Daniel in the Lions’ Den: He Kept Praying

Daniel in the Lions' Den

King Darius ruled over a great kingdom, so big he needed many officials just to help him run it. Above all of them stood three leaders, and Daniel was one of the three.

Daniel did his work so well that the king began planning to place him over the entire kingdom. Some of the other leaders started looking for a reason, any reason, to accuse him.

So they watched him. They studied how he handled the king's business, hunting for a single mistake. They found nothing. No corruption, no neglect, not one thing to hold against him. Daniel was simply faithful in everything he had been given to do.

So the men realized that the only way to trap Daniel would be through his faithfulness to God.

So they went together to King Darius with an idea for a new law: for thirty days, no one in the kingdom could pray to any god or person except the king. Anyone who broke that law would be thrown into a den of lions.

They asked the king to sign it. And he did.

Daniel heard about the new law. Now he knew: praying to his God could lead straight to the lions' den.

But prayer was not new for Daniel. It was already woven into his everyday life, something he had done long before this law ever existed. So he went home. He went upstairs. He knelt by the open windows facing Jerusalem, exactly as he had always done.

Three times that day, he prayed and gave thanks.

The law had changed what the king allowed. Daniel simply kept doing what he had always done.

Daniel knew about the new law. He knew exactly what could happen to him if he was caught. And still, he went home and prayed, just like every other day.

Would you be scared, knowing what Daniel knew? Would you keep praying anyway, or would you want to hide, just this once, just to be safe?

If Daniel were sitting right here next to you, what would you want to ask him?

And there he was. The men found Daniel exactly where they hoped they would, on his knees, praying, asking God for help. Caught.

Straight to King Darius they marched. Hadn't he signed a decree, they reminded him, saying that anyone who prayed to someone other than the king would be thrown into the lions' den?

The king agreed. The law stood. That was the moment the men said Daniel's name.

Daniel, they said, was still praying to his God. Three times a day, out in the open, not even hiding it.

That was not the reaction the men expected. King Darius was not pleased with them at all; he was greatly distressed, and he wanted to save Daniel. The Bible says he worked at it all day, right up until the sun went down.

But the men would not let it go. The law could not be changed, they reminded him. He had signed it with his own hand. And now, strangely, even the king was trapped by his own law.

Think about that for a second: the king himself had signed the law, and now he wanted more than anything to save Daniel from what it demanded.

Daniel had never hidden his prayers. And the officials stood right there, insisting the king follow the very law he had written.

Right now, who seems more powerful, the king, or the law he signed? Does that surprise you?

Keep listening. This story is not over yet.

At last, the king had no way left to avoid it. He gave the order, and Daniel was brought to the lions' den.

Before Daniel was put inside, King Darius spoke to him: “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you.”

Then Daniel went in. A stone was rolled over the opening, and the king sealed it, first with his own seal, then with the seals of his nobles. And Daniel stayed there, in the dark, with the lions.

King Darius went back to his palace. But that night was nothing like an ordinary night.

He would not eat. He waved away the music and the entertainment that usually filled his evenings. And sleep never came.

All night long, Daniel stayed in the lions' den, the stone still sealed over the opening.

Then, at last, morning came.

As soon as there was light, King Darius hurried to the lions' den, faster than a king usually hurries anywhere, and came as close to the opening as he could.

He called out to Daniel. The Bible tells us his voice was filled with anguish, the voice of someone who truly did not know what answer he was about to hear.

“Daniel, servant of the living God,” he called, “has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

And then, from inside the den, a voice answered. Daniel was alive. “O king, live forever!” he called back.

Daniel explained it plainly: “My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths.” Not one of them had so much as touched him.

He had been found blameless before God, Daniel said, and he had done the king no wrong either. All through that long night, God had kept him safe.

King Darius was overjoyed. He gave the order at once: lift Daniel out.

When they looked him over, not a single wound was found on him anywhere. Daniel 6 tells us exactly why: because he had trusted in his God.

The lions had not harmed him at all. Daniel had gone into that den under the king's own sentence, and now he stood outside it, alive.

Daniel is out of the den now. Not one wound on him, the Bible says, because he had trusted in his God.

What part of Daniel's rescue do you like best? Is there something about that night you are still wondering about?

Some questions are not answered in the passage. That is okay, not knowing everything doesn't make the story any less true.

What we do know is enough to hold on to: God sent his angel, the lions' mouths were shut, and Daniel walked out alive.

After Daniel was rescued, King Darius did something remarkable: he sent a message throughout his entire kingdom, telling everyone about Daniel's God and saying that people everywhere should tremble before Him.

“He is the living God, enduring forever,” the king said.

He spoke of God's kingdom, God's power, and God's ability to rescue, and said plainly that God had saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

Daniel's story did not end inside that den. He went on to prosper through the reign of Darius, and then through the reign of Cyrus the Persian too.

As for the men who tried to destroy him, they did not succeed. Their law could put him in the den. The stone could seal the entrance. The king's own mark could sit on that seal. None of it could stop God from bringing Daniel out alive.

How to Talk About This Story With Your Child

This story often gets summed up as simply "being brave." But Daniel 6 hands us something more specific than that, and more useful.

Daniel already had a pattern of prayer, long before any of this happened. When the decree was signed, he did not suddenly invent some dramatic act of courage.

He went home, knelt down, prayed, and gave thanks, “as he had done previously.”

That small phrase matters more than it looks. Daniel's faithfulness was not a costume he put on for a crisis. It was simply who he already was.

It matters, too, not to invent Daniel's emotions for him. The Bible never says “Daniel wasn't afraid.” It never says “Daniel was terrified but chose faith anyway” either. It's fine to wonder together how he might have felt, that's different from stating it as fact.

What the passage gives us is Daniel's actions, and his prayer practice. That is plenty to build a story on.

And after his rescue, Daniel says that God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths. Daniel 6:23 also says no injury was found on him because he had trusted in his God. That is enough.

Daniel 6 also contains a difficult verse after Daniel's rescue: the king ordered severe punishment for the men who had accused Daniel, and for their families.

For a young child, you do not need to describe that punishment in detail. This Devotion keeps the story focused on Daniel's faithfulness, the lions' den, and God's rescue, which is where a young child's attention belongs anyway.

If an older child notices the later verse and asks about it, you can read the passage together and acknowledge honestly that it is a difficult part of the story. You do not need to pretend that every part of the chapter is easy.

Pray Together

You do not have to use these exact words. You can talk to God together in your own words. Or you can pray:

God, thank You for Daniel's story. Thank You that he kept talking to You, even when it was risky. Help us make prayer part of our everyday lives too, not only when something is wrong. When we are worried, or do not know what will happen next, help us remember that we can still talk to You. Thank You for hearing us. Amen.

Daniel served faithfully in the king’s government, so faithfully that when other leaders went looking for something wrong, they found nothing at all.

So they turned his faithfulness to God into a trap instead. A law was signed. And Daniel kept praying anyway, just as he always had.

He was thrown into a den of lions. Not even the king could save him from that. But God sent His angel, and shut the lions’ mouths.

In the morning, Daniel walked out alive, and no wound was found on him anywhere.

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