The story of Daniel is one of those stories in the bible where the hero triumphs over evil. Of course the Bible is full of stories like this one, but I want to dive in to that one today. Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, (or as they are more commonly known, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego), had been taken as captives along with several other young men into the city of Babylon. The young men had been given food from the king' s table. The finest delicacies to ensure these men could become strong and workable young men. Right from the beginning, we see that Daniel is different from the others. He decides that he does not want to defile his body with the king's food and instead, he proposes to the servants that for the next 10 days to just eat veggies and drink nothing but water. The servant consented with the idea and after the test period, Daniel and his friends were healthy and stronger then the other men. This came to be known as the Daniel Fast and many churches and individuals continue to do it to this day. Anyway, back to Daniel. Daniel and his friends grew in wisdom and knowledge in literature and in God and Daniel was given the gift of dream interpreting. Over the course of Daniel life, this gift came in very handy. After being in Babylon only a year, the king had a terrifying dream. He went to his advisers and asked them to translate it for him. They were unable to, and so Daniel was brought in and he explained the dream to Nebuchadnezzer. This happened twice while Nebbie K was king. Years later, King Beltshazzar was having a party and a hand appeared on the wall and wrote words in an unknown language. Daniel was called in and he told him that his kingdom was going to fall and be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Now we come to the part of the story that is more well known than the rest. During the reign of King Darius, Daniel was appointed as one of his governors. Again the king had a dream and again Daniel interpreted it. This made the king very happy and he made Daniel second in the kingdom only to him. Naturally, the other governors did not like this Israelite coming in a ruling over them. So they devised a plot to get rid of him. They found out that Daniel prayed to God every day, at least 3 times a day. So they made a law that everyone should worship the king only. If anyone worships any one else, they shall be thrown in a den of lions. Of course, Daniel knew that what God says is more important than what man says, so he continues to pray to God. Then the other governors catch him in the act and they bring him before the king. Although the king is devastated about losing Daniel, he has to follow his own rules that he set in stone. So Daniel is thrown into the lion's den. King Darius is heartbroken. He is anxious all night completely unable to sleep. As soon as the sun is up, the king rushes to the pit and cries into the pit, "Daniel, are you there? Did you survive the night with the beasts?" "Hello, your highness. It was the coolest thing. My God closed the mouth of the lions and we all slept in peace. It was awesome." King Darius decree that everyone should now worship Daniel's God. In addition, the governors who proposed the law were thrown into the pit and tore apart before they even hit the ground. Daniel went on to serve under one more king and he never stopped trusting in God to take care of him. Let us all be like Daniel, and trust that when he says something, if we fully trust him, he will protect us.
Adam Semple- a young man on a mission.
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