The prophet Daniel was a young man who, in time of war, was taken from his home and family to a faraway land. That was very sad and hard for him, for sure. The place was called Babylon—and later after another war, it became Medo-Persia.

The first king of Medo-Persia was named Darius. We read in the Bible that “it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; and over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm” (Daniel 6:1–3).

When you do something well, sometimes surprises happen. Daniel was a Hebrew and Darius was not—but the king saw that Daniel did such a good job in his work and was so nice that Darius knew he could trust him.

But soon there was a problem:

“Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God” (Daniel 6:4, 5).

Look at that! Those other men were mad because the king liked Daniel better than he liked them. They could not stand that he was thinking to put Daniel in charge of the whole kingdom. People are like that sometimes. They get jealous very fast.

So, these bad men tried to find some way to get rid of Daniel so they could be the big bosses instead of him. They tricked the king into signing a law against anyone who would pray to any God besides the king.

Was Daniel afraid of that law? Did he stop praying to his God? No, he did not stop! He loved God and worshiped Him openly.

Because of the law, Daniel had to be thrown into a den of hungry lions. But most of us know what happened next. God shut the mouths of the lions, so they did not hurt Daniel at all.

The king was so happy. He knew it was Daniel’s God that had protected him. So, he took Daniel out and punished those mean men who had tricked him by throwing them into the lions’ den instead. The lions ate them very quickly.

Why did that happen? “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). God saw how the jealous men were being mean to His servant Daniel and He had them destroyed. The Bible tells us: “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb” (Psalm 37:1, 2).

Yes, God protected faithful Daniel. He will protect you, too, if you trust in Him and don’t worry about what bad people may say or do against you. The King of Heaven sees everything, and He will guide you for good just as He did for Daniel!—BHM.