Good vs. Evil: Trapped in the Lion’s Den
Preached on September 1, 2024
Satan is of the mindset that you may win battles but you’ll never win the war. This war can be a lion’s den and you may even feel like you’re trapped in it. This week, Pastor McCrary shows us what we must do to overcome this den of lions as he takes another like at the story of Daniel.
Introduction
When you believe you have finally overcome the enemy, the enemy will raise his head once again. If there is one thing true about the wicked and evil, no matter how often they are defeated, they will persist. Because the enemy will persist, we must not ever become complacent in our faith. Today, I am going to focus on how persistent faith is required in the lion’s den that is our world.
The Distinguished Worker
There is a war taking place today between good and evil. Daniel 6 opens with Daniel having won many battles in his life. He is now living under the Persian king, Darius, who had appointed him as one of three governors over 120 provinces of Persia (Dan. 6:2).
Then, because Darius saw that Daniel had an excellent spirit, he considered setting Daniel over the whole realm of Persia under him (Dan. 6:3). So, the once young slave that served in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar, was prospering.
With this information in mind, I want to continue to draw a parallel between Daniel and all of us sincere believers this week. The first parallel: As Daniel was a distinguished worker in the king’s eyes, we, the faithful believer, are distinguished workers in God’s eyes. We become distinguished workers through the renewing of our spirit by the Holy Spirit. We have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus and set apart from the workers of iniquity – the workers of wickedness and evil.
Second parallel: As Daniel was assigned to a high position in the Persian kingdom, we have been assigned to a high position by Christ. What is that position? Christ has made us stewards of the gospel – the sharing of the gospel is in our care. So, this is a position that we should treat with love, dignity, honor, and respect.
Third parallel: As Darius considered a promotion for Daniel because of his excellent spirit, our King has an even higher position in mind for us. We know that the Lord promises us everlasting life (John 3:16). But even more than that, God desires for us to reign (rule) with Him in His heavenly kingdom forever and ever (Rev. 22:1-5).
In the Lion’s Den
As we see with Daniel, in the battle of good and evil, you can and will prosper. However, evil does not love to see you prosper and so it will do everything it can to keep you from prospering.
The evil schemes of the wicked
With that in mind, as the king considered promoting Daniel, rather than being happy about a for him, his peers sought to find some charge against Daniel (Dan. 6:4). Many of us probably wouldn’t expect any other reaction from his peers. In fact, we have trained ourselves to expect that when good comes our way, trouble isn’t too far behind.
Now, you can imagine those wicked men searched all over the place to find something to use against Daniel. Wicked people love searching for skeletons in the closet of others when their skeletons are on display for the world to see! In Daniel’s case, we are told that they couldn’t find anything against him because he was faithful (Dan. 6:4). This means that Daniel was a disciplined worker that didn’t slip up in his duty.
Now, just because they couldn’t find anything to use against Daniel didn’t mean they would give up. You see, evil is a big proponent of the mindset, “you may have won the battle this time but you won’t win the war! So, those wicked men said amongst themselves, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God (Dan. 6:5).”
They made a plan that “whoever” made petitions (prayed to) any god or man that wasn’t the king was to be thrown into a den of lions (Dan. 6:6-7). Now, they said “whoever”, but make no mistake this plan was purposely crafted against Daniel! The fact that they came up with this plan tells us a great deal about the wicked and the evil!
These men studied Daniel! They knew there was no getting Daniel to ever stop being faithful to the Lord. They knew that Daniel was disciplined in his faith and would never stop praying to God! So they set a trap for Daniel in a manner that the wicked would call craft and wise.
As the wicked and the evil studied Daniel, you better believe the wicked and evil studies and knows you. As the wicked and evil sought to trap Daniel, you better believe the wicked and evil conspire against you. As the wicked sought Daniel’s demise, you better believe the wicked seeks our demise.
The Need for Vigilance
You must come to understand what Paul did: you may see flesh and blood but we aren’t wrestling against flesh and blood. We wrestle principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). Before he was ever thrown into a den of lions, Daniel was already dealing with some lions.
As Daniel was in a lion’s den, you – all of us – are in one as well. The lions we face are those wicked and those evil spirits. Even more is what Peter pointed out in a warning to all believers. Peter warned us that the devil, like a roaring lion, is out there seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8).
I feel we need to consider the ways of a lion to understand exactly what Peter meant. As hunters, lions are extremely patient as they can stalk their prey for long periods of time just waiting for their prey to slip up. If their prey aren’t paying attention, lions will slowly continue to creep in. Then, when their prey slips up, lions will ambush them, sink their canines in, and not let go until death.
As a roaring lion, the devil is a different beast in that he doesn’t bother trying to hide or sneak up on us! The devil wants us to know that he is there, biding his time! The devil wants you to fear him and to become anxious and stressed.
Overcoming the Persistent Attacks of Evil
So, what do we do? How do we overcome the persistent attacks of the wicked as they conspire against us? Peter instructed believers to be sober and vigilant (alert). The last thing we should do is become complacent in our faith because we know the enemy is there biding his time.
