Fresh Start Devotionals

He is Able to Deliver You While in captivity, Daniel excelled over many years and under several Kings. His success so angered the Babylonian bureaucrats that they plotted to destroy him. They searched for a character flaw in him, but couldn’t find one. Instead, they baited a trap. They convinced King Darius to sign an irrevocable law forbidding prayer to anyone but the king. Daniel’s custom was to face Jerusalem and pray three times a day. He did not change this practice when he learned of the new law. His enemies plotted and schemed and successfully caught Daniel breaking the law—they caught him in the terrible act of praying. They reported him to the King. The news deeply troubled King Darius. In a moment of vanity, he declared an irrevocable law that was about to destroy one of his closest advisors. He had no choice, he had to carry out the punishment prescribed by the law—to cast Daniel into the den of lions. The times looked bleak, but Daniel slept comfortably with the lions. When Darius asked Daniel if he was OK after spending the night with the lions, Daniel said, “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” (Daniel 6:22) God delivered Daniel; He was able! Neither Daniel nor his friends could stop the lion’s attack, but God could, and God did. The message is simple. Even when the worse that can happen does happen, God is still God! He is able to deliver you! Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).