Daniel and His Friends Obeyed God | New Life Fellowship (2024)

FAQs

How did Daniel and his friends show faithfulness to God? ›

The chosen boys were given new identities—new names, new education, new culture. But Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah stayed faithful to the one true God and refused to make themselves unclean by eating the king's food. God blessed Daniel and his friends.

MAIN POINT: DANIEL OBEYED GOD BY NOT EATING THE KING'S FOOD.

He wanted boys who were healthy, handsome, and good learners to serve in his palace.

No Matter What Happens, Never Give Up on God

They went to the king to tell him of Daniel's violation. Yet even though all seemed lost, Daniel continued to trust God in faith. His life was spared, and he continued to be used by God to save others.

Even though they knew that they might die, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego still chose to obey God rather than the king. God rewarded their obedience by protecting them when they were thrown into a furnace full of fire.

God blessed these four young men and gave them knowledge and wisdom. Daniel also understood dreams. The king found them 10 times wiser and better than all the wise men, magicians and astrologers in his kingdom.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Hebrew names Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) are figures from chapter 3 of the biblical Book of Daniel. In the narrative, the three Jewish men are thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon for refusing to bow to the king's image.

Daniel is a story of a person being faithful to God. More importantly, the life of Daniel recorded in the Old Testament gives evidence of God's faithfulness. God knew Daniel – He knew Daniel's needs and what Daniel was struggling with – and it's clear that God cared for Daniel.

The book of Daniel offers readers of all generations an insight into God's promise and a pattern at work in history. The pattern reveals how humans and their kingdoms become violent beasts when they glorify their power and don't acknowledge God as their true King.

Daniel 1:3-16

Obedience means doing what God says in the timing and manner He says to do it. In order to obey, we must know what pleases the Lord—and that requires us to read and be familiar with Scripture. Then we trust the Holy Spirit to help us understand God's Word and to guide us.

Because of his righteousness and sensitivity to the promptings of the Spirit, he was greatly favored of God. The Lord blessed him with the gift of interpreting dreams and visions.

What is the moral lesson of Daniel in the lion's den? ›

In particular, the story Daniel and the lions' den gives us three separate lessons we can learn: The world will often turn their back on us and find ways to target our faith; We need to focus on God no matter the distraction or opposition we find in our lives; and God will always reward our faith in Him.

Personal faith

Some scholars believe that Daniel had a prayer chamber built on top of his house, with the windows permanently open toward Jerusalem. It was an act of faith on the part of an exiled Jew to pray three times a day toward the land from which he had been taken captive.

In Abraham, we see the very pinnacle of human obedience, humility, and faith. He exhibits very clearly that God is first in his life; Abraham has no other gods.

Perhaps the ultimate example of obedience in the Bible is found in Jesus' life and ministry. Throughout his time on earth, Jesus consistently obeyed the Father's will, even when it meant suffering and death on the cross.

Daniel teaches us how we can remain faithful to God even when we are surrounded by other religions and systems of belief. Daniel speaks to the challenge of being in the world but not of the world (see John 17:16).

Daniel continued to trust his God, even when the law was against him and even when the lions were surrounding him. We too must continue in faithfulness regardless of those surrounding us or the consequences we may face. Indeed, the prayer of the righteous is “powerful and effective” (James 5:16, NIV).

Daniel remains faithful to the God of Israel, while maintaining influence in the surrounding culture of Babylon. His visions offer guidance for faithfulness and hope of a future where evil hearts and rulers will one day come under the authority of the one true God.

God was the central aspect of Daniel's life. We find out later in the 6th chapter of Daniel that part of his daily routine was to kneel towards Jerusalem from his window and pray to God 3 times a day. Of course, this became the reason he was thrown into the lion's den.