but he had made a choice to follow the one true God despite his circumstances and nothing was going to deter him from that choice.  Not even death.

Just like Daniel, we need to train ourselves to resist the temptations that this world offers.  Sometimes we feel like the world can bring us more pleasure than Jesus but the apostle Paul describes it best in Philippians 3:8  “Everything else is worthless compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ. “(NLT).  Why would we want to waste our time on futile pursuits when our prize could be Jesus? The only way that we will be able to have the kind of determination and resolve it takes to be a fully devoted follower of God, is to stay completely and consistently immersed in His word and to rely fully on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to look to Daniel as an uplifting example of how we can stand firm in our obedience to you even while we are surrounded in a culture that tries to distract us and pull us away from you.  Help us to know that nothing this world can offer us will compare to the greatness of knowing you. In your name we pray, Amen

Devotion written by: Ruth Wittenbrook