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    Daniel: Standing Strong in a Hostile World
    Daniel: Standing Strong in a Hostile World
    Daniel: Standing Strong in a Hostile World
    Ebook101 pages1 hour

    Daniel: Standing Strong in a Hostile World

    By Matt Morton, Blake Jennings and Brian Fisher

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    About this ebook

    Living in a culture that was hostile toward having faith in God, Daniel and his friends could have conformed to society. Instead, they learned to take a stand through God’s power for what they believed. By studying their integrity and faithfulness, students will be challenged to evaluate their priorities and embrace biblical values, no matter the cost. This 8-session study includes:
    • Main Bible passage
    • Application questions for each lesson
    • Leader’s guide
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTyndale House Publishers
    Release dateFeb 27, 2014
    ISBN9781612914244
    Daniel: Standing Strong in a Hostile World
    Author

    Matt Morton

    Matt Morton holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA from the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. His poetry appears in AGNI, Gettysburg Review, Harvard Review, Tin House Online, and elsewhere. His work has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. He serves as associate editor for 32 Poems and is a Robert B. Toulouse Doctoral Fellow in English at the University of North Texas. He lives in Dallas, TX.

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      Book preview

      Daniel - Matt Morton

      LESSON 1

      Why Me, God?

      Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

      1 PETER 4:19

      DURING MY (BRIAN’S) senior year of high school, our district began competitive soccer for the first time. Several of my friends decided to try out for the team, so I tried out as well. I made the team, but no one told me how much running we would do! We ran to warm up; we ran during practice; we ran at the end of practice. Sprints and more sprints, miles and more miles. Our coach had never played soccer, but he knew a lot about conditioning, and he knew a lot about motivating teamwork. I vividly recall the first (and only) time some of the guys slacked off during practice. We all suffered for their laziness. At the end of practice, our coach made us all run an extra six miles. As you can imagine, those of us who gave our best effort weren’t very happy with the slackers.

      Daniel and his three friends faced a similar situation, but the consequences were so much worse. Although they personally had done nothing wrong, their freedom was gone. They were forced to march nine hundred miles from their home, and they were enslaved in a foreign land, all because of the sins of other people. And for the record, they never saw their homeland again. How would you have responded in those circumstances? Would you have felt angry? Bitter? Resentful toward those who had put you in such a terrible position? Or would you have accepted your circumstances, or even given thanks? Whether we find ourselves in difficult circumstances because of our own choices or the choices of someone else, God can teach us profound lessons. He can shape our character if we respond with wisdom. Read Daniel 1:1-4.

      In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

      Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility — young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

      VALUE IN SUFFERING

        1. List the most difficult or frustrating circumstances you have encountered. Who or what caused the difficulty (you, someone else, or no one in particular)?

        2. How did you respond when the difficulty first began? Did your attitude, perspective, or behavior change with time? Why or why not?

      »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

      THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING

      Daniel wasn’t the only Jew who wondered about God’s justice during the Babylonian exile. One of Daniel’s contemporaries was the prophet Habakkuk. He questioned why God would use the wicked nation of Babylon to judge the comparatively righteous nation of Israel. Habakkuk exclaimed to God, Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked [that is, the Babylonians] swallow up those more righteous than themselves [that is, the Jews]? (Habakkuk 1:13). Both Habakkuk and Daniel learned that God’s justice can always be trusted.

      LOOK IT OVER

        3. Examine Daniel 1:1-4 carefully. What are the key words and events that seem particularly important in order to understand the story? Summarize the main point of the passage in your own words.

      a. Key words:

      b. Key events:

      c. Main idea:

      On the following page, you will find a timeline of some key events in Israel’s history. This will help you to place the story of Daniel and his friends in the appropriate historical setting. Study it carefully before you continue with the rest of this lesson.

        4. Why did Jehoiakim and the Jews lose their war against Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians (see 2 Kings 24:1-4)? What role did military strength and strategy play in their defeat? Could God have delivered His people from military defeat? How do you know?

        5. Read Hebrews 12:7-11. For what purposes does God discipline His people? (Note: Another way to translate the Greek word for discipline is train.)

      A History of Israel’s Exile and

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