Lion Tamers
I. Introduction
The king of the jungle. Fierce. Loud. Teeth bared. Claws sharpened. Ready to pounce. Ready to destroy. Infinitely powerful. Striking fear in everyone! Lions. One of the top attractions at zoos and circuses! We don't mind watching them when they are caged up and at a safe distance. However, the truth is most of us, even though we may not have on the costume, carry a whip, or have a chair handy, are daily squaring off against lions. An issue, a sickness, a relationship, a reoccurring problem that is just as much a man eater as if it had a mane and a nerve shaking roar. So how do we tame lions? How do we handle the beast that is trying to handle us? Remember our first 3 Lion Tamer Truths? Lion Tamers need a good eye doctor. We have to guard our eyes. Lion Tamers will face lions. You only get honey when you are hunted!
II. Text
Daniel 6:4-23
4-5 The vice-regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel's life that they could use against him, but they couldn't dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct.
6-7 The vice-regents and governors conspired together and then went to the king and said, "King Darius, live forever! We've convened your vice-regents, governors, and all your leading officials, and have agreed that the king should issue the following decree: For the next thirty days no one is to pray to any god or mortal except you, O king. Anyone who disobeys will be thrown into the lions' den. 8 "Issue this decree, O king, and make it unconditional, as if written in stone like all the laws of the Medes and the Persians."
9 King Darius signed the decree.
10 When Daniel learned that the decree had been signed and posted, he continued to pray just as he had always done. His house had windows in the upstairs that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt there in prayer, thanking and praising his God.
11-12 The conspirators came and found him praying, asking God for help. They went straight to the king and reminded him of the royal decree that he had signed. "Did you not," they said, "sign a decree forbidding anyone to pray to any god or man except you for the next thirty days? And anyone caught doing it would be thrown into the lions' den?" "Absolutely," said the king. "Written in stone, like all the laws of the Medes and Persians."
13 Then they said, "Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles, ignores you, O king, and defies your decree. Three times a day he prays."
14 At this, the king was very upset and tried his best to get Daniel out of the fix he'd put him in. He worked at it the whole day long.
15 But then the conspirators were back: "Remember, O king, it's the law of the Medes and Persians that the king's decree can never be changed."
16 The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions' den. But he said to Daniel, "Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this."
17 A stone slab was placed over the opening of the den. The king sealed the cover with his signet ring and the signet rings of all his nobles, fixing Daniel's fate.
18 The king then went back to his palace. He refused supper. He couldn't sleep. He spent the night fasting.
19-20 At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?"
21-22 "O king, live forever!" said Daniel. "My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I've been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I've done nothing to harm you."
23 When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn't a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.
III. Lion Taming Truths
From this encounter with a lion Daniel teaches us some powerful Lion Taming Truths.
A. Lion Tamers know that they don't face lions when they face them.
Most people usually focus on Daniel’s courage in the lions’ den itself. But what’s curiously missing from the whole story is any description of Daniel’s experience in it. Not one word!We don't really know if he was brave in the den or not. He could have spent the evening crouched in the corner for all we know!
One hundred and fifty-three verses on his life before the lions’ den. Aside from when he tells the king that God had shut the mouths of the lions, zero describing his time in it.
That is because Daniel wasn't facing lions when he was in the lion's den. He faced the lions before he faced them! We try to be like Daniel in the lion's den but if we are going to be lion tamers we must be like Daniel before the lion's den. Be like Daniel who prayed every day and had integrity. Be like Daniel and serve God continually in every aspect of your life. Have the courage and faith to live in such a way that God actually has a platform to show His faithfulness from. We try to wait until bad things happen and then in urgency develop a prayer life and a great faith. Daniel's den experience turned out the way it did because of his daily, ordinary, diligent prayer life and faith.
I think most people want a lions’ den experience. Maybe not the danger, but we do want to see God do huge things in our life. We want God to come through in big ways. Decisively display His deliverance. Show people that our God is still a God who can accomplish the impossible.
But most people will never have the opportunity to prove God’s faithfulness when we face lions because they have not proved their faith in everyday life before they faced the lion!
They’re not going to see God come through for them in a huge way financially because they haven’t learned to trust Him with 10% of what they have now.
They’re not going to see increased favor at work because they segregate God from their work.
They’re not going to see God use them in powerful ways at their school because they live in such a way that no one knows they even believe in God.
Daniel’s courage and faithfulness was shown in the way he lived that got him thrown into the lions’ den. Your ability to face and defeat lions will be determined by how you live and prepare before your face the lions. In fact, your victory or defeat is actually determined prior to the fight!
You had better square off against lust before you square off against lust. You had better deal with anger and revenge before you are given the opportunity to get mad or get even. You had better deal with pride before you are promoted!
B. Lion Tamers understand they are living a watched life!
The Bible declares that Daniel's enemies were looking for a way to accuse him. However, here is one of the greatest testimonies ever told in Scripture . . . "they couldn’t find anything in his life" worthy of digging up. He was totally pure and trustworthy! It was apparent that these folks were watching Daniel! Notice what happens! Daniel has lived at such a level of excellence that they have work to get him in trouble. So they make up a law forbidding prayer to anyone but the king to get him thrown in with lions. And yet he still prayed. That’s real courage. That’s real faith. And it was that courage and faith that became the setup for God’s display of faithfulness.
News flash . . . people are watching you! Lion Tamers must realize that they are being watched constantly!
The problem is most of our enemies don't have to make anything up about us. We live at such a low level or so close to the edge refusing to avoid the very appearance of evil that they don't even have to lie to get us attacked. Most of us live in such a way that our enemies can just tell the truth about us and our witness, our testimony, and our God is diminished in the eyes of others. For some reason there seems to be very few lion tamers who are forced to face bogus lions because no one has to make anything up! We open the door to attack by low living! Oh that we would begin to live above reproach again. Jesus himself showed us this example. His accusers had to pay people lie about him.
It is imperative to remember that as lion tamers you are being watched. Your life is on display. Your testimony will either be established or destroyed by your daily walk.
In fact, the word for "Reproach" in Titus 1:6 (when we are told to live above reproach) means to live above accusation! Paul demands in Ephesians 5:5 that we are careful how we walk. Peter in 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
In other words, the enemy will exploit any let down you may have! Stay alert. Stay holy. Stay pure. You are being watched. Some of you need to make people lie! Make them have to make up something. Here is the million dollar question . . . when is the last time you got in trouble for something you didn't do?
