In Every Time of Trouble

The Come, Follow Me lesson this week says this about the book of Daniel: “We can all benefit from the example of people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who were taken captive as young men by the mighty Babylonian Empire (see 2 Kings 24:10–16). These young people were surrounded by an unfamiliar culture with different values, and they faced great temptations to abandon their beliefs and righteous traditions. Yet they remained true to their covenants. Like Joseph in Egypt and Esther in Persia, Daniel and his friends in Babylon kept their faith in God, and God worked miracles that still inspire believers to this day.” One of the themes of this book is that we should fear God more than man, and these four Israelites among the Gentiles showed us incredible examples of this principle. We see this first in how they responded to the requirement to eat the king’s meat which was contrary to the Law of Moses that Jehovah had given them. They were in a foreign land and had been taken captive by the Babylonians, and despite the danger such a position put them in, we read, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” In the well-known story he boldly put forth a test to see what would happen after a short period of eating food consistent with the Lord’s commandments, and sure enough “at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat” (Daniel 1:8,15). Daniel feared offending God more than he feared offending the king or his servants, and he acted accordingly. That is the kind of faith that we all need in a world increasingly antagonistic to the Lord and his commandments.

                We see the same theme of course in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. The king “made an image of gold” and commanded his people to worship it, declaring that “whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Despite the danger, these three young Jews refused and “Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.” Faced with an angry monarch who had absolute power over his people, most of us would falter and agree to whatever was needed to not suffer death by fire. But not these three; they boldly declared, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:1,6,13,16-18). What incredible faith and trust in the Lord they had! Again they feared God more than they feared man, and they stayed true to commandments of Jehovah who had declared, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20:3-5). They trusted in Him and kept this commandment no matter what consequence might come to them. Surely that is the kind of commitment to keeping the commandments of the Lord that we all need as we navigate the spiritual Babylon that we too live in.

                The other famous story in the book of Daniel that illustrates this same principle is the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. King Darius agreed to a decree saying that “whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.” I love Daniel’s bold response to this declaration: “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (Daniel 6:7, 10). He did not fear the people or the king; he did not try to hide his faith or pretend that he was going along with the new requirement. No, at peril of his life he boldly prayed to the Lord out loud with his windows open and continued to put his trust in the true and living God. No mortal, however powerful, could deter him from worshiping the Lord. In short, he again feared God more than he feared man, and of course the Lord blessed his faith and delivered him from the lions. These stories are powerful lessons for each of us who, as we strive to follow the Savior in an increasingly wicked world, will face our own tests of faith. The words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph, who momentarily let his fear of another man blind him to the faith he should have had, summarize the principle this way: “You should not have feared man more than God…. You should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble” (Doctrine and Covenants 3:7-8). We see that this promise was fulfilled in every way for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and it will be true to each of us who put our trust wholly in Him.