Powerpoint Pictures: Snail, Snake, Polar Bear, Goat, Baboon, Pigeon, Rabbit, Lion

Are the following animals dangerous or safe? [Snail; Snake; Polar Bear; Goat; Baboon; Pigeon; Rabbit; Lion]

You would not want to be left alone in room with a snake or polar bear and certainly not with a hungry lion, yet that was what happened to one old man.

After King Nebuchadnezzar, the next king to rule over Babylon was King Darius.  He had lots of people who worked for him, but out of all of them he found that Daniel was the most hard working and the best at his job.  So King Darius planned to put Daniel in charge of everything!

The other officials that worked for the king were jealous of Daniel.  They wanted to get him into trouble.  But Daniel hadn’t done anything wrong.  But they did notice something that Daniel did.  They saw that Daniel loved God and prayed to Him 3 times a day.

So they came up with a plan.  They persuaded King Darius to make a new law.  “Anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lion’s den.”

When Daniel heard about this law, he knew that he could not obey it.  He would rather be eaten by starving lions than disobey God!  The officials “found Daniel praying and asking God for help” and told the king what Daniel had been doing.

The king knew he had been tricked but he had no choice but to order that Daniel should be thrown into the den of lions.  But he hoped that God would save Daniel.

The next day he went to the lion’s den to see what had happened to Daniel.  He was expecting to see a pile of bones, but instead he found Daniel alive with not even a scratch upon him.  The mouths of these starving lions had been kept shut and God had protected Daniel all night.

Darius is thrilled by this news and so he writes a letter to everyone in the kingdom to tell them about how God saved Daniel.  It’s clear that in this foreign land of Babylon, God still had a plan for His people.