Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians[b] were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!” Daniel 6:18-21
How long did the king have to wait for Daniel to answer? The pause, however brief, between his question and Daniel’s response was very weighty indeed, and must have seemed like an eternity.
One is reminded of the pause at the conclusion of Handel’s Messiah, just before the final ‘Amen’ in the Amen Chorus. It isn’t a long pause, but it is so very weighty, so very sacred.
From an eternal perspective, you and I are living out our lives during that sacred pause between our Lord’s first and second coming. Its silence will soon be broken with the glad shouts of saints and angels echoing Daniel’s words of long ago, “O King, live forever!”
