If I asked a group of kids in a Bible class who their favorite Bible character was, there’s a name that would come up probably multiple times. Names like David, Moses or Abraham, would probably come up as well but there’s one character in the Bible that receives a great deal of attention from Bible class teachers in kids classes. That name is Daniel. Now when I say the name Daniel, what instantly comes to mind? If you’re like most people when I said the word Daniel, you probably thought of a lion’s den. Little kids from New England to California all know the story of how Daniel was thrown into a den full of lions for praying to God three times a day. But what most kids, and even many adults don’t know is there’s far more to the account of the life of Daniel than him being thrown into a lion’s den. What I want to do is to see what we can draw from Daniel’s life, his whole life, and apply it to our lives today.
While we can’t be certain, most scholars would put Daniel in his early teen years when he was taken to Babylon. So, we likely have a teenage boy who is abruptly removed from his hometown and taken to a foreign pagan nation to serve a pagan king. Quite an overwhelming event for a boy of that age. Daniel, however, wasn’t shaken. Reading in chapter 1, verses 5 and 6 denote that King Nebuchadnezzar provided these Jewish captives with a daily supply of food, delicacies and wine. Notice verse 8 however…
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he wouldn’t defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
It’s here that we see the first of four key lessons we can learn from Daniel.
1. Daniel wasn’t willing to compromise his standards
Look at the verse again. It says that Daniel purposed in his heart not to eat of the food Nebuchadnezzar had provided. The phrase “that he might not defile himself,” suggests that the food King Nebuchadnezzar was serving was a kind of food that the Jews weren’t allowed to eat. Remember that the Jews had many dietary restrictions of foods that were declared unclean.
Here’s my point: Daniel didn’t have to uphold his Jewish standards. He was away from home, in a foreign pagan kingdom, without his parents around. He could’ve eaten the food without a second thought. A modern day example of this would be if a child goes to a friend’s house and they’re playing a video game or watching a movie they aren’t allowed to watch. Since parents aren’t around, this child can easily get away with playing the game or watching the movie. Same thing going on here. Daniel didn’t have to maintain his Jewish standards. But he did. This young boy had had the precepts of God – as well as integrity – so instilled in him, that it mattered to him whether or not he pleased God. It didn’t matter what everyone around him was doing.
According to the text, only Daniel and his 3 friends refused the king’s food. All the other captives ate whatever the king was offering. This didn’t matter to Daniel. He wasn’t going to compromise. This is an extremely important lesson for young people (and adults) to learn. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. It’s been the cause of many young people losing their faith. As followers of Christ we have to decide up front, just like Daniel, that we’re not going to compromise our biblical principles no matter what. Just as Daniel purposed in his heart, we must also determine that whatever comes our way, we’re not going to forfeit what we know is acceptable in the sight of God. Because the pressure will come. Somehow, someway you’re going to get negatively influenced by your peers, coworkers, etc. But if pleasing God and living according to His will truly is important to you, as it was to Daniel, it’ll be easier than you think. Decide right now that if something comes up you know is contrary to God’s word, you aren’t going to participate or condone that behavior.
We now fast forward several years to bring us to point #2. Nebuchadnezzar and his son have both died and a new king Darius is ruling the Babylonians.
2. God was THE central aspect of Daniel’s life
We find out later in the 6th chapter of Daniel that part of his daily routine was to kneel towards Jerusalem from his window and pray to God 3 times a day. Of course, this became the reason he was thrown into the lion’s den. As illustrated in point #1, there was nothing more important to Daniel than God. Everything in Daniel’s life revolved around God. Christians today can learn from this example. Many have heard the analogy of a wheel on a bike. The case for far too many Christians is that instead of being the central part that all the spokes revolve around, God is merely another spoke. He’s merely a part of our lives. Right along with sports, academics, hobbies, etc. This wasn’t the case with Daniel, nor should it be the case for us in our Christian walks today. He should be the fundamental, most important part of our lives, with everything else revolving around Him. Unfortunately it’s easy for God not to be on the forefront of our minds most of the day. Sometimes He simply enters our thoughts every now and then when we pray before a meal or when we sit through a Bible class. This isn’t the way we should treat someone whose incredible grace saves us each and every day. We’re supposed to love God with ALL of our hearts, souls, and minds. Don’t push God back to just being a part of your life. As shown in the life of Daniel, He needs to be the central part of your life that everything else revolves around.
3. Daniel used his influence
As Christians living in America, we are influenced by so much every single day. Some negative and some positive. Consequently, we also have the power of influence. The people we come in contact with, whether it be the waiter at the restaurant or the visitors at church on Sunday morning, we all influence in some way. Sadly, many Christians don’t use their influence to further God’s kingdom. Not all people are brought to Christ through direct evangelism. It starts with an example. If people can’t tell Christians apart from the rest of the world, we’re missing the first major step. Just look at Daniel. In chapter 2, after he interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the king proclaimed, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings…” (Verse 47). How incredible that would be! Daniel used his influence to influence the king of Babylon! This isn’t the only time however. In chapter 6, verses 25 through 27, after King Darius sees Daniel was spared from being eaten by the lions, he decrees that no one should worship anyone but the God of Daniel. Again, Daniel used his influence in an extremely positive and powerful way. While we as Christians today may never be able to have influence in changing laws like Daniel did, our influence can still be used for God’s glory.
4. Daniel didn’t waver when hardships arose
Most people who know the story of Daniel know the reason he was thrown into the lion’s den. The other administrators working under King Darius were exceedingly jealous of the king’s favoritism towards Daniel as well as his renowned success as governor (6: 3-4). So they tried to find something they could charge Daniel with, either in his ruling skills or his personal life that would diminish his influence with the king. But according to verse 4 of chapter 6, they couldn’t find any error or fault in Daniel because he was faithful. So, these satraps and governors trick the king into signing a law basically forbidding anyone in the kingdom to worship anyone as God, besides Darius. Chapter 6 of Daniel, verse 10 reads, “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” It wasn’t like Daniel wasn’t aware of the new decree. He was completely aware, but that didn’t matter to him. Again, pleasing God was the most important thing to him. This is an example of political hardship, but the Bible makes it crystal clear that if we’re following Christ the way we should, we are going to suffer persecution (John 15:20). It could be political, it could be personal. Either way, it’s crucial that we don’t succumb or yield to the enemy’s advances. We’re to put on the whole armor of God so that we’ll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16). Just like Daniel, our first priority should be whether or not we’re serving and honoring God.
There are many lessons we can learn from the life of Daniel that go far beyond him being thrown into a lion’s den. He was a faithful servant of God who didn’t waver or compromise when hardships arose. He put God first and foremost in his life and he was blessed for it. We can apply many of Daniel’s principles to our lives today. Next time you hear the name Daniel, I encourage you to reflect on his continuous examples of faithful servitude towards God rather than just to the picture of a guy sitting with lions.
By Will Harrub
