Daniel's Incredible Prayer

Well, for the main message, if you like a title, the title is Daniel's Incredible Prayer. Daniel's Incredible Prayer. And if you have your Bibles, let's turn to Daniel chapter 9. And we're going to begin in verse 1 in just a moment. We had the focus from the sermonette on to Daniel. So we'll turn back to another occasion in Daniel, this time from chapter 9. Now, before we begin to read, let me just say, as God's called out ones, I think I can confidently say that each and every day we strive to grow in our relationship with God. I think I can speak on behalf of all of us to say each and every day we dedicate our lives to adhere our will to God's will.

And so one of the major aspects in accomplishing those things, and one of the major things to bring into action and to draw upon, we know is simply prayer. Prayer. Prayer. That which is foundational to growing our relationships with God, to fulfilling our purposes before Him. But in a remarkable way, for the true Christian, for men and women, if you ask them about prayer, often you will find out, and I know this will speak to many of our hearts today, it is an aspect of our lives, our Christian lives, that perhaps needs the most help. Perhaps you can relate to that. Prayer, for the Christian, can be one of the most challenging aspects of our activity for God. And so, with the utmost importance of prayer and our acknowledgement of our difficulty with it, what we want to do today is dedicate ourselves to this whole topic of prayer. And in doing that, to that end, we have opened our Bibles to Daniel chapter 9, and what I believe is one of the greatest prayers in all the Old Testament. And I even propose it's one of the greatest prayers in all the Bible here. And that makes sense, because if you know anything about Daniel, the essential aspect in Daniel's life, the thing, the very thing that kept him able to persevere through all that he needed to persevere through, it was prayer. Prayer did that for him. Now, let me give you a little background here very quickly before we begin reading of this incredible prayer in chapter 9. Here, in coming onto chapter 9 and onto the scene here, we find that Daniel and his people are still in captivity. Still in captivity from being besieged many, many years prior by Babylon. And as Daniel surveys the situation, he realizes that there's going to be no return from being exiled and no redemption from the enemy without personal and national repentance. So as he surveys the spiritual condition of his people, he realizes this is where they need to move to. Personal and national repentance. But he also realizes that despite all that they've experienced, they had not yet humbled themselves in repentant prayer. So Daniel now resolves to intercede for his nation through prayer. And he's going to ask God and beseech God to restore, restore the sanctuary, restore the city, and restore his people. Could there be an opportunity for God to relieve Daniel and his people from this oppressive captivity? Well, Daniel was about to reach for that possibility through prayer.

So here's his incredible prayer. Let's give ourselves to it here. Daniel 9, and let's read verses 1 through 19 here. Daniel 9 verses 1 through 19. This is an incredible prayer here. So Daniel 9 verse 1, In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, in the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, that's Darius, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that he, God, would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Verse 3, Then, Daniel says, I set my face toward the Lord and made requests by prayer and by supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments. We have sinned and committed iniquity, and we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. Neither have we heeded your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings and to our princes, to our fathers, and to all people of the land.

O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us shame of face, as it is this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those near and those afar off in the countries to which you have driven them because of the unfaithfulness which they committed against you. Verse 8, O Lord, to us belong shame of face, to our kings, our princes, our fathers, because we have all sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.

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. Yes, all Israel has transgressed your law and departed so as to not obey your voice. Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we've sinned against him. And he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges and judged us by bringing upon us greater disaster, for under the whole heaven such has never been done as has been done to Jerusalem.

Verse 13, as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster, you know Babylon besieging them, 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. Therefore, the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all of his works which he does, though we have not obeyed his voice. 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 and have done wickedly.

O Lord, according to 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 our iniquities of our fathers Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, O God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications for the Lord's sake. Cause your face to shine on your sanctuary which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations in 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. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for your own sake, my God. For your city, your people, are called by your name. Let's stop there. Oh, what a prayer. I thought about not reading all through that, but I wanted that prayer just to land on us today. The remarkable nature of it. Again, one of the greatest prayers in all the Bible. And Daniel thought for this prayer.

You know, you remember it was back in chapter 6 because of the overreach of the government at that time. Daniel found himself in the lion's den. You know, they said, the government said, you're not allowed to pray to your God.

But Daniel, because prayer is what helped him persevere through it all, still prayed three times that day that the decree was made, as it was his custom. He fought for prayer. And so, what's remarkable here is as chapter 9 unfolds, we find him here in the first year of Darius. Incidentally, which puts it the same year of the lion's den incident.

You know, chapter 6 was also during the reign of Darius there. So that puts chapter 9 and chapter 6 happening in the same year.

