Bible Story Lessons

King Darius of Babylon admired and respected Daniel, so he made him a governor over the people.  Daniel loved God and served Him, and treated the people kindly.  And so the people liked and obeyed him, but there were other rulers in the country who were very jealous of Daniel.

When people are jealous they often do very bad things, don't they?   And so these wicked men tried to find where Daniel was doing wrong and report it to the king.  But found that Daniel always did what was good and right!  "He's a goody-two-shoes!" they said, "The only way we will find fault with Daniel is in the way he serves his God!"

They decide to closely watch Daniel because they knew that he was faithful to God.  They saw him praying every day in front of a window in his house.  "Got him!" chuckled those wicked men and ran to the king and cried, "Oh, king, it will be a good idea if you made a law that for the next thirty days no one is to ask any favour of any god or man, except for you!"

They rubbed their hands in glee as they saw how this pleased the king.  "Oh king," they said as they bowed before him, "You must command that anyone who disobeys this command must be thrown into the den of lions!"  The king thought this was a great idea and immediately had the law put in writing and signed it.

Daniel continued to pray as he was determined to please God, and did not care if the king got angry.  Those evil rulers spied on him and when they found him praying, they rushed to the king and reported Daniel.  "King Darius, that man Daniel has disobeyed you!" they chuckled, "And now you must throw him into the den of lions!"

When the king realised what a clever and wicked trick these men had played on Daniel, he tried to save him.  The king wasn't angry with Daniel and didn't want to throw him into the den of lions to be eaten up, but he couldn't change the law he had made.

There was nothing the king could do to save Daniel, so he sadly ordered his guards to throw Daniel into the den of lions.  They pushed Daniel into the den of fierce hungry lions, and rolled a large stone over the entrance to stop him from escaping.  "That's the end of Him!" shouted the rulers, "Now we will be chief governors!"

That night the king couldn't sleep and tossed and turned on his bed the whole night long.  He knew that Daniel had a wonderful God, and hoped that He would deliver him.  But the king wasn't sure that He would, because he didn't know much about God.

When morning came, the king rushed to the den to see what had happened to Daniel.  The king called out, "Daniel, was your God able to save you from the lions?"  The king clapped his hands with joy when Daniel answer, "O king, my God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so they haven't hurt me!"

King Darius was very happy and released Daniel from the den.  He then ordered that those wicked rulers be thrown into the lion's den, and they were all eaten up!  He then wrote out a new law that all the people of Babylon should fear and tremble before the powerful God of Daniel.  And so Daniel lived on as a wise governor for the king, and continued to worship God in peace and happiness!

And we are glad that we can go to Sunday School and sing praises to God.  We are safe because Jesus loves us and said He would always be near us.  Let's say thank-you to Jesus for His love and kindness and for watching over each one of us.

God bless!