Daniel 9: 1-19
There is much for us to learn from the prayer of this godly man.
(1) In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus [Xerxes], of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans--
Here we see again that Darius was made king; not that he had won the kingship, but that it had been granted to him by another.
(2) in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
Daniel has never waned in his personal time of study in God's word. Now he is realizing that God had told Jeremiah a specific number of years for this captivity to last. He recognized that the "I AM" God Almighty had spoken to Jeremiah, and trusted his words.
He was gripped when he read, "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place [Jerusalem]" (Jeremiah 29: 10)! Why, it was almost 70 years since he himself had been deported to this foreign land! It was almost time for God to do what He said!
(3) So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
This prompted Daniel to earnestly seek his Lord (his Boss), seriously and intently.
(4) I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, "Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
He says that he approached the "I AM" God, and addressed Him humbly as his Lord, acknowledging that He is faithful and true, and lovingly keeps His promises to those who love Him back and obey Him.
(5) "we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.
Then he confesses the sins of the people, including himself in the number, of those who have disobeyed and gone astray and refused to take Him seriously.
(6) "Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
And even when God sent His prophets to try to bring them back to their senses, they didn't even take them seriously, either.
(7) "Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day--to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.
He is ashamed of his whole nation, all of them have ignored their righteous and holy Lord, everywhere they have gone, both near and far.
(8) "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and fathers, because we have sinned against You.
They all need to hang their heads in shame, as he is hanging his head for all of them before this kind, benevolent Lord, the Boss who they all have disobeyed.
(9) "To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him;
Our Lord shows compassion on all of His people, to forgive and atone for all their rebellion and stiff-necked arrogance against Him.
(10) "nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
They have ignored the "I AM" God Almighty to their own peril, discounting the benefits of following His rules and guidelines to align their lives with the way He designed the world to work. Even when He sent His prophets to remind them!
(11) "Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.
When Moses gave them God's Law and told them how good it would be for them to obey it, he also let them know the consequences of not following it, of going against it. And the accuracy of what Moses said has been borne out, because they have experienced all the effects of the curse.
(12) "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole Heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.
God has proved His word to be true in allowing His people to experience the consequences of their choices and decisions. Never before in human history has such destruction come upon any other kingdom than has come upon God's own nation in their disobedience.
(13) "As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth.
Even though we're going through exactly what You said would happen, we still insanely refuse to give any weight to our Creator who designed it all!
(14) "Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
Our "I AM" God Almighty is doing exactly what He said He would do, to allow all the calamity that naturally ensues when people go against how things are to work! He is faithful, and His Love for us is fierce!
(15) "And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day--we have sinned, we have been wicked.
(16) "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.
Daniel entreats His Lord to do what He has done before when He showed the world His power and authority by bringing His people out of Egypt; to do it again to bring His people out of all the nations to which He sent them out, to bring them back to His own city and the land that bears His Name, to remove the reproach on His own reputation! Not because we deserve anything, because we don't!
(17) "So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
(18) "O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
(19) "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."
Now Daniel pours out his heart to his God, his Creator, his Lord, his King. He begs God to defend His own reputation! Not because of anything he, Daniel, has done, or because of anything that God's people have done, because we all have sinned! But just because other nations see His people and His land and have slandered Him! Daniel's heart is breaking for the Name of his God to be upheld and respected and honored!
Daniel sees that God is ready to turn a corner for His people, and pours out his heart to be ready for it. And we can see God's Plan of the Ages coming to a head in our own world today. God is getting ready to turn a big corner very soon, and He wants us also to be ready for everything He said would be happening to us and all around us as the End Time marches on!
We also need to pour out our own hearts to our most gracious and generous and compassionate Lord God! We also can implore Him to use us as His hands and feet as the body of Christ to do His work in our own little worlds; to find His unborn children who are still seeking for purpose, to share His most wonderful answer of Salvation and Redemption, to bring them to the birth into His own family with us.
O my Father, please help us! Break our hearts for what breaks Your heart! We have all sinned against Your righteous ways, and we have all suffered the consequences of our own and others' sins! We have ignored Your ways, and decided to follow other paths, that lead only to destruction!
My Father, have mercy! My Father, forgive! My Father, magnify Your own Name that You have placed on us! We are Your children, Your family. Teach us how to live our daily lives by Your ways, to think Your thoughts not ours, and to do Your works, not our own projects.
Strengthen us, O Father, to boldly accomplish what You have uniquely gifted each of us to do. Father, You made us all different, so that everything would get done! Help us to cooperate with one another, to do what we can for one another that we cannot do for ourselves. Show us how to meet one another's needs, to give them first priority over our own needs, trusting that You will send someone else to help us.
Father, You have put us all in the same body as different body parts to work together. Help us not to allow the rough edges to irritate us, but to rub us smooth, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Manifest Yourself in us, dear Father! Let the love and care we have for one another show the world how much You love them, and sent Your own Son for them.
Let Your light shine in us out to all the world, Father! That every living person will see and hear and understand Your gracious and generous gift!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
