What would you have done if people who disliked you, sought to kill you because of the excellent spirit found in you? Just stay focused!
Daniel's colleagues envied him because of his excellent conduct and conspired to put him at loggerheads with the king - because the latter had plans to set Daniel "...over the whole kingdom" (v3b).
"They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent." (Dan.6:4) The only way Daniel could be faulted was through his beliefs.
So Daniel's enemies devised a plan by which the king obliged everybody in the next thirty days to pray only in the king's name or be thrown into the lions' den as penalty.
Daniel openly defied the ruling by praying three times a day with his windows opened - asking God for help.
The report reached the
king's ears who though sympathetic to Daniel's predicament, was helpless because he had signed the law.
Daniel was found guilty and thrown into the lions' den. The king prayed for him: "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!" (v16b)
A stone was rolled over the entrance and sealed - along with Daniel's fate.
That night king Darius was restless, he could not sleep.
Early at dawn, he hurried to the den to find Daniel alive. Daniel explained: "My God sent His angels and shut the mouths of the lions ... because I was found innocent in His sight." (v22)
Daniel was lifted out of the den and set free. His accusers with their wives and children were fed to the lions instead.
King Darius issued "a decree that in every part of his kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel." (v20)
The King further declared: "For Daniel's God is the living God and He endures forever, His kingdom will not be destroyed, His dominion will never end. He rescues and He saves; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." (v26-7)
What a testimony from the mouth of an unbeliever! "..because Daniel trusted in His God." (v23b)
Think about this! How far would you and I have gone?