Now, some commentators say, we don't know which one came first. Did the prohibition of prayer in the lion's den event happen? And that ushered in this incredible prayer of chapter 9. Or did this incredible prayer of chapter 9 then usher in that persecution and the prohibition of prayer in the lion's den? We don't know. But again, it all speaks to the point that prayer was what got Daniel through it all.

And if I failed to say it later, it's what's going to get us through it all. Prayer. If we're going to make it through and persevere through modern Babylon, through all that's coming and all that we're going to face, we're going to have to be instilled, skillful, built-up, stand-upon prayer.

But again, yet, despite that, if I speak to my heart, and maybe you can relate, prayer is one of the most difficult aspects of my entire life. Now, some of you, it is a gift of yours, and we will celebrate that. But there are many of us, others of us, that just have difficulty establishing a good routine and a good foundation with prayer.

And so, what we're going to do here today, our objective is to take a look at this prayer and allow it, this expert in prayer, a champion of prayer, allow his prayer to help us in our prayers today. So let's get to it. We're going to break down Daniel's prayer today into five areas. And each area, for our help, I structured to start with the letter A.

Okay? Five As to notice about Daniel's prayer. Why five? Why As? Because I thought that was the best way to do it. Okay. Help to me with my organizing, my thoughts. So the first day to notice with this incredible prayer is to recognize from where Daniel's prayer arises. Okay, that's the first day. The first day is to notice where from where Daniel's prayer arises. Okay. From where does Daniel's prayer arise? Well, Daniel's prayer arises from his reading of God's Word.

Did you know that reading God's Word is supposed to propel you into prayer? Well, Daniel knew that. Look at this again, verse two and three. Again, verse two and three. First year of Darius there. Verse two. First year of his reign.

Aye, Daniel. What is he doing? I understood by the books the number of the years specified by the Word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet and what he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. So let's stop there. So his reading of the Bible ignited, it ushered in, this incredible prayer.

And I want you to consider that because it will usher in beautiful, incredible prayers for you as well through the reading of the Bible. Now, a little bit of brief historical context here. Again, this is in the first year of Darius. This is probably somewhere around 539 to 536 BC. This is some 500 years before Christ was born, that this incident took place. And so Daniel was probably somewhere in the range of 80 years old. If he was taken to captivity, which we think was somewhere around the age of 14, he has now been somewhere around the year of 80 years old, he has now been at this moment of this incredible prayer some 65 years in captivity at this point.

He had been alienated for all those years, alienated from his family and his people and everything he held dear. So he's a man growing old 65 years into captivity. And what do we find him doing? Well, he's reading his Bible, isn't he? He's reading from the Bible at that time. He's reading from the scrolls, no doubt, that contained the writings of Jeremiah, as referenced in verse 3 there. Now, just as kind of a side note, this section that he was probably reading was from our Jeremiah chapter 25.

Okay, as we would know it today, Jeremiah 25. If you want to just put your marker here, turn back to Jeremiah 25 verse 11 and 12. I just want to show you, it's so interesting to think that Daniel was reading from the same section that we can read from today. And the way it's organized for us today would be in our Jeremiah chapter 25 verse 11 and 12 here. And so Daniel was probably wondering, how long will we be in this captivity? And he turned to Jeremiah to find that out. Look at Jeremiah 25 beginning in verse 11, which says, this is a prophet from Jeremiah, and this whole land, speaking of Daniel's land, shall be in desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon, how long?

70 years, verse 12. Then it will come to pass when 70 years are completed that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the Lord, and I will make it a perpetual desolation. So let's just stop there. So perhaps Daniel's eyes got bigger at this moment. He's thinking back at the moment, if you want to turn back to Daniel 9, he's reading, we're told from the prophet Jeremiah, that of this prophecy of 70 years.

And he knows, I've been in captivity now right around 65 years. So the captivity is about to end here. He understood by the books, verse 2, Daniel 9 verse 2, the number of years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet of what he would accomplish in 70 years.

Whoa! And what does this cause him to do? This remarkable realization. Well, verse 3, he says, I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer, supplications in fasting, sackcloth in ashes. So the reading from the prophet stirred him to his knees, stirred him to bow his head. His prayer arises from Scripture. Very important to see here.

So the reading of Scripture should play a significant part in our prayer life.

