The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (Daniel 6:23)

"My Darius"

Daniel 6:19-24

New International Version (NIV)



“My Darius, the God-Fearer”



19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

21 Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”

23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.



I love Christians as brothers and sisters. I believe all Christians are united by the blood of Jesus Christ. Loving fellow believers in Christ is an act of faith. God encourages us to do that. But that doesn’t mean we should disassociate with nonbelievers. Lord Jesus mingled more often with people who were considered outcasts by the contemporary Jewish community. Jesus clearly declared He came to call the sinners not to call the righteous. Like Jesus, we have to actively reach out to the unbelievers for the evangelical purpose. But I see that there is another reason that we have to keep friendly contacts with nonbelievers. There are a great number of God-fearing people among nonbelievers. By God-fearing, I mean the person who has a positive view of God even though they do not have a deeper knowledge of God and do not have a personal relationship with God yet. If you read the Bible carefully, you will encounter a good number of God-fearing gentiles. We see one of a good example of that in today’s passage. The king of Persia in Daniel’s time was one of those God-fearing persons. Darius was a Persian. In other words, he was a gentile. He was a very powerful king who sometimes considered himself as god and commanded people of the Persian empire to worship him. Strangely enough, he had a very positive view of God at the same time. Daniel’s wisdom and purity definitely have influenced the king. But we see much more of God’s influence upon Darius. That was why King Darius worried about Daniel who broke his own edict to the point of becoming sleepless. He was overjoyed to see Daniel staying alive at the lion’s den and lifted him out it. The king Darius does much more than that. We don’t know whether the king Darius was a believer or not. Most probably not. But he is surely a God-fearing person. And God uses him for the kingdom of God and his people. I saw a lot of God-fearing people in real life situation including my won life. They were not believers yet. But they render greater help for God’s kingdom and His people like Darius. I am personally indebted so much to them. I am sure many of those God-fearing people would eventually become believers. How about you? Did you encounter any God-fearing person in your life? I am sure that you did, and you will. How did you treat them? God wants us to receive them, honor them and treasure them. They could be disguised angels of God for you. Amen!