King Darius was vain, short-sighted and self-absorbed, but if there is anything that we can admire about him, he certainly had a lot of faith.

After being tricked into throwing his friend and trusted adviser, Daniel, into a den of hungry lions, King Darius might well have just walked away sad that the experience had taken place, regretful of his actions, vowing to learn from his mistake.

That’s not what he did.

In the face of all logic and common sense regarding the tendencies of hungry lions, as they were throwing Daniel to the wild beasts, the king said; “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” (Dan. 6:16)

Not only that, the Bible tells us that the king stayed awake all night that night and “at the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion’s den. When the king 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?’” (vs. 19-20)

You know that all of the king’s attendants and advisers must have thought that the king had lost his mind! Who ever heard of a man surviving the night against the animal that tops the food chain?

The king didn’t just hope that God would rescue Daniel, he had enough faith to make a fool out of himself in front of the very important people who surrounded him by running out to see if God had come to Daniel’s rescue.

King Darius believed that God was powerful enough, good enough, and attentive enough to see the situation that his faithful servant Daniel was in and there was at least a part of him that trusted in the character of God enough to know that He would not let Daniel’s life end in this way.

Darius was right, of course. God had sent angels to shut the lion’s mouths and Daniel was lifted out of the den unharmed. But it begs the question: Are we willing to put feet to our faith in God? Are we willing to trust God enough that we would make fools of ourselves the way that King Darius did?

I hope that we are!

Today, let’s you and I put action to our faith.