“May the king live for ever! 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.” (Daniel 6:21-22)
But God…
I wonder if some of our favourite go-to ‘Sunday School stories’ are actually sanitised, anodyne versions of graphic realities? David’s slingshot knocks out Goliath, but surely, it’s more than just a morality tale on “trusting God and beating bullies”. The carefully crafted cartoon versions always sidestep the violence and the gore of the beheading. And those beautiful drawings of happy animals on a rainbow-crowned, sun-drenched Ark always have corpse-free flat-calm blue seas. Rightly so: we want to teach our children – not traumatise them. But do we miss some significantly powerful truths by cartoonising truly powerful and inspiring bible episodes?
What got me thinking about this again recently was a post and picture by an Ellis Enoburn’s (28.01.2026) of Daniel in the lion’s den. Our Sunday School version usually depicts a clean-swept, paved floor with a calm and clean-robed Daniel surrounded by caricatures of cuddly lions. Enoburn’s picture and text depict an old man cast into a dark pit of filth, sitting amidst decaying flesh and bones and fluids, surrounded by predators and “marinating in the stench and the fear.”
God shut the lions’ mouths. Yes. But God did a far greater thing than just muzzling beasts. Daniel was not rescued or delivered from animals that wanted to claw him to pieces. There was no blinding light, no teleportation out, no exit route, no helicopter rescue, no Hollywood hero.
What if God was doing something more profound than a straightforward rescue? What if there is more to see here than Big Cats made into little kittens? What if we are meant to learn something more profound? To quote: “Daniel still had to exist in that atmosphere of death. Maybe you’re in your own version of that pit right now. …You’re begging for an exit strategy. But what if… [God is] proving He can keep you whole inside the mess? He didn’t “just” save Daniel from the den, He saved him “through” it. Stop waiting for the lions to leave before you decide to trust the Almighty. God is not outside your nightmares. He’s inside with you and can give you rest right next to the thing that terrifies you.”