Praying Like Daniel
Daniel 9:3-5 (ESV)
Then
I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with
fasting and sackcloth and ashes.I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession,
saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast
love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and
acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and
rules.”
It seems like the world is falling apart at the seams these days, doesn’t it?
People have lost a respect for God and for each other, the legal system seems
eager to reward the lawbreaker, and the values that were once a foundation of
our society are considered old-fashioned and narrow-minded. How did we ever get
to this point?
In
721 B.C., the Nation of Israel found themselves in a very similar situation.
Their society was falling apart and, eventually, they were forced to leave their
land as captives. In his prayer, Daniel describes his people as rebellious,
disobedient, and refusing to obey God’s laws. In fact, he says, they wandered so
far away from God’s law that they had become a disgrace to all the other nations
around them (which is amazing when you consider their neighbors). Daniel’s heart
was broken for his own people.
1
John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us our sins. The
word “our” refers to all our sins as a group of people, not just our own
personal sins as individuals.
Daniel
was a godly man who took a stand for righteousness, and yet he fully recognized
his need to confess the sins of God’s people. He understood that God’s people
had broken His law and were experiencing God’s punishment. Daniel confessed his
nation’s sins and pleaded for God’s mercy.
It
is so easy to become discouraged as we watch the evening news. However, instead
of complaining, let’s follow Daniel’s example and pray. Let us come to God and
confess not only our own sins, but confess the sins of our nation and cry out to
God for His mercy.
But
also, like Daniel, we need to pray for the people of God today - the church that
has wandered so far from the truth. May our hearts break for a church that in
many ways has lost its power, respect, and significance. Let us pray with
Daniel,
“O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O
Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake.”
Paul
tells us to “make supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18). It is our
responsibility to pray like Daniel - to pray for God’s people.
Why
not spend your prayer time today asking for God to restore His people - for His
own sake?
No comments:
Post a Comment