Hello everybody, and welcome in to episode 153 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Daniel 6 today and our focus is on How Can We Have Peace in the Middle of Trouble? Daniel in the Lion’s Den. We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Poland, Spain, Meghalaya, India, Uttar Pradesh, India, Salinas, California, Champagne, Illinois and Hutchinson, Kansas. Thanks for listening! Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
Back to the Old Testament today, and to one of the most well known Bible stories out there, and for good reason. Daniel and the lion’s den is a fantastic story, and an even better testimony to God’s faithfulness. As we’ve mentioned before, Daniel is a spiritual giant – a mighty man of integrity that was certainly a sinner, but was never charged with a sin by the Bible, so to speak, and, as far as we know, lived a life of faithfulness without scandal. Indeed, even the Babylonians struggled to find an issue to charge Daniel with:
4 The administrators and satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom. But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him. Daniel 6:4
What a wonderful testimony!! So, without further commentary, let’s read our chapter and savor the faithfulness of God.
Wow! Here’s our verse of the day, which is also our memory verse of the month:
Daniel 6:23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den. When Daniel was brought up from the den, he was found to be unharmed, for he trusted in his God.
Notice how Daniel had peace, even when he was in the Lion’s den. How is such a peace possible? Well, primarily, it comes from trusting fully in God. Here’s pastor Tony Evans, pointing us to that peace in his inimitable style:
What’s the definition of peace? Peace is not happy feelings. You know you can get a pill and it will make you happy. You can go out and go to the movies or something, and go to a comedy, and they’ll make you laugh, and maybe you’ll forget your problems for a while. That’s the superficial stuff. That’s what you call saccharin, cheap substitute. That ain’t the real thing. That’s just a covering, a coating. There’s nothing incomprehensible about that. You can comprehend that. That’s not what he’s talking about.
Two painters one time were in a contest and they said paint a picture of peace. One painter painted this sunset with the sun going down over the calm water and everything was just nice and, and slow and just kind of a calming effect. A nice picture but the other painter painted a picture of a storm. Dark the sky was dark and there was lightening and there was thunder and there clouds, dark clouds rolling over. And the waves were crashing against the rocks and things were chaotic. And in the corner of the painting at the bottom were two big stones with a bird in the middle singing. That’s peace.
Peace is when you’re still singing and the storm hadn’t died down. It’s still thundering. It is still lightening but you’re still singing. You know why? Because what God does when He gives you peace is give you an umbrella in the middle of the storm. You pull out your umbrella that doesn’t stop the rain. You pull out your umbrella that doesn’t stop the lightening. You pull out your umbrella that doesn’t stop the thunder but what the umbrella does is keep you from getting wet. That’s peace. Peace is where God’s calm and God’s tranquility overrule your concerns. That’s peace.
Oh, if it were somebody that testified. If there were somebody to come here today and give a testimony, I’d call Hanna. Because, in 1 Sam 1, she was worried that she couldn’t give birth to a son. And the Bible says that she threw herself before God. And she looked like a drunk woman she was so broken by her situation of infertility. And she threw herself before God and before she ever got the blessing of getting a baby it says, after she threw herself before God it says, and she got up and her sadness went away.
Oh, I’d call Daniel to testify. Because if Daniel was here this morning He would tell ya that they passed an edict and the edict said if you pray to any god except Darius for the next thirty days you’re gonna be thrown in the lion’s den. Daniel went home the Bible says with his shutters open, he got down, prayed like he always did giving thanks. When he did they threw him in the lion’s den, but this is what I like about it. It says” while he was in the lion’s den the Bible says he was at rest but the king who threw him in there couldn’t sleep all night long. That’s what I like, that’s a testimony. [That’s peace that passes understanding!]Tony Evans, “‘Overcoming Anxiety Strongholds,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans, 2015), Php 4:4–9.
Bible Memory verses for the month of June: Daniel 6:23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to take Daniel out of the den. When Daniel was brought up from the den, he was found to be unharmed, for he trusted in his God.
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