Shut the Lion's mouth in me

Daniel 6:13-22
13 Then they said, "Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles, ignores you, O king, and defies your decree. Three times a day he prays." 14 At this, the king was very upset and tried his best to get Daniel out of the fix he'd put him in. He worked at it the whole day long. 15 But then the conspirators were back: "Remember, O king, it's the law of the Medes and Persians that the king's decree can never be changed." 16 The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions' den. But he said to Daniel, "Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this." 17 A stone slab was placed over the opening of the den. The king sealed the cover with his signet ring and the signet rings of all his nobles, fixing Daniel's fate. 18 The king then went back to his palace. He refused supper. He couldn't sleep. He spent the night fasting. 19-20 At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?" 21-22 "O king, live forever!" said Daniel. "My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I've been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I've done nothing to harm you."
To break away from my Exodus readings, I decided to blog today about something God showed me last night. Yesterday I was having a very tough day in the afternoon. I have been doing a Daniel fast since Monday and working out since last Saturday. These workouts are very hard, my body is sore, and I am not ingesting much in the way of protein (whatever I can get from vegetables and fruit). To top that all off, I am at work and have someone that is really bugging me. I was about to explain my frustration to my wife during dinner last night. Before I got a chance, God quickly spoke to me and told me "Shut the Lion's mouth." Now God has a sense of humor. I am on the Daniel fast, and he reminds me of something to do with Daniel. So as I am thinking about that, I begin to pray against that person and God was like "Nuh uh... You need to shut the Lion's mouth in YOU." Selah. As we just read in Daniel 6, Daniel is thrown into a Lion's den. He is thrown in there for his continued obedience to God, not because of something he did wrong. From this we get the colloquialism "Shut the Lion's mouth" in regards to negative people/circumstances/etc. I am familiar with this because my wife, Amber, has told me when I am dealing with stuff to just pray that God would "Shut the Lion's mouth." What God reminded me of is that everyone has the mouth of the lion right inside of them. James describes it as "a spark that sets a whole forest on fire." Just remember the next time you try to ask God to "Shut the Lion's mouth" you may be asking God to shut your mouth.

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