WORRIED ABOUT DEBT, THINK OF DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ DEN

Many debtors feel that their debt problems have placed them in a lions’ den because they feel that their debts will swallow them up alive. Every month every creditor must have their minimum bites from debtors’ household income. Creditors are compared to lions that eat debtors alive. This situation is not hard to imagine. Just go to any zoo. Imagine being thrown into the lions’ cage. How long can you survive in one piece? Not too long. When you are faced with this kind of problem, I told you many times before that you cannot rely on yourself. You must trust in God and His Son, Jesus, my God, the God of Moses and Israel, who sent His only and beloved Son to us, Jesus Christ, Who became man through the Blessed Virgin Mary and willingly suffered and died for us on the cross because He loved us so, so that we can spend eternity with Them in heaven. You have to ask help from Jesus. Ask and it will be given. Knock and the door will open.
 Look at Daniel. About 600 B.C., Daniel was a member of the royal family of Judah who was captured and sent to Babylon as an adviser to the king of Babylon, now Iran. Babylon had conquered Israel because the Jews did not obey God as usual.  Darius, the king of Babylon, worshipped the false gods: ahura mazda and amun. He ruled his kingdom which included Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, through 120 governors, called satraps. The satraps then reported to and were managed by 3 administrators. Daniel was one of the 3 administrators. Although he was schooled in Chaldean/Babylonian culture and thought, he was a foreigner. He was a Jew who prayed to the one true God, YAHWEH, every day. God supported him. Darius favored him and planned to make Daniel the chief administrator of the kingdom. Because of this, the governors and the other two administrators became very jealous of Daniel and conspired to bring him down. But they could not find anything to remove him from office. So, they tried to use Daniel’s faith in God against him.
 A group of satraps and both administrators tricked the king into making a decree that for the next thirty days, anyone who prayed to another god or man besides the king would be thrown into the lions’ den. Daniel learned of the decree but did not change his habit. Just as he had done all his life, he went home, knelt down, faced Jerusalem, and prayed to God. The wicked administrators caught him and told the king. King Darius, who loved Daniel, tried to save him, but the decree could not be revoked.
 At sundown, they threw Daniel into the den of lions. There were 30 lions in the den! The king could not eat or sleep all night. At dawn, he ran to the lions’ den and asked Daniel if his God had protected him. Daniel replied “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, O king.”
 Scripture says the king was overjoyed. Daniel was brought out, unharmed, “…because he had trusted in his God.” King Darius had the men arrested who falsely accused Daniel, and along with their wives and children, were all thrown into the lions’ den, where they were immediately killed by the beasts.
 Then the king issued another decree, ordering the people to fear and reverence the God of Daniel, YAHWEH. Daniel prospered under the reign of Darius and King Cyrus the Persian after him.
 Even though Daniel was already 80 years old, he refused to abandon God. He could have easily avoided the accusation that the administrators lodged against him by not worshipping God for thirty days. The threat of being eaten by lions did not change his trust in God.
Lawrence Bautista Yang is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and has been in law practice for thirty+ years.  He specializes in bankruptcy, business and civil litigation and has handled more than four thousand successful bankruptcy cases in California.  He speaks Mandarin & Fujien and looks forward to discussing your case with you personally.  Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S Fremont Ave., Mailstop 58, Bldg A-1 Suite 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803.