Trust in God

-the story of Daniel

Josh Mackay
September 2013
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Trust in God
The story of Daniel
Having been taken from his home at a young age, and been
through the training with Shadrach, Meshach and AbedNego (see God Honours Obedience the Story of Shadrach,
Meshach and Abed-Nego), Daniel came to prominence with
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, before his friends faced
the fiery furnace.
King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and wanted to know what
the meaning of the dream was. He called in all his advisers and
wise men and asked them to tell him what the dream meant.
They answered him, saying, Oh king, live forever! [This seems
to be the statement anyone made when they spoke to the king.]
Tell us what you saw in the dream and we will tell you what
it means. However, Nebuchadnezzar was a man of very high
expectations. He told his advisors: No, you tell me what I saw
in my dream. If you can do that then I know you will tell me its
true meaning. If I tell you what I saw, how do I know you will
not just make up its meaning? He then added, And if none of
you can tell me my dream and its meaning then I will kill you
all!

Understandably, the kings advisors were very upset to hear

this and they spoke to the king saying, This is impossible. No
one can know what the king saw in his own dream. No king
has ever asked such an impossible task of his advisors. This
just made Nebuchadnezzar furious and he demanded that all
his advisors and all his wise men be killed, even the ones who
were not there.
So, as the kings guards began following the kings orders, they
found Daniel and his friends to kill them, as they were also
part of the kings wise men. Not knowing anything about the
kings demand, Daniel asked why they were to be killed, so
the guard told him about the dream. Daniel went and spoke
to the king and asked for some time so that he might tell the
king his dream and its meaning. Daniel returned home, told
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego and they prayed together.
That night, God gave Daniel the same dream that He had given
to Nebuchadnezzar the night before; He also told Daniel the
interpretation of it.
The next morning, Daniel returned to the king, telling him that
God had shown him the dream and its meaning. He went on
to explain to the king all he had seen and all that it had meant.
The king was astonished and fell down before Daniel saying,
Surely your God is the God of gods. And he gave Daniel gifts
and promoted him.

What Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream and the meaning of

that dream are very important, but it goes well beyond just
looking at the life of Daniel. This incident just gives us a very
good picture of how demanding Nebuchadnezzar was and
also how Daniel was able to trust in God. Daniel remained
a close advisor and even friend to Nebuchadnezzar for many
years; however, even though people always said to him, Oh
king, live forever, he didnt. Nebuchadnezzar died and his
son, Belshazzar, became king, but he did not have the same
relationship with Daniel that his father had.
One day, Belshazzar was having a massive party. He and all
his guests were drinking a lot of wine. Belshazzar thought it
would be good to get the things that had been taken from the
temple of God when his father had defeated Jerusalem. So the
guests at the party were having a good time, using the things
that were to only be used by the priests serving God in the
temple.
Then something quite amazing happened. On the wall that
was opposite from the lampstand, a hand of a man appeared
and the finger of the hand wrote in the plaster of the wall. It
wrote the words: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Seeing
this, the king became very frightened (it actually says that his
knees knocked against each other). However, the king did not
know what the writing meant, so he called for his advisors and

wise men, offering them a very large reward for anyone who
could tell him what the writing meant. One by one the advisors
and wise men came, but no one could understand the writing.
The king became very upset with this and so the queen came to
comfort him. She said to him, Oh king, live forever! (It seems
even the kings wife had to say this to the king). There is a
man who helped your father whenever he had something that
needed to be solved. This man, Daniel, whom your father made
chief of all the wise men and advisors, will be able to tell you
what this writing means.
So the king called for Daniel and promised him a great reward.
However, Daniel said, Keep the gifts for yourself or reward
someone else, but I will tell you what the writing says anyway.
Daniel explained that this was a message from God to the king
because of his pride and arrogance. The words can be directly
translated like this: mene is to number, tekel is to weigh or
measure, upharsin is to divide.
Daniel said to Belshazzar, This is the message from God: Your
life and your kingdom have both been numbered and they are
at an end. You have been weighed in Gods scales and you have
not measured up. our kingdom will be divided and given to the
Medes and Persians.
That very night, Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was killed and
Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.

