Daniel: What God Can Do - A Book Review

There are few books better suited to Halloween then Daniel with its giant statues, near misses with furnaces and lions, strange beasts, mysterious angels and cryptic prophecies.  

All that mystery leads us to sometimes ignore the end of the book for the more comprehensible beginning.  But getting clarity and application out of mystery is what Stafford North excels at.  

6 weeks of devotionals from Daniel

6 weeks of devotionals to share with your
kids about the book of Daniel.

I hope that you have enjoyed the devotionals but even more I hope you have had the opportunity to share them with your kids. You could share them all in one week, one per night at bedtime or once a week for the next 6 weeks.  The important thing is that you help your kids stay in the word of God.

Below you'll find a list not only of all the stories but also of each character trait that is emphasized. Don't forget to check back next week for a review of a great book to help you and your children understand Daniel 7-12.

If you have a favorite devotional book, or series online (or if you wrote one!) we'd love to hear about it and feature it on our Facebook page.

Happy and Holy Parenting!

Helene



Introduction to the Daniel Devotionals

Daniel and his friends refuse the King's food: Fairness

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream: Wisdom

The Fiery Furnace: Defiance

Nebuchadnezzar's fall: Humility

The Writing on the Wall: Blasphemy

Daniel and the Lion's Den: Spiritual Discipline

In age as in youth

Daniel was more than eighty years old, elderly for our modern age and ancient for the pre-industrial world. Yet the gifts that had twinkled in his youth were in full bloom in age.  

Do you remember the boy who prayed believing that the God of fallen Israel and Judah could miraculously reveal the answer to him in far off Babylon (Daniel 2)? He became the aging man who foresaw the coming of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies and Seleucids, the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes and the coming in power of the Son of Man.  While Belshazzar was forgetting who Daniel was, Daniel was seeing the throne room of God (Daniel 7).

Who do you think you are dealing with?

Belshazzar threw a party with a thousand guests.  In a bid to impress the nobles, because he was drunk, or simply because the bouquet of the wine demanded superior vessels, he called for the temple ware. Years before when the aging Daniel was a boy, Nebuchadnezzar had looted God's temple when he sacked the city of Jerusalem.  So in a dusty storehouse somewhere the holy vessels of gold and silver sat waiting.  When these sacred artifacts were brought forth and filled with wine, Belshazzar raise his glass and praised the "gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone."

What on earth did he think he was doing?

Gifts from the Giver

He believed in American values.  He was hard-working and understood that this was the only path to wealth and power.  He told it like it is, and he never understated his achievements.  He knew how to get ahead, how to self-promote and how to be a world class administrator.  He built an empire; he was the envy of all.

Who was this mysterious powerhouse?