2) The prayer, 9:3-19.
a)
The attitude of Daniel, v3-4a.
i)
First, Daniel turned his attention to God. This is what
Solomon said would be necessary if they were to get out of their captivity: if
they take thought in the land (1 Ki 8:47).
ii)
Then, Daniel did what was common when the praying was
in a time of crisis: he fasted and put on sackcloth and ashes. These are the signs of deep humility and sorrow
or grief. Think about this for a
moment. God is not “tricked” by our
external appearance; He knows the heart.
So why do this? It is for Daniel’s
own sake, to affirm his own attitude.
(1)
This was common among exiles. We see it in Daniel again in Daniel 10:2-3. Mordecai did this when he heard of the plan
of wicked Haman (that was certainly a “crisis”) and then Esther also fasted (4:1-3,16). When returning from the captivity and
desiring God’s protection Ezra called for a time of fasting (Ezra 8:21). Then,
when he was made aware of the sinful marriages of God’s people, Ezra made a
similar demonstration (Ezra 9:3-6) and again when he was ready to lead the
people in repenting of this sin (Ezra 10:6).
Nehemiah, when he was told of the sad shape of Jerusalem, the “City of
God,” “the Holy City,” also made a demonstration of humility and grief (Neh.
1:4), which was noticed by the king (Neh. 2:2).
(2)
Appl: This is
appropriate for believers today. Jesus indicated this, saying that the time
would come when His followers would engage in this serious type of praying (Matt
9:14-15). The leaders of the Church at
Antioch were doing this when God spoke to them to set apart Paul and Barnabas
for their special ministry (Acts 13:1ff).
James sees this deep humility as proper in the context of our submission
to God and drawing near to Him (James 4:7-10).
iii)
The character of God, v4b.
(1)
At the same time Daniel was aware of his own need for
God, he also set his focus on his God. Every
great prayer is high on praise for God. And
in my view, typically, prayer begins with praise. But in the great prayers of Scripture,
including this one by Daniel, they BEGIN with, are obsessed with, & END
w/adoration!
(2)
Remember that, as Solomon directed, Daniel is
CONFESSING & REQUESTING. He is not
just coming to God for help. He is making
clear that the “crisis” was ultimately the result of the sin of God’s
people. With that in mind, see what Daniel
remembers about God.
(i) His
greatness. v4. Two terms, “great and awesome.”
“Great” is all over the Old Testament.
In other, you can think of God as big, higher, longer, louder, more powerful,
and so forth. “Awesome” means He is to
be feared. We must come to grips with
this. We like to say, “I’m not afraid of
God but I respect Him.” I am pretty sure
our definition of “respect” is lacking.
The reason is probably that we don’t have must of this in our
society. We are so set on our “rights” that
we don’t see anyone as being so great that our hearts tremble in their presence. No one has a “right” to cause us to fear that
way. Remember! We are listening to Daniel, famous in his own
time (Ezek. 14:20; 28:3) for his righteousness.
He was a great man. But he knew
God as “awesome,” to be feared. Like
Adam, who when he sinned, was afraid and hid.
Daniel knew himself and his nation to be sinners.
There is so much more to say. Lest you think you can never know God as
Daniel knew God, let us remind ourselves that we have the Incarnate Son of God
to gaze upon. Daniel never had
that. By God’s grace and His Spirit you
can know God and you can grow in that knowledge day by day.
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