The discipline of Daniel
When the wicked and the evil conspired against him, Daniel did something that I believe all of us must do when the wicked conspire against us. We are told in my key verse that after Daniel went home, went into his upper room, knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed.
Now, pay close attention to what Daniel did not do! Daniel did not hang his head. Daniel didn’t grumble and complain. Daniel didn’t even go out in public and openly pray in defiance of the decree. Daniel could’ve gone to the king but he didn’t even do that. Daniel did not panic, did he?
Why didn’t Daniel panic? You see, Daniel had been here – in that position – before. Daniel was about 80 years old at this point in his life, so he had seen and gone through some things. Daniel had become so persistent in his faith that moving in faith had become an instinct for him! So, we see Daniel move in a faith that is disciplined faith!
How many of us have disciplined faith? A lot of times when things aren’t going our way, many of us will hang our heads. Many of us will allow our hearts to drift into a very dark place where there is no light and no hope. Many of us will go to God and grumble and complain out of frustration and anger at what we’re going through.
Worst still is that some of us won’t bother turning to Him which is essentially an act of defiance. Like a roaring lion, Satan is looking for that moment of weakness to sink his canines into you. We must be more disciplined in our faith in order not to give Satan and his pride of lions such a moment!
Learning to be persistent
With Daniel, we see that rather than hanging his head at the king’s decree, he chose to persist! So, how do we do that? How do we become persistent in our faith? How do we build up such discipline in our faith?
A few weeks ago, my brother asked me the question: what makes you keep moving forward? It was a question that I initially answered, “I just move forward.” After we spoke for another 30 to 40 minutes, we had spoken about faith, doubt, and trusting in the Lord. I realized that like Daniel, I’ve had quite a few tests in my life that required me to keep putting my faith in God.
To be persistent in anything requires you to make the same choice over and over again. When I played the trumpet and baritone, I had to practice and practice – and be disciplined in doing so. I couldn’t expect to be any good if I chose to take months off. Well, the same mindset holds true when it comes to your faith.
In this case, to be persistent in your faith, you should choose to lean on God in every choice you make. No matter what you’re doing or going through, you must continue to choose to lean on God! The notion is that if you do this enough times, you will become more disciplined in your faith. When the wicked keeps testing you, you will have built up an instinct that moves in faith first rather than panic, worry, stress, or become depressed.
For Daniel, choosing to persist by faith was his primary nature because that’s what he had chosen to do throughout his life. Not saying that it’s always easy for me to move by faith, but it’s become easier and easier because over the years I’ve learned to constantly make the choice to lean on God. Like David said, “the Lord is the light of my salvation, whom shall I fear (Ps. 27:1). When the wicked and the evil conspire against me, I know they will stumble and fall.
Leap into God’s will
Sadly, many of us suffer from the same “but what if” syndrome that Moses suffered from when the Lord called on him to go stand before Pharaoh. Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh (Ex. 3:11)?” Then Moses made the excuse of being slow of speech and slow of tongue (Ex. 4:10).
God said to Moses, “I will certainly be with you (Ex. 3:12).” God was essentially saying to Moses, “just trust Me!” Many of us need to hear the Lord say, “I will certainly be with you,” and then we need to trust Him.
Again, the enemy desires for you to overthink things because you’re standing still! The enemy desires for you to fear failing and making errors. The enemy wants you to believe that God is going to let you be destroyed. If you’re consumed with the thought that God will let you be defeated, this highlights a major problem in one not trusting God.
You have a choice today whether you will succumb to doubt or choose to believe! The most important choice we believers make on a regular basis is whether or not we will put one foot in front of the other in faith. Simply put, to persist in our faith we must stop overthinking and put our trust in the Lord! I’m sorry that there is no more advanced answer than this in one building up persistent faith.
Daniel learned how to surrender himself to the will of God. In doing this, he learned to be accepting of every potential outcome he could face. In other words, Daniel was accepting of whatever was in God’s will for him.
To overcome the enemy, we must learn to surrender ourselves to God’s will. Again, I remind you that the Lord’s thoughts towards us are of peace and blessings, a future and hope – they are not evil (Jer. 29:11). When you put one foot in front of the other, trusting in God’s will, you will see that all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28).
Peace in the Lion’s Den
While his enemies believed the lion’s den was his doom, they failed to realize that Daniel had already overcome them. So, when he was finally thrown into their trap, we’ll see that their trap failed.
Scripture shows us that when Darius went to the lion’s den the morning after Daniel had been thrown in, he cried out to Daniel. To his surprise, Daniel had not been consumed. Daniel responded to Darius, “My God sent His angel and shut the lion’s mouths, so that they have not hurt me (Dan. 6:22).” God won’t let His children be destroyed in this lion’s den!
Do you realize that God’s angel has shut the mouths of all the lions around you? God’s angel – His only begotten Son – has snatched victory out of the mouth of your enemies! Christ has snatched any thought of victory out of the mouth of that old serpent – Satan – the devil.
Though we are in a lion’s den today, I tell you that we’re not trapped in it. By the power of God and through the discipline of your faith, you are protected and free. So, rather than being fearful and doubtful, I encourage you to persist. If it’s one thing predators like lions hate is “prey” that chooses to persist.