Read Together: Daniel 1

We are at the beginning of a new year, a time when many in our culture make resolutions to change areas of their lives. These new year’s resolutions often get a bad rap because they are usually temporary changes that fade early in the new year. But resolutions can be helpful when made humbly with reliance on God. Daniel makes such a resolution in Daniel 1.

Daniel’s resolution also connects well with what we saw in Romans 12 on Sunday. Daniel and his friends had been taken to Babylon as exiles. They faced an unknown future in a land far away from home. Yet, they resolve to remain faithful to the Lord no matter what in the place they are at.

They use the issue of food to show their dependence on the Lord. Daniel resolves not to be defiled by the king’s food (Daniel 1:8). While there is some debate about the exact reason for this resolution, it seems clear that it is a way these Jewish exiles seek to remain faithful to the Lord and show their dependence on him (not the king, from whose table the meat and wine came).

As those who live in uncertain days in a culture that is often hostile to our faith, we too must resolve to be faithful in the places God has placed us. By God’s strength, we can begin 2023 with confidence that he is Lord and with a humble dependence on him for all that we need.

Discussion Questions

1. What is Daniel’s resolution?
2. What does Daniel’s resolution teach us about how we should live in our own time?
3. What are some ways we can remain faithful in the places God has placed us?

Ideas for Younger Kids

• Read “The Fiery Furnace” in The Biggest Story Bible Storybook (pages 232–37). Discuss the resolve of Daniel’s friends to stay faithful to God despite pressure from everyone else to disobey him.

Memorization: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

Song: Listen to “Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor” (Matt Boswell and Matt Papa). As we look to the future, we trust Christ as our anchor!

Pray Together

• Praise God for another year and his faithfulness in 2022.
• Confess before God our tendency to bend to pressure and get pulled away from our commitment to the Lord.
• Give thanks to God that Jesus is our anchor through the storms of life.
• Pray that God would give us the strength to stay faithful in the places he has placed us.

Go Together

• One way we can remain faithful in spite of the pull of the world away from the Lord is by committing to daily time in prayer and reading God’s Word. Commit together to start this year in the Word and prayer individually and together. Make a plan for how you will spend time with the Lord as individuals and as a family or with other believers. Be sure to pick up copies of this year’s 21 Days of Prayer devotional as a way to kick-start your year in God’s Word.