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Men who were jealous of Daniel looked for ways to discredit him before the king so that they could get rid of him. They accused Daniel of praying to God, which was against a law that they had the king pass against praying to anyone except the king. So, Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den with the king telling Daniel that he hoped his God would deliver him. He did, and thus the decree mentioned above. What does it take for us to separate truth from lies? We are commanded to not bear false witness. In the Old Testament, the punishment for bearing false witness was to be punished in the same way as the accused would have been. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, and so his accusers were thrown into the lions’ den along with their wives and children. They were not rescued. Every day we hear of someone who has lied to get ahead or to escape punishment. Sometimes people lie because they have gotten into a habit of dishonesty and can even convince themselves that their lies are truth. Unless a person is on the witness stand, or has taken an oath to tell the truth, there really isn’t punishment except that the liar can’t be trusted and can’t trust the word of others. The worst lies are those that contain half-truths. The men in Daniel’s story created the law that Daniel was accused of breaking. People today use innuendo or they may be creative with the facts in order to tear people’s reputation apart. This can happen in the neighborhood, in politics, and even in the churches. Even when the lie goes unnoticed, God is well aware of our actions as well as our inactions. May we work to always be honest.Prayer: Gracious God, you rescue us from the deceit of others; give us the grace to be truthful at all times. Amen.