Lessons from the Lion's Den

To my son, 

               There are two lessons from the story of Daniel and the lion’s den that I think are important for you. Those who were jealous of Daniel convinced King Darius to make this decree: “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.” This meant that it was illegal for someone to pray to our Father in Heaven. I love what Daniel did when he found out about it: “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). As soon as he knew that it was illegal to pray, he went home and prayed. For him it was more important to show his devotion to God and to pray than to observe the evil decree of the king. So, the first lesson from this story is that we who can pray without fear should not take prayer for granted! If Daniel could pray even when he was risking his life, we can pray more often and more fervently. I hope that you will always remember to pray, morning and night, as you talk to your Heavenly Father. Remember the example of Enos that we learned about this week: he prayed “all the day long” and into the night to hear the voice of the Lord, and so we can certainly spend more than a few seconds in prayer ourselves. It really is a grand privilege. Just think of it: the Creator of the universe wants to hear from you and know your feelings and desires. He who has all power and all knowledge cares deeply about what happens to you and wants you to come to Him for help and guidance and strength.   

               The second lesson that I hope you remember from the story of Daniel and the lion’s den is that we should fear God more than we fear men. Despite the fact that everyone around him seemed to have no problem worshipping the king, Daniel knew in his heart what was right and wouldn’t stand for it. He was committed to serving the God of Israel and could not be convinced that evil was good and good was evil. It can be really hard to stand up for what is right when it seems that everyone around us believes differently. I heard of an interesting social experiment recently that was performed in 1968 in which students filling out a questionnaire were in a room that gradually started to fill with smoke. While the smoke of course was not a real fire, it should have caused every student to report it because it appeared to be just that. When the students were alone, they almost always immediately reported the smoke, naturally believing it was a dangerous fire. But when they were in a group, they were much more hesitant to report it. In one version of the experiment a student was put in a room with two others who knew about it so they intentionally said nothing when the smoke came. In that case, only ten percent of the students (those who saw the smoke but also observed that their peers did nothing about it) who reported it. Such is the power of peer pressure. But, like Daniel, we can be different and not afraid to speak up or stand up for what is right, even when others around us do not. President Monson once gave us the powerful invitation to “dare to stand alone” in a talk in general conference. He said this, “May we ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe, and if we must stand alone in the process, may we do so courageously, strengthened by the knowledge that in reality we are never alone when we stand with our Father in Heaven.” Daniel did just that, and he learned indeed that he was not alone because the Lord stood beside him and protected him from the lions. I hope that you and I will never be afraid to stand up for what is right and that we will show the Lord that we love Him more than we love the world. 

Love,

Dad