Friday after the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord
Posted on February 4, 2022 by under
Scripture: Daniel 6:20-28 (NKJV)
6:20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”
23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.
24 And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.
25 Then King Darius wrote:
To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:
Peace be multiplied to you.
26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end.
27 He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Devotion
When the king calls to him to see if he is still alive, Daniel responds to his call and confesses that his God sent His angel to shut the lion’s mouths. The Lord delivered Daniel because he was innocent in God’s sight. This doesn’t mean that Daniel was not a sinful man. It means that Daniel was righteous in God’s sight by faith, by repenting of his flesh’s sinful impulses and believing in God’s mercy. Nor was Daniel guilty of any offense against the king. For these reasons the Lord delivered him.
This is a picture of how God delivers us from the mouth of our adversary, the Devil, who walks about like a roaring lion. Though he is in our midst, we do not fear his accusations against us for our sins. Like Daniel, we are innocent in God’s sight, not in ourselves, but by faith that God forgives us for Jesus’ sake and clothes us with His righteousness.
The devil can do no injury to those who confidently believe in the true God. St. Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1). Forgiven and declared righteous by God, we then walk according to the Spirit. We put aside the flesh’s impulses and ignore the devil’s temptations, knowing he cannot harm us because we are in Christ.
Prayer: Almighty God, Who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
