Year 9, Day 343: Daniel 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Daniel 9 gives us a prayer.  Daniel is reading through Hebrew scripture and he comes across the writing of Jeremiah.  He realizes the error of the ways of the people.  He prays the prayer of the penitent.

Before getting to the prayer, it is interesting to note the surprise that Daniel finds.  It is like the surprise that Josiah or Hezekiah found when searching through the Hebrew history and finding the Law.  How can Daniel not know about what he finds?  It is almost like he is learning about the expectations of God for the first time.

On the other hand, how easy is it in today’s modern age with e-bibles, e-devotionals, and church on the internet for a Christian to still be ignorant of God’s Word?  In today’s day and age, there are plenty of people who confess to believe in God yet know nothing about Him.  Why should I be surprised if it can happen in a day and age like this that it also happened to some extent in Daniel’s day?

As for the actual prayer, Daniel prays the only prayer he can.  He prays a repentant one.  He asks the Lord for forgiveness.  He pleads to the Lord for His understanding.  He confesses guilt.

There is something else that is key to this prayer.  Daniel acknowledges that the prayer of a repentant can only be built upon one thing: the mercy of the Lord.  No prayer that comes from a human is heard by God because it is deserving to be heard.  As Daniel says over and over again, we are sinful.  We are corrupt.  We do not do things the right way.  Our prayers are heard because God is righteous, not because we are.

This is a great point to remember in the midst of Daniel.  The Hebrew people forgot to be humble and repentant before God, so God brought the Assyrians to humble them.  This was the lesson the Assyrians failed to learn, so God brought the Babylonians to judge them.  This was the lesson Nebuchadnezzar struggled to learn, and it took being turned into a beast of burden to get it through his head.  This is the lesson that Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son, failed to learn and thus lost his kingdom to the Persians.

Human beings forget that we are not righteous.  Good does not reside within me, it resides within God.  He hears us because He is good.  I come before Him to partake in His goodness, not to have my own goodness recognized.

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