Bible Journaling: The Book of Daniel

In this book about the life of Daniel we will learn about a lot of extreme examples of God’s protection for those who love him. Where else in the Bible have you read about God protecting his people? Have you ever experienced God’s protection in your own life? For a broader view of this book of the Bible, we encourage you to watch this video:

Bible journaling tip:

Think about bookmarks for a moment - how do you remember where you are in the Bible? It could be a fun project to make different color bookmarks for different ways that you read:

For example: Red - when a verse is read in church ; Blue - what you are reading in your personal quiet time ; Yellow - what your Bible study group is reading.

LOOK UP(information): encounter God through the Scripture 

Author:

Daniel wrote this book about his story as a person remaining faithful to God’s commands, even in really difficult circumstances. What were some of Daniel’s difficult trials? How did he remain faithful to God? The new land where he was, brought him into a whole new culture. Write down the changes that he faced in the following areas: food and drink, identity: his name, worship and faith, work and dreams.

Audience:

The book of Daniel was also written about events that occurred during the Babylonian exile. These stories would have travelled through the community of God’s people first through oral accounts. This is the equivalent of something “going viral” today. Can you imagine what it meant to the hopeless, downcast people of God sitting by the river in Babylon in complete despair when they heard this story?

History:

The exile was a very big deal in the story of the Israelites. The rest of the Old Testament books flow from this event like petals on a flower that are coming together at a certain point. If we miss the exile, we can miss the big picture of what God’s people went through.

Fold a page into three parts. On the one side write: Books written before the exile. On the other side write: Books written during the exile. On the third side write: Books written after the exile. Try to go back to the other books in the Old Testament and place them in the right category. This can be a helpful tool if you get a little stuck.

Genre:

Daniel is the final book in the category of Major Prophets. See if you can list all the others. If not, write down the names of these books on a sticky note and put it somewhere where it will catch your eye throughout this week. What makes the Major Prophets unique? What do they have in common with each other? What do they say about Jesus? Do they still carry authority today?

LOOK IN (revelation): contemplate / reflect on our own lives

Key verse:

Inspiration:

Do you believe that God can be so profoundly active and present even with random people along your path when you do His will? Have you ever prayed that God will change a person’s perspective and make their heart soft towards you? Have you prayed for favor and compassion and that God will make your path smooth?

LOOK OUT (transformation): respond with creative worship action  

Drawing prompt:

The book of Daniel includes many symbolic visions. Bring these to life with paint or by drawing them into the margins of your Bible:

• the statue (chapter 2); the tall tree (chapter 4); the writing on the wall (chapter 5); the beasts (chapter 7) 

Under each picture, write down the interpretation of the symbolic vision. Note how other people tried to think up their own interpretations, but it was only God’s explanations that could truly unravel these images. Is there anything in your life that feels like such a riddle? You can pray and ask God to explain it to you. Pray and ask for the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding.

Bible Journey with HolyJot:

Here are some questions / prompts provided by the HolyJot community. 

• What did the King promise to the wise men of Babylon: that whosoever could read this writing and show him its interpretation would…? (Daniel 5:7)
• What did Daniel say to the King Belshazzar about the gifts and rewards that he offered to him? (Daniel 5:17)

Follow this link to dive into this book with an online Bible Study group.

Writing prompt:

A big theme throughout the book of Daniel is to remain faithful to God despite persecution. Since faithfulness is a characteristic of the Father’s love, we will write a love-poem, a sonnet, about the book of Daniel today. 

Italian sonnets have 14 lines and the rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA CDE CDE. This means that the ends of those lines rhyme with each other. For example,

A  - Daniel, so faithful to God, even in a foreign land

B  - the fiery furnace, the dreams made sense

B  - never alone, even in lion dens

A  - God, protected him from the King’s hand

Use the rhyme scheme above to complete the 14 lines. You can use this part as a beginning, or start your own poem from scratch. For more information on the structure of a sonnet, you can read this post. 

Prayer:

God, I want to thank you for the book of Daniel. Show me what this book can mean for my life today. How can I share what this book has taught me about You with someone else this week? Will you give me ideas for how to share and remind me as well when I forget? Let my response to this text be worship unto you!