Daniel's Prayer - pt.2

If there was one defining attribute that we could give to Daniel, I believe it would be that, “He was a man of Prayer”. All throughout this book, we see him constantly kneeling before All Mighty God in fervent prayer.

Remember from last week, I quoted Pastor Dave Thompson when I said “A critical key to understanding the deep mysteries of God, is humble prayer, that acknowledges truth before God about self and about Him”

For those of you that have been going through our discipleship class on Sunday nights, you will recall (hopefully you remember)… when we talked about prayer, we used the acronym ACTS… A.C.T.S....

Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication… This is what our prayers should consist of…

Adoration - Acknowledging who God is and what He has done

Confession - Acknowledging who we are and what we have done

Thanksgiving - Expressing our thankfulness that a Pure and Holy God would even consider listening to the lowly sinners that we are

and finally…

Supplication - Making our requests known to God

So often, we put more emphasis on the Supplication and very little emphasis on the other three…

But as we look at Daniel’s prayer here in Chapter 9, we are going to see that the first 11 verses confess how unworthy and undeserving, of God’s favor, Israel is… and it is only in the final 4 verses of the prayer that Daniel really makes any sort of request.

Let’s look at it together… (Read vv. 4-19)…

Meat:

As we dive into these verses this morning, it is going to be a little different format. We are going to skip back and forth between these verses as we look at each point… But what I want to focus on today are the things that Daniel acknowledges in this prayer…

and as we do, we can see a model of how our prayers should look and sound as well.

First of all…

Daniel Acknowledges...

1. God’s Character

and this is where we will jump around and back and forth a bit… but the first part of God’s Character that Daniel mentions is…

1.1 His Greatness - v.4

“And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God...”

The Hebrew word that is translated as “Great”, speaks about God’s strength, His might, His Power… and the word translated as “Awesome” refers to a reverential awe, respect, and obedience toward God, stemming from an understanding of His power, His holiness, and His authority.

Daniel’s prayer basically starts out by saying “Lord, You are Strong and Mighty, All Powerful and I bow before you with an overwhelming sense of awe, with the utmost respect and an attitude of obedience…”

Daniel knows that he is addressing the Creator of the universe and the first this he does, is acknowledge the greatness of God.

But he doesn’t stop there… Daniel also mentions…

1.2 His Righteousness - v.7

“ O Lord, righteousness belongs to You… ”

God's righteousness means that He is without fault or flaw in His character. He always acts in accordance with what is right and fair.

Daniel realizes that it was out of God’s righteousness, that the punishment came to Israel for their disobedience… because… God's righteousness is closely tied to His role as a just judge. He rewards righteousness and punishes wrongdoing… Daniel knew and we must remember… that God’s judgments are always fair and impartial… and they are part of His Character of Righteousness.

Daniel goes on to mention…

1.3 His Mercy and Grace - v.9

“To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness...”

God's mercy is the compassionate nature of God, demonstrated towards us despite our shortcomings and sins.

God is merciful to us in the fact that He does not give us what we deserve… which would be eternal damnation and separation from Him.

God created the perfect world… a place where He could walk among His Creation, a place where there were no wars, there was no death, a place where He could commune with mankind every day… … and then we ruined it.

and Romans 5:12 says “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”

His creation was no longer perfect, it would now become a place war, a place of death, a place of disunity between Him and mankind… and through His Great Mercy, He didn’t destroy the Earth and say “well, I guess that didn’t work… ”… Instead, He allows mankind to live and gives them an opportunity to have the communion with Him once again.

And that is where His grace comes in… Daniel uses the word forgiveness, which is part of God’s grace…

It refers to the unmerited favor and kindness that God extends to us, despite our unworthiness and sinfulness.

Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve… Eternal Damnation

and… Grace is God giving us something that we don’t deserve… His Forgiveness

It is through God's grace that we are forgiven of our sins and reconciled to Him… …

One last part of God’s Character that I see Daniel mention is…

1.4 His Faithfulness - vv. 4&15

4b “who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments”

15a “And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand...”

God's faithfulness means that He is trustworthy and dependable. He always keeps His word and fulfills His promises, never wavering or changing His mind.

I believe that Daniel is acknowledging how God remained faithful to Israel in the past and that he is trusting in the fact that God will be faithful to Israel in the future.

All throughout this prayer, we see Daniel Acknowledging Who God is… He is Great, He is Righteous, He merciful and Gracious, and He is Faithful…

Secondly, Daniel Acknowledges…

2. Israel’s Sin

v. 5 gives the summary… “we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.”

v.8 goes on to say “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.”

Notice that Daniel includes himself in this… Daniel knew that true intercessory prayer connects the one praying with the individuals for whom they are praying…

Daniel didn’t say “they sinned, they have done wickedly, they have rebelled...” Daniel could’ve easily stood up and said “I didn’t eat the Kings food, I didn’t bow to any Idol, I interpreted those dreams, I read the writing on the wall, I stayed true the Lord all these years... ”

But that’s not what he did… He knew that he was just as much of a sinner as the next guy, he knew that he had his own failures and he wasn’t ashamed to identify himself with the sins of his people… Twice, Daniel says “to us belongs shame of face”…

Sin number 1…

2.1 They Didn’t Listen - vv. 6, 10-14

Daniel 9:6 “Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.”

Daniel 9:10–14 “10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.”

This is why they were in captivity to begin with… They didn’t listen to God… What exactly did God say, that they didn’t listen too???

