Daniel and the lions’ den is a great story, but what if we miss the most important part?

One of the most well-known stories in the Bible is that of Daniel and the Lions’ Den. Everyone seems to know about this guy who was thrown into the midst of hungry lions and walked out alive the next day.

But it’s not just a story of surprising survival. It’s David vs. Goliath, the little guy vs. the machine. Daniel challenges an unjust law and continues to pray to YHWH instead of the king. Against the power of jealous rivals and the entire legal weight of an empire, it’s Daniel who comes out on top.

It’s a favorite story of many, eminently suited for sticking in our brains. It subverts our expectations, shows the triumph of the faithful over the scheming, and speaks to the power of God in this world.

It’s amazing. Everybody loves it.

And I, being the contrarian that I am, can’t help but wonder if the story would be so well-known if a trickle of blood and some scraps of cloth had come out of the den instead of a walking, talking, breathing Daniel?

We love happy endings. Like Daniel’s story, we love those that lead to success and prosperity. But we quickly forget that without valleys, mountains are meaningless.

We wouldn’t remember Daniel if he’d died in that lion’s den, but we wouldn’t remember him if he’d never gone in. The trial, the deep fear, the injustice, to say nothing of the toothy terror, gives the ending its enduring impact.

It is funny that while we love Daniel’s story for the triumphal ending that’s only possible because of the troubles that came before, we lament our trials when we’re going through them. We conclude that God must have abandoned us, that we’ll never make it through, and that such difficulties should never have come to us.

But what if, like Daniel, the trials are just the prelude to a glorious finale?

What we lack in our lives is what we have for Daniel’s life: perspective. We can see the end. We know it turns out ok. We know the lions don’t eat him.

But we don’t know that for ourselves, so we get disheartened. We compare our journey with Daniel’s destination and conclude that God must have abandoned us.

But we forget that Daniel didn’t know the end of his story, just like we don’t see the end of ours. What’s encouraging to me isn’t that Daniel survived but that he prayed even though he might not. Daniel’s faith was not in his survival of the lions’ den but in the God who would be with him in it. His faith led him to faithfulness, regardless of the consequences. It didn’t stop the moment the king signed the decree, and it didn’t stop the moment he was flung off the edge into the dangerous darkness below.

Where does your faith stop? When you lose your job? When your kid gets sick? When your spouse cheats? When your friends let you down?

Faith that stops isn’t true faith. True faith perseveres through trials and endures loss and hardship because true faith is not grounded in pleasant circumstances but in something that transcends circumstances. True faith is in Someone, the Transcendent One.

It’s placed in God, not in ourselves or our circumstances.

Daniel didn’t know if he would survive, but his faith didn’t fail because God always survives. Daniel could, and eventually did, die, but God is eternal.

And God is good. Daniel knew what his fellow Hebrews, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, knew before entering the fiery furnace: God could save them, but He didn’t have to. Their survival, comfort, and circumstances were incidental to their faith, not integral to it.

The world desperately needs people who will live with such faith today. There are plenty of examples of faith that stops. Who, in our world today, will have faith that works, that goes, that does, that won’t stop?

Daniel gives us a great story and an example of true faith, but his story ultimately points to another: Jesus. Like Daniel, Jesus was unjustly condemned to death. Like Daniel, Jesus was thrown into a pit, and an official signet sealed the entrance. Like Daniel, Jesus walked back into the light of day and life.

But Jesus is better than Daniel because His story isn’t just a good example: He offers us the same life, the same resurrection that He has. The end of the story for everyone who places their faith in Him is the same end His story has: eternal life.

That’s how we can continue through trials, pain, and devastation: through faith, we can know the end of our story. Christians need to have no fear of death because that’s our moment of victory. The one thing the world fears most is what brings us to the One we love the most.

So, we can live joyfully in faith, fearlessly, in hope. The trials now are merely preparation for a glorious conclusion.

Christ-follower: keep going. Don’t stop.

The story’s just getting good.