Before the Lion's Den

If we were playing Head’s Up, and the card said “Daniel”, I would loudly yell “IN THE LION’S DEN!” You would immediately know who I was referring to. If I were to say “wouldn’t eat meat, but asked for vegetables”, it’s possible you would get the more obscure reference…or you might think the card said “vegetarian”. Either way, most of us know Daniel as the guy in the lion’s den. And yet Daniel’s obedience began long before he found himself in a pit of hungry wild beasts.

In Daniel 1:8 we read “Daniel resolved not to defile himself…” Daniel made a conscious decision to obey God, and he asked the one put in authority over him “to allow him not to defile himself”. He asked (a pagan eunuch placed over him in the nation where his people were held in captivity) for permission to obey the Lord. That request was granted, and God honored Daniel’s obedience.

Obedience isn’t really trending in 2022. Yet our Savior said “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” Why obey? Because we love Jesus. It’s also true our actions can speak louder than our words. Eugene Peterson wrote “Each act of obedience by the Christian is a modest proof, unequivocal for all its imperfection, of the reality of what he attests."

Daniel resolved to obey in a seemingly small matter. Those small acts of obedience, over time, gave him the courage to choose to follow God when it may have been unto death. Obedience trains and prepares us. Daniel and his friends knew their God. They knew what His will was for them. And they obeyed His voice.

What small act of obedience is the Lord calling you to today? Do you hear His voice? I pray more and more we will be a church who knows God, understands His will for us, and chooses to obey, whatever the cost. 

-Natalie Runyon