“Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, ‘Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and His dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.'”
– Daniel 6:25–27
This is the same thing we read in Daniel chapter three with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Again, most people who know the Bible know the story of Daniel and a den of lions and how he refused to stop praying to God and trusted God all the way to the point where he was thrown into a den of lions. And he spent the night there, and God protected him, shut the mouths of the lions.
The next morning he comes out and some other guys get thrown in. What’s the whole point of the story? The whole point of the story is Daniel 6:25-through 27. God saved Daniel. Why? For the spread of His glory among all the peoples, nations, and languages in all the earth. Another pagan king, this time King Darius, declares all peoples, all nations, all languages, tremble and fear the God of Daniel because He’s the living God. He endures forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed. His dominion shall be to the end. He’s the one who delivers. He’s the one who rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He saves His people from the power of lions. When we pray for people around us who don’t know Jesus, and when we pray for people groups around the world, nations and languages, isn’t this what we’re praying for? God, use our lives. God, show your power in our lives, through our lives, so that they say these things.
Could we just pray that? I want you to think about people who you know don’t know Jesus. God, we pray for these individuals that are coming to our mind right now, family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors, acquaintances we recently met. God, we pray that you would bring them to see what Darius saw, that you are the living God, that your kingdom shall never be destroyed, and that you are able to rescue all who trust in you. God, open their eyes, we pray, to see you, Jesus, as the deliverer, the rescuer, the savior that you alone are. And God, we pray this for all the peoples and nations and languages that dwell in the earth. We pray this specifically today for the Pulaar Fulani in Senegal, 1.5 million of them, maybe a few hundred Pulaar Christians.
God, we pray that you would bless those Pulaar Christians. That you would show your power through them just like you did through Daniel, so that multitudes more among the Pulaar Fulani see and declare that you are the living God enduring forever, whose kingdom shall never be destroyed, and whose dominion shall be to the end. God, we pray that today more people would make this declaration among more peoples, nations, and languages, and we pray, oh God, that you would help us to live toward that end. Help us to give toward that end. Use our prayers right now toward that end. In Jesus’ name, according to your word in Daniel 6:25 through 27, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
