The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Daniel 6:16, “Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lions’ den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.”

Did you ever say something you wished you hadn’t, but couldn’t take it back? Did you ever do something you wished you hadn’t, but couldn’t reverse the damage it had done? If so, you will understand King Darius’ delimma.

He allowed the men in his service to trick him with flattering words, while simultaneously laying a trap for Daniel. Darius had agreed and signed into law as silly proclamation that said no one in his kingdom could ask a petition of anyone except Darius himself for a period of 30 days!

Yes, Darius was tricked, but Daniel was the victim. Those evil men knew that Daniel prayed to the LORD three specific times every day. They laid a trap for him and then tattled to the king. The result? The result was that Daniel was legally (although not morally) condemned to death in the lions’ den!

“Discoveries among the ruins of Babylon have shown that the mode

of punishment by throwing offenders against the laws to lions was actually

practiced there, and these discoveries may be classed among the numerous

instances in which modern investigations have tended to confirm the statements

in the Bible.”

If you’ve ever engaged in something only to find out later that you had been misled, you have some notion of how Darius must have felt. Too late he learned what he had done!

And every effort he exerted to deliver Daniel proved fruitless. All Darius could do was to try and encourage Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.” That was a pretty empty encouragement from Darius’ point of view. But Daniel had a faith of which Darius had no clue!

King Darius couldn’t sleep all night. Daniel rested quite well. Yet, no one knew what had happened until Darius raced to the lions’ den and cried out with a lamentable voice – a voice full of anxiety, a voice of grief: “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

“Then Daniel spoke to the king, ‘O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel

and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found

innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime’”

(Dan. 6:21-22).

Had everything ended there, it would have been a glorious conclusion to this whole messy thing. But there is more. It was customary in ancient times to believe (right or not) that a wrong perpetrated by person in point of fact included all of his family. Thus, the entire families of those men who wronged Daniel, were themselves thrown to the lions. This time there was no protective angel.

“…and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered

them and crushed all their bones” (v. 24).

Once again, moral rightness triumphs over immoral schemes. What does all of this mean

to your life? “Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? (Gen. 18:25). Absolutely! And we should always live so as to glorify Him!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”