Let it, let your prayer flow from your reading of Scripture. If you're, for example, if you're reading in Scripture and you come to Ephesians, let's say, the first part of the first few chapters of Ephesians, and it's speaking about the glory of God, allow that, boy, as you're reading that, allow that then to cause you to lift your eyes from the Scripture and just pray and ponder and contemplate the glory of God and his plan since the foundation of the world. Let it usher you into prayer. If you're reading, perhaps, from the book of James and elsewhere when it speaks of sin, allow that reading then to usher you into a prayer of repentance and asking God for forgiveness, you see. So the Word of God should play a significant part in directing our prayer life. That's simple. We see this example from Daniel, the expert in prayer, if you will. So that's the first A, is to notice from where this prayer arises. The second A, to notice in Daniel's prayer, is how Daniel approaches God. So that's the second A, to notice how Daniel approaches God. Again, we notice this in verse 3. Daniel says, then I set my face to the Lord God to make requests by prayer. That's a significant phrase. I set my face toward the Lord God. This is how he approaches God. Nothing casual, nothing trivial, very deliberate here. Other translations say I turned my face toward God.

We can understand this. Any of you who have children, I know you've done this. You're giving your child some instruction, some important instruction, and they're looking all over the place. And what do you do? Well, you gently guide their chin. Turn your face toward me. I've got something important I need to tell you. Let me just turn your face. No, no, over there here.

Set your face. Turn your face. There's some wisdom in that, right? Look at me when I'm talking to you and when you're talking to me. You see?

Very purposeful, attentive. This is Daniel's approach to God.

Small aspect, but essential. All right, third A to notice. Some of these will be longer than shorter. Third A to notice is how Daniel addresses God. How Daniel addresses God. Now, this comes forth there very clearly in verse 4. So he made confession and said, verse 4, O Lord, great and awesome God. Let's stop there. So this is how Daniel addresses God.

O Lord, great and awesome God. He's addressing God as God, isn't he?

Great and awesome God. So what is Daniel doing here?

Is he giving God a lesson on himself? You know, is he reminding God, you're great and you're awesome?

No, I don't think so. I think more likely is that Daniel is reminding himself to whom he is addressing, right? Reminding himself.

God, what do I know about you? You're awesome, right? You're great.

I want to remind myself of that. I want to hear myself say those words as I address you. You see? And why, I'm sure Daniel was like, oh okay, yes, you're great and awesome. Why are you great and awesome, God? What is it that makes you great and awesome? Well, he verbalizes it. Second part of verse 4. Why is God great and awesome? Second part in verse 4. Well, he's a God who keeps his covenant and he's a God who extends mercy to those who love him and keep his commandments. So yeah, he's great because of that. He's awesome. So you see, Daniel's reminding himself he's glorifying God in this way. He's rejoicing in God that he's a covenant-keeping God and he's merciful. He's reminding himself that he needs to love God and that he needs to keep his commandments. And he's, yeah, just remind, this is a lesson for Daniel himself here. We love you. You're awesome.

Very important. Bring that into your prayers here. You know, read your Bible. Set your face. Get your attention, in other words. And then take a moment to remind yourself who you're addressing. It's a great prayer here. So the fourth A, fourth A that we can glean, you might glean other aspects from Daniel's prayer here. The fourth A here is we move into and see Daniel's admission. Okay, that's the fourth A.

Daniel's admission. It's really confession, but confession didn't start with an A. You see?

So we're keeping with the As. Often when I'm doing these kind of messages, I have to have to go. What's another word? Four. And I'm hoping there's a connection. Helps me organize my thoughts. So this is admission, confession. So where do we go from the fact that God is great and awesome and he's a covenant-keeping God and he's merciful? Well, he goes to his admission, his confession. And that's verse five and six. Verse five, We have sinned and committed aniquity. We have done wickedly and rebelled. We've departed from your precepts and your judgments. We haven't heeded your servants, the prophets, who spoke about your name to our kings and our princes and our fathers and all the people of the land. Let's stop there. So he goes into, he reminded himself who God is and how he addresses him. And now that thrusts him into confession, admission. And you'll notice it's both personal and collective or communal. Personal and communal. He has said, my God or my Lord in verse four. But he also now in verse five says, we, doesn't he? We have sinned. We have sinned. So, are you including not only a personal aspect in your prayer life, but a communal aspect? Is there enough we in your prayers? We know we're called individually. That's an individual calling. It's a personal calling. But very quickly, after we've accepted that calling, God brings us into a body. And we don't do this alone. So there is this collective dimension, a we, in his prayer, very important. And he doesn't sugarcoat it. And we shouldn't either in our prayers.

Put it out there. Lay it out there. We have sinned against you. And just over and over again there. Verse five, verse eight, verse eleven, we have sinned, we have sinned. We've done, wickedly, verse fifteen there. It's not pleasant, but it's important to mention, I can get in the habit of the confession or admission part of my prayer, I admit, can be very small, very brief. And then I move on to asking for something, you know, what do I need. I don't want to, there will be prayers where that's the case, but I don't want that to be every prayer. I want to feel the weight of my guilt individually. We want to feel the weight of our guilt collectively as God's people. Be straightforward, unfiltered in that way.

