Three Times a Day
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 46, “There Is No Other God That Can Deliver,” on Gospel Library
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Officials who were jealous of Daniel looked for something wrong with him and found nothing, so they set a trap using his prayers (Daniel 6:4–5).
Read Together
They talked King Darius into signing a new law. For thirty days, anyone who prayed to any god or man except the king would be thrown to the lions (Daniel 6:7–9). A law of the Medes and Persians could never be changed.
10Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
22My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
What It Teaches
When Daniel knew the law was signed, he went home to his room, where the windows were open toward Jerusalem, and knelt to pray three times a day, “as he did aforetime” (verse 10). He did what he had always done. His habit of prayer was already in place when the test came.
Daniel faced Jerusalem when he prayed. Long before, Solomon had asked the Lord to hear his people when they prayed toward the temple from a faraway land (1 Kings 8:46–49). The temple had been destroyed, and Daniel still turned toward it.
The king could not sleep that night. At dawn he hurried to the den and called out, and Daniel answered, “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths” (verse 22).
Darius then wrote to every nation in his kingdom that Daniel’s God “is the living God, and stedfast for ever” (Daniel 6:26). One man’s daily prayers taught a king who God is.
Talk About It
Daniel prayed three times a day long before anyone made it dangerous. What times in our day could be our times to pray, and what would help us remember?
Take to Church
Daniel kept praying the way he always had, even when the law said stop. Small, daily prayers hold us steady when a test comes.