Good morning and welcome to the Adult Sunday School lesson for September 29, 2024, prepared by the Northlake Blvd. Church of the Nazarene in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We are Bunny and Jim McLellan your fellow Bible students and guides. Today’s lesson is titled “Remaining Faithful to God” and is centered on the well-known story of Daniel in the lion’s den.
Last Week We explored the ways arrogance is a sin against both God and others. Today we will explore the way our faithful lives must speak as loudly as our faithful words. From this lesson we seek to grow in faith and consistency in our relationship with God. The subtitle for today’s lesson is “Our faithful lives speak as loudly as our faithful words.”
Our scripture for today is Daniel chapter 6 verses3-10, 15-16, and 19-23. Taken from the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. The lions that were in the den were Asiatic lions that were common throughout the ancient Near East. These lions are a little smaller than the African lions and the males have a less pronounced manes but a bigger tuft on the tail. Since the turn of the 20th century the remaining Asiatic lion are in the Gir Forrest National Park in India. The population is estimated at 650 individuals.
A couple of things to keep in mind as we talk about this Lesson. Daniel was taken to Babylon when he was a teenager and spent 3 years in training. After interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he was put in charge of the whole providence of Babylon and was made the chief of all the wisemen. When king Nebuchadnezzar died Daniel would have been about 62 years old. In last week’s lesson we saw King Belshazzar have Daniel, who was still in the service of the Babylonian kings, read the handwriting on the wall. At that point Daniel would have been about 82 years old. That very night Belshazzar was killed and the Medes and the Persians defeat Babylon. Darius the Mede was now the Persian empire’s king in Babylon. The Persian empire seemed to have a good form of government as described in Daniel Chapter 6, it lasted about 200 years. Daniel was one of the three top administrators appointed by the king. I believe at this point Daniel had worked in the government for at least 62 years. Daniel’s conduct spoke volumes to his contemporaries. He lived such an exemplary life that the king of Persia as well as his coworkers took notice. They observed his exceptional qualities.