Turn with me to Leviticus 26… The law that Israel was to abide by (commonly known as “the Law of Moses”) has just been spoken by God and written down.

v.3 records an “if clause” spoken by God Himself…

Leviticus 26:3 “3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,”… then… as the next 9 verses record… Then I will give you…

Abundance of Rain in Due Season - v.4

Bountiful Harvests - v.5

Peace and Security - v.6

Victory over Enemies - vv.7-8

Increased Population - v.9

My Presence among you - v.12

And Freedom from Bondage - v.13

BUT!!!… Look at v.14… (Read vv.14-39)

Even with this strong of a warning, coming from All Mighty God, they still didn’t listen. They did not obey God and they broke His commandments.

And as they were breaking His commandments, God sent Prophets to warn them that if they continued in sin, they would be punished exactly the way God had said… and they didn’t listen to them either…

Jeremiah was one of those Prophets… the last one before Israel was taken into captivity… and this is what God said in…

Jeremiah 44:4–5 (NKJV)

4 … I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!”

5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness…

They did not listen… … Instead…

2.2 They Rebelled - vv.5&9

5b “… we have done wickedly and rebelled...”

9 “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him”

The rebellion of Israel is a recurring theme throughout the Old Testament, where the Israelites repeatedly turned away from God and His laws… but it is more than them just saying “no, I don’t want to follow God’s rules.” It is them engaging in idolatry, disobedience, and various forms of sinful acts.

You tell your teenager to clean their room and they just don’t do it… you have a teenager that doesn’t listen to you.

Now, if you tell your teenager to clean their room and they say “no” and then proceed to purposely make the room even more of a disaster… then you have a rebellious teenager.

- Despite God's commandments against idolatry, Israel frequently turned to the worship of false gods and idols, adopting the religious practices of the surrounding nations… They didn’t just stop worshipping the One True God, but out of rebellion, they worshipped many other false gods.

- Israel often disregarded God's laws and commandments, choosing to follow their own desires instead. This disobedience manifested in various forms, including breaking the Sabbath, not observing the years of Jubilee for the land, engaging in ritual impurity, and neglecting the rights of the poor and marginalized people.

- Instead of trusting in God for protection and security, Israel often sought alliances with foreign nations, placing their faith in military strength and political alliances rather than relying on God's power, providence and faithfulness.

Daniel used the correct word when he referred to Israel as a “Rebellious Nation” and he realized that it is because of their rebellion that they were taken captive.

Daniel 9:13“13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

Even in the pain and suffering of captivity, out of rebellion, the nation of Israel still didn’t confess their sins to God…

And so, at the end of his prayer… Daniel Acknowledges

3. Israel’s Needs

And we will look at the these fairly quickly…

First of all… they needed…

3.1 Deliverance

Daniel 9:15 “15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!”

Daniel refers back to when God delivered Israel from their bondage in Egypt and is basically stating, we need you to do it again.

This goes along with v.16 as well…

Daniel 9:16 “16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.”

Daniel knew that God was angry because of Israel’s sin and this disciplinary judgement was a direct result of their sin and rebellion. So he acknowledges it and asks God to forgive them and deliver them from the judgement.

Secondly, they needed…

3.2 God’s Blessing

Daniel 9:17 “17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.”

They needed God’s blessing to be able to get back to Jerusalem and start worshiping in the Temple once again…

Notice that Daniel’s motive for asking for these things is not for the benefit of Israel… again, Daniel realizes that Israel is in this mess because of their own rebellion and they deserve every bit and more of whatever punishment they receive.

Daniel says “for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, ”

Everything God does is for His honor and glory, ultimately revealing His character, magnifying His greatness, and drawing others to recognize and worship Him as the sovereign Lord of all creation.

Daniel asked for God's blessing on Israel because he understood that the restoration and blessing of Israel would ultimately bring honor and glory to God's name.

Lastly, Israel needed…

3.3 God’s Mercy

Daniel 9:18 “ 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 do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.”

Again… Daniel’s focus is on God…

By appealing to God's mercy and covenant promises for Israel's restoration, Daniel recognized that God's faithfulness and compassion toward His people would serve as a testimony to His greatness and goodness among the nations.

Closing:

In this model prayer, Daniel acknowledged God’s Character, Israel’s Sin and Israel’s Needs.

Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.

As we look at Israel’s needs, we cannot help but notice that we need the same things.

We need deliverance from our bondage of sin

We need God’s blessing in order to worship Him properly

We need God’s Mercy and forgiveness as we give into the sins of the world…

Here’s the best part… Everything that we need, is found in Jesus Christ.

The deliverance, the blessings, the mercy and forgiveness… are all found in Him. He is the focal point of God's redemptive plan, through whom deliverance, blessings, mercy, and forgiveness are made available to all who trust in Him.

He is the fulfillment of God's promises and the manifestation of God's grace and love toward humanity and in Christ, we have true hope, salvation, and the fullness of life in the presence of God for all eternity.

Prayer:

You are the God who

Hears us

Forgives us

Listens and acts on behalf of those who love You and keep Your commandments.

Father, we have sinned…

- We have ruined Your perfect creation

- We have replaced righteousness with convenience...

- In our relationships

- In our families

- In the way that we handle the finances you bless us with

- We call evil good and the good things we call evil

Our sin separates us from You and yet You have given us Your Son as a means of reconciliation. We cannot express our gratitude, except to glorify Your Name with our lives.

Father, we are in desperate need of Your deliverance, Your blessings, Your Mercy and Forgiveness… let our requests be the same as Daniel’s…

“O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, our God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”