Study together · The Cast

Daniel

A captive who served pagan kings for seventy years and never stopped praying toward home.

The story

1. Taken to Babylon Dan 1:1-7

   Carried off as a young man, renamed Belteshazzar, and enrolled to serve the king.

2. Resolves not to defile himself Dan 1:8-17

   He asks to eat vegetables and water. God gives him favor with the official and skill in wisdom.

3. Tells the king's dream Dan 2:14-49

   With his friends he asks God for mercy. God reveals the dream, and Daniel praises him before he speaks to the king.

4. Reads the writing on the wall Dan 5:13-30

   Now old, he refuses Belshazzar's gifts and tells him plainly his kingdom is finished. That night Belshazzar dies.

5. Prays anyway Dan 6:10-23

   He keeps praying after the law forbids it. He is thrown to the lions and lifted out unharmed.

6. Confesses for his people Dan 9:1-23

   Reading Jeremiah, he confesses Israel's sin as his own and pleads for mercy. Gabriel is sent with an answer.

Key verses

“For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.” Daniel 9:18 (ESV)

Read together: Dan 1:1-7 · Dan 1:8-17 · Dan 2:14-49 · Dan 5:13-30 · Dan 6:10-23 · Dan 9:1-23

Questions to sit with

1. Daniel's habits were set long before the crisis came. What daily practices are carrying you now, and which ones would hold under pressure?
2. Daniel prayed on the basis of God's mercy, not his own record. What changes when you pray that way?

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission.