Daniel, and the lions

Daniel is an old man now, the most trusted administrator in the Persian empire, and his rivals cannot find a single charge against him except his religion. So they write a law: for thirty days, no one may pray to anyone but the king. Daniel goes home, opens the windows toward Jerusalem, and prays three times a day as he has always done. He does not hide, and he does not protest; he simply carries on. Darius, who likes Daniel, spends the night fasting after being trapped by his own decree. In the morning he runs to the den. Daniel is alive: my God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths. The quiet point is that Daniel's habit was already in place. He did not become faithful when the law came; the law only made it visible.