It was interesting what God said of Belshazzar: You have

been weighed in Gods scales and you have not measured up.
Ultimately, all of us will be weighed in Gods scales at the end
of our life. To try to understand this, think of the type of scales
or balances where you have a basket or tray on each side of a
pivot point. You put your known weight on one side (eg. two
kilograms) and you put the thing you are trying to weigh on
the other (eg. some lollies). If one is up and the other is down,
the things do not measure up. You adjust the amount; when
they are both level we know they are the same weight, or they
measure up.
Now imagine those same scales, but instead of the two kilogram
weight on one side imagine God, and instead of lollies on the
other side imagine that you are standing there. Are you going
to measure up to God? It is not possible, is it? How can we
measure up to God when He is perfect? Who could measure
up; who is the one person who was perfect? Jesus was perfect.
He could measure up.
The only way that we can measure up to God is if Jesus is on
those scales with us. The only way that we can have Jesus on
those scales with us, then, at the end of our life, is if He is a part
of our life now. He can be with us now, helping us day by day,
so not only will we be able to measure up then, but so that He
can help us to be living Gods purpose now.

Darius took over the kingdom and quite quickly found Daniel
to be a very wise man who was very successful. Darius had
120 people overseeing the running of the kingdom; those 120
reported to three governors. Daniel was one of those three
governors. It soon became clear that Daniel was better than the
other governors, and than all the overseers.
Some of these men became jealous of Daniel and spied against
him to see if they could find him doing something wrong so that
they might report it to Darius, but they could not find anything.
They did discover that he prayed to God three times a day. So
they came up with a plan to try to trick Darius into having
Daniel killed. They spoke to Darius, telling him that because
he was such a great king that no man should be allowed to
seek any god or man, apart from the king, for 30 days. If they
did then they were to be thrown into a den of lions. Because
they told Darius about how great he was, he agreed to the law
without really thinking about what it might mean.
When Daniel heard about this, he was upset; however, he went
to his room, opened his window, knelt down, and prayed. Just
as he always had done. No sooner had he done this than those
who had sought to have him killed came rushing in and arrested
him. They took Daniel before Darius and told him that they had
found him praying to God, which was against the law for the
next 30 days.

Darius became very angry with himself because he now realised

what he had done; that he had been tricked into making a law
that would have his best advisor and very close friend killed.
He spent the day trying to work out a way to save Daniel but
he could not, because the law of the Medes and Persians was
very clear. Once the king had made a law, that law could not
be changed, even by the king. So, by night, Darius knew that
he had no choice and he gave the order, and Daniel was taken
off to be thrown into a den of hungry lions.
Before he was taken away, King Darius spoke to him and said,
Daniel, your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver
you!
Darius went home to his palace, but he did not eat and he did
not sleep all night, because he was so worried about Daniel.
First thing in the morning, Darius raced down to the den and
called out with a sad voice saying, Daniel, servant of the living
God, has your God been able to deliver you from the lions?
But he did not expect a reply, because he was sure Daniel had
been killed by the lions.
Daniel called out, Oh king, live forever! (It seems that the
Medes kept some of the traditions of the Babylonians). I am
still here. God has saved me and shut the mouth of the lions
because I am innocent before Him and I have done nothing

against you either. Immediately, Darius had Daniel taken out

of the den. He also had those who had brought the accusations
against Daniel thrown into the den in place of Daniel. The Bible
says that these men did not even reach the bottom of the den
before the lions had eaten them. Those lions must have been
pretty hungry having had Daniel sit there all night and not
being able to touch him.
Daniel is one of the greatest men in the Bible. The amazing
events that have been spoken of here are only some of the events
of Daniels life. On top of these things, Daniel is also one of the
greatest prophets in the Bible. God revealed more to Daniel
about the end times than he did to just about anyone else.
So, what do we learn from Daniel? To trust in God! Throughout
his entire life, Daniel trusted in God. From the time he was
taken by King Nebuchadnezzar when he was still a teenager,
he trusted in God. When he faced death because the king was
demanding something impossible, he trusted in God. When a
very difficult message needed to be told to King Belshazzar, he
trusted in God. When men conspired against him and against
his commitment to God by outlawing prayer, he trusted in God
and prayed as he did every day. When faced with a den of lions,
he trusted in God. At every point, God was worthy of Daniels
trust, just as He is worthy of yours.