If you want to survive, pray

By: Judy Brandon

link Judy Brandon

Columnist

Packed away in my treasures from the past is a white Bible that my parents gave me when I was 7 years old.

Even though it is tattered, torn and missing a front cover from all the years, still today it remains one of my most prized possessions.

This Bible has colored pictures in it placed throughout to illustrate Bible stories. When my Bible was new, I spent hours browsing through its pages, taking inventory of each picture.

There is Samson, harnessed, blind and walking in a circle pushing a giant cog attached to big wheel. The Philistine guards are holding whips and standing in the background with jeers on their faces. As a child I thought they looked so mean and the picture of Samson made me sad.

Another picture portrays young David facing Goliath. Then there is a picture of the angel appearing to Mary telling her that she would have God’s Son. Mary is just a young lady, sitting on a stone ledge in a garden.

In John there is a picture of a man carrying a lantern through the darkness as he walks along a rocky cliff. Under it, the caption reads: “I am the Light of the World.”

Of course I know now the setting and faces of the characters are just the artists’ imaginations, but when I was a child, I took those pictures for the real thing.

But as a child, the picture in Daniel in the lion’s den just captured my imagination. I was so taken with the picture of Daniel that I took my Bible to school for show and tell. The rest of the second-graders sat amazed when for “show” I held up the picture of Daniel in the lions’ den. Then for “tell,” I told them the story.

The picture shows a dark and dingy stone cellar prison with five hungry, greedy lions with bushy manes standing around Daniel. There are old bones on the floor where the lions have been gnawing on dead carcasses. Torches attached to the walls of the prison burn with a fire flame that illuminates the dungeon.

Even though I was a little girl, I was so impressed that in the midst of those hungry lions, God protected Daniel. The caption under the picture reads: “And God Closed Their Mouths.”

God protected Daniel because of his prayers. Daniel was an exceptional man as prime minister, carrying out his own duties and overseeing the assignments of others to make sure they were doing their job right. He did not have the book “One-Minute Manager” or sophisticated time scheduling notebook systems. Yet Daniel marked off time in his daily schedule to pray.

It wasn’t sporadic praying nor did he wait until he had a “window” in his schedule. He prayed three times a day. (Daniel 6:10)

Daniel triumphantly stood the pressure of his difficult duties by the routine practice of being silent in the presence of the Lord. Daniel recognized his need for the Lord in those times with God and thus Daniel was redeemed alive from the lion’s den.

A not-so-well-known verse in the Bible gives a wonderful perspective on prayer. A verse in Lamentations reads: “When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The ‘worst’ is never the worst.” (Lamentations 3:28, The Message).

This verse is a prime example of Daniel and his daily practice of prayer.

The lesson: God protected Daniel in the midst of circumstances that others would believe hopeless. We may not be in an actual den with lions. Yet, this life does bring dangers, dilemmas and struggles each day. We will not endure or thrive in this life if we don’t pray.

Judy Brandon writes about faith for the Clovis News Journal. Contact her at:

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