“Daniel—Faithful and Fearless”

​YEAH! Church - Sunday, October 31, 2021

"Heroes of the Bible” – Many people know the story of how God rescued Daniel from being eaten by lions…but how he got there, was truly the remarkable part of his story!
Today’s Lesson - “Daniel—Faithful and Fearless”

Video Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cSC9uobtPM (The Bible Project – Overview: Book of Daniel for adults and older children)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEM_X25DWPk (Saddleback Kids – Daniel in the Lions’ Den)

Today’s Hero – Daniel (Book of Daniel)

The King of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar, had captured Jerusalem and brought many of the people to Babylon. He wanted some of the young men of Judah to be trained to serve in his palace—they had to be strong, healthy, good looking and able to learn the language and literature of the Babylonians. Daniel and three of his friends (whom we will talk about next week) were chosen.

Even though they were captives in the land of Babylon, Daniel was determined to serve God. When he was given food to eat that was against God’s laws, he asked to be allowed to eat just vegetables—and God kept him strong and healthy (ch.1). When the king wanted to know what a dream he had meant, he threatened to kill all his wisemen if they couldn’t tell him what he dreamed; God showed Daniel the kings’ dream and told him what it meant, so that Daniel could then share it with Nebuchadnezzar. The king was so impressed he made Daniel the ruler of the whole province of Babylon and over all his wisemen (ch.2). Daniel later tells the king the meaning of another dream that he had…but telling Nebuchadnezzar that he was going to go insane for seven years as a punishment from God for his arrogance, would not have been an easy thing to share with a man who could easily have had him killed (ch.4).

Later, Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar became the next king. One day he was having a huge party, but was disrespecting God. A finger began writing on his wall and the only person who could tell him what the message said was Daniel. Daniel told him that he was going to die and that very night he was killed and Darius the Mede became the next king that Daniel served (ch.5).

Darius recognized how wise Daniel was and decided to put him in charge over the whole empire, but some of the other wisemen grew jealous and decided to get rid of Daniel. They tricked Darius into signing an irrevocable law (once it was signed it couldn’t be unsigned) that would force everyone to worship only the king or be fed to the lions as punishment. In all Daniel’s years of living in Babylon, he had always been faithful to God and so, despite what the new law required, he continued to pray to God. Daniel’s enemies then went to the king, told him and then the king was forced to throw Daniel in with the lions.

King Darius had tried to find a way to save Daniel, but there was nothing he could do. He knew he had been tricked into making a bad decision and that night he didn’t sleep at all. The very next morning, he went to the lions’ den and discovered that Daniel was still alive—God had protected him. The same would not be true of the men who had tricked Darius; he had them thrown into the lions’ den after Daniel was rescued and not one of them survived (ch.6).

Even though a captive in Babylon, Daniel was always faithful to serve God. His life wasn’t easy and he could have been scared and stopped practicing his faith to stay safe, but Daniel knew that it didn’t matter where he lived…just how faithful to God he was. During Daniel’s life God continued to give him wisdom and showed him many dreams which are included in the other chapters of the Book of Daniel (ch.7-12).

Engage:
• Daniel was taken as a captive while still just a young man. How do you think Daniel felt when he was dragged off to Babylon?
• No matte how he felt, Daniel determined to be obedient to God. How might he have responded differently?
• Daniel worked hard in all things and was often put in charge. How did others working for the Babylonian/Persian kings feel about this?
• Even when his life was threatened, Daniel always trusted God with his life…whether he lived or died, he was determined to please God. Could you be that faithful in the midst of such fearful circumstances?

Theme verses:
Daniel 6:22, NLT - “My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight.”

Prayer – Dear God, thank you for helping Daniel to be so brave and to faithfully obey you in a time when it would have been much easier just to go along…just to stay alive. Help me to be like Daniel so that, even if I find myself in a scary place, I never stop being obedient to you.
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~ Pastor Jane