Lianne – 4th January 2021
(Re post from something the Lord impressed on my heart a while back, but relevant for today!)
I woke up this morning thinking about Daniel in the Bible. Yesterday, my youngest daughter asked me to read the story about Daniel in the lions den, which I did.
When reflecting on Daniel this morning, I felt God remind me that there is more to Daniel than what I see. I remember having this same story read to me growing up at home and Sunday School. I too tell this story the same way and emphasise the same parts that were emphasised to me. Daniel prayed to God, the people around him didn’t like it, he was ordered to pray to King Darius, the King of Babylon and worship him. Daniel refused to and continued praying to his God, the true God. The decree at the time meant that Daniel had to be thrown into the lions’ den and the king did this. Incredibly, God shut the mouths of the lions and they didn’t kill Daniel. The king was amazed to find Daniel alive the following morning and he too realised that Daniel’s God was real.
God put the word “fierce” on my heart this morning as I woke up. I then started thinking about how, when I think of Daniel in the lions’ den, I always focus on how fierce the lions are. Rosie focused on the same thing yesterday, “the big and scary lions”. However, I felt God remind me today that he is the fierce one. I then started to think but how can that be? A lion’s temperament goes against some of the ways I’ve always viewed God. I guess I think of scripture and how God is the Lion and the Lamb. I guess I’m more comfortable with God being the lamb, John 1:29, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. I love how God is so loving, compassionate, forgiving, kind and gentle. How much do I think of God as the Lion also?
I guess because I see lions in a negative light: the way they are aggressive, are out to kill and destroy – even how it describes Satan like a lion on the prowl, always waiting to devour and kill. However, if God is referred to as the Lion and the Lamb, the Lion of Judah and so many other references as the Lion, then how does that work?
God is symbolised as a Lion, not as one seeking to attack and kill, but because he is all powerful, in complete control, mighty and majestic. Characteristics of a lion represent strength, predatory ferocity, majesty and leadership. The Lion represents a king, a leader; very fierce and powerful.
Then I went on to to think about when I pray to God, do I pray with this in mind? That I am praying to my father who not only loves me and sent his son to die for me, who forgives me, but is also the Lion of Judah – my mighty, all powerful, majestic king. He is fierce. The lions we are told about in the story of Daniel were fierce, but our God was the much fiercer one. Our God is the all powerful and mighty one, who, yes, loves us more than we could ever imagine, but also fights for us and never lets us go.
I love the way one author describes this “Jesus Christ as the Lion conquered sin and death so that we could share in the glory of his eternal kingdom. This victory was made possible through his work on the cross, in which he stepped in as the innocent lamb to be sacrificed as our sin for once and for all. Therefore in the Lion we discover the power of Christ as an eternal king, and in the Lamb we see the grace of Jesus as an eternal saviour”.
So I hope this encourages you, we are praying to our majestic, all mighty God, who has won the battle, who has the victory, who holds all power, whom nothing is too difficult for. Let us come in awe of our father, our creator, our defender, our protector, our eternal King who holds all the power.
Lianne
City on a hill 