He says, we have shame on our face. You know, what a turn of phrase that is. Very powerful to confess our sins to God. Again, individually, collectively, as a church. This is the right pattern. He knew and he acknowledged that the disaster leading to the exile of his people, it was as a result of their sin, their breaking of God's law. There's no other way around it. As he says there in verse 12, God has confirmed to bring it upon this great disaster for under the whole of heaven. There's never been done to us what's been done to Jerusalem. So, God, we're in this predicament because we didn't pay attention to it to your law. And despite all these years of disaster and this exile, think about this. Look at the middle of verse 13. Despite this disaster that's come upon us, middle of verse 13, yet, still yet, we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. Wow, that is quite an omission and quite remarkable. We are hard-hearted people, aren't we? I say we because I'm here, too. Wow, we are so resistant. We are just tight in our rebellion, and often we will look at everything else to put blame on when God longs for us, as Daniel has, to just let the wait, receive it, accept the guilt. Because once you do that, you will discover a loving, covenant-keeping God who's ready to forgive, ready to give mercy. You just acknowledge that in your prayer. So Daniel's saying, no, I need to lay this out here so that I can discover the covenant-keeping, merciful God.

And that's what he discovered time and time again, and that's what allowed Daniel to persevere through it all. God doesn't want us to stay under the weight of sin and guilt, but he doesn't want us to be adverse to it. Add this admission, confession to your prayers, then call upon the grace of God, where the guilt will be lifted, and you'll be able to stand up and ready to go forward, free from the oppression. And the oppression, sometimes that oppression has been on us for decades. At this point, it had been on there for 65-some years.

Is God waiting for you to bring this part of the prayer to him, to truly bring it, to be released from the weight of guilt so that he can bring you out of exile and back to home and restore you?

Let's make sure we think about that, that fourth A. Bringing us to the fifth A, in final A, where Daniel finally makes his appeal. So that is the fifth A, and last A to consider today. This appeal from Daniel comes here in verse 16. You know, think of how long this prayer is. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to read it. Wow, it's a long prayer, and it's only until now that he gets to an appeal here at this point, where verse 16 he says, Oh Lord, according to your righteousness, I pray, I want to now make my appeal to you. Let your anger, your fury be turned away from your city of Jerusalem. So yes, he is bringing his people's confession to God, but now he's also still praying collective. He's still praying for the city of Jerusalem for forgiveness. Your holy mountain, because of our sins, he includes himself in there, and the iniquities of our fathers there.

Verse 17, Now therefore, O God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications. For the Lord's sake, cause your face to shine on your sanctuary, which is desolate. Verse 18, O my God, incline your ear to hear. So this is the appeal. Open your eyes to see our desolations. The city which is called by your name. You know, Daniel wants God's name to be restored. And we don't present our supplications before you, because of our righteous deeds, he says, but because of your great mercies. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen. Act. Do not delay, for your own sake, my God, for your city, for your people, are caused by your name. Let's stop there. So it's only at this point does Daniel come to his appeal here. So much has already occurred in this prayer before he makes his request. And if you'll notice, at the core of it, he is praying for the people's need, his own need and the people's need. But it's really about God, isn't it? He wants God's name to be restored on his city, on his people, on the sanctuary, for your sake, God, he says. And he doesn't rest upon their righteous deeds, but he says at the end of verse 18, but because of your great mercies, can I even make this appeal? You know. And ultimately, and maybe add this phrase to your prayers, ultimately, what anchors Daniel's appeal and really what anchors Daniel's desire of his whole life is that God would just shine. Would you shine your face, he says there at the end of verse 17, cause your face to shine.

So wonderful imagery there. Maybe add that to your prayers. God, would you just cause your face to shine on my life and on us together as a people for your sake, he says. For your sake. I don't want this for us. Ultimately, we want this for your sake.

So this is our appeal today. So as you're making your appeal, Father, cause your face to shine on my job situation. Cause your face to shine on my health. Struggle. Cause your face to shine and intervene with my loved ones. Hear. Listen. Forgive. Act. Do not delay. But ultimately, Father, according to your will and for your sake, let it be done. Ultimately, we just want you to be glorified in it all. Well, as we begin to conclude here, how wonderful it is that we have an intimate look into this intimate prayer of Daniel. What a prayer it is. A prayer that was, of course, again at the heart of Daniel's perseverance and his purposes for God. May prayer be at the heart of our perseverance and our purposes today. And may Daniel's incredible prayer be our prayer today.