Daniel
nine is a chapter with prayer and prophecy. It is one of the famous chapter
nines of prayer the others being found in Ezra and Nehemiah.
The
man who only is able to pray.
This
may seem a rather strange heading, one might say, “We all can pray.” Yes, but
in Daniel we see a man who really prayed.
A prayer that God answered. In
Daniel’s praying we see a pattern for prayer. Look at verse one.
Daniel
9:1 In the first year of Darius the
son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm
of the Chaldeans;
This
chapter takes us back to chapter five.
Daniel
5:31 And Darius the Median took the
kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
Belshazzar
had fallen and Babylon had fallen. It
was a time of national upheaval, a time of change and a time of concern for
many people. What changes would occur?
How would the children of Israel be affected?
I am sure there were many concerned people. Often we as believers face
many changes in our personal life.
There can be great upheavals. As
we look at our province we are in for a time of real change. What will the future hold?
What
did Daniel do, when faced with an upheaval? When faced with changing times?
Look at verse two.
Daniel
9:2 In the first year of his reign I
Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the
Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in
the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel
opened the book of Jeremiah. Perhaps he
was concerned or even worried. This old saint of God about eighty seven years
of age, reads the word of God hoping the Lord will reveal something to calm his
troubled soul. Have you looked into God’s word lately? In all the turmoil that
is around us surely you would like a word from the Lord?
What
did Daniel discover? Look at the passage in Jeremiah he referred to.
Jeremiah
29:10-12 For thus saith the Lord, That
after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my
good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. [11] For I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and
not of evil, to give you an expected end. [12] Then shall ye call upon me, and
ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Daniel discovered
that the captivity would last seventy years.
Then the Lord would open up a way for the Jews to go back to their own
land. Daniel realised looking at the book that a new day was approaching. Something good was going to happen and it
would be very soon.
Daniel
by now had been in Babylon about sixty seven years. Very soon God would move again and bless his people Israel. Don’t expect to lie back and for truth to
hit you on the head, Daniel is proof of the need to search the scriptures. The Lord didn’t reveal to Daniel that which
had already been written in his word.
Daniel had to look for it.
Daniel
believed that the prophecies would be fulfilled literally. I wonder had he read
Isaiah’s prophesy? Isaiah had told of a coming king called Cyrus whom God would
use.
Isaiah
44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my
shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt
be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Did
Daniel realise that Cyrus is the one who will issue the decree? Did he realise
how short time was? What did Daniel do?
Look at verse three.
Daniel
9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord
God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and
ashes:
Some
would say, “If it’s going to happen it will happen.” Why do we need to pray?
Jeremiah
29:12-13 Then shall ye call upon me,
and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. [13] And ye
shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Daniel’s prayer, Cyrus’s proclamation and Jeremiah’s prophecy were all part of God’s plan and purpose. God had told us to pray. If we fail to pray then it won’t happen. Prayer is not us forcing God to do something, it’s God allowing us to be part of what he is doing.
When
we pray we do not alter God’s mind, we discover what his purpose is and enter
into it through prayer. Prayer becomes
a channel through which the Lord fulfils his purpose. Whoever says, “whatever
will be will be,” doesn’t understand prayer
The
man who is only able to pray is a man who spends time in the scriptures. This is essential if we are to really pray.
Neh.
8:18 Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book
of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day
was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.
Neh.
9:3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the
Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they
confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God.
Acts
6:4 But we will give ourselves
continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
None
of us know how to pray. This is why the Holy Spirit has included many great
prayers in the word of God that we might know how to pray.
1
Cor. 14:15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with
the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the
understanding also.
We
want to pray with understanding.
Understanding what we pray for and understanding the will of God. We need to look in his word to be praying in
his will.
Jude
1:20 But ye, beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Ephes.
6:18 Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints;
As we read the word of God the Spirit of God guides us as to how we should pray and for what we should pray. Without the word of God we may waste our time praying.
James
4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because
ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
George Mueller
said that for years he tried to pray without reading the Bible in the morning.
Inevitably his mind wandered. Then he started with the Bible and turned the
book into prayer as he read, and for forty years he was able to stay focussed
and powerful in prayer.
The
conscientious supplication.
Daniel
9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord
God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and
ashes:
Let’s
examine Daniel’s method in prayer.
Determinate. “I set my face unto the Lord God,” Daniel
would permit no distractions. He would get alone with God.
Definite. “To seek by prayer and supplication.” He was
really going to pray, he was seeking something his prayer had a definite
purpose.
Dedicated.
“With fasting and sackcloth and ashes,” By fasting he admitted he was
undeserving of food. The sackcloth shows he did not desire comforts of good clothing.
The ashes speak of grief and sorrow.
They were the outward signs of a truly penitent heart. In other words
Daniel made sure nothing whatsoever would hinder his prayer to God. Legitimate things would have to wait.
Daniel must get to prayer.
He
confesses his sins.
Daniel
9:4 “And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, “
Consider
the following scriptures.
Psalm
66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Proverbs
15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the
righteous.
Proverbs
28:9 He that turneth away his ear from
hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
Consider
the remedy. This is what Daniel did.
1
John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You
will search the scripture in vain to find any fault with this man Daniel.
Remember in chapter six that they couldn’t find fault in his public or private
life. Daniel searched his own heart and made confession of sin.
Many of us try and
paint over our sins. The Lord says,
“Repent and sin no more.”
James
5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may
be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
A Land Who’s only answer is prayer.
Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. The best thing you can do for your country is pray. Let’s see the state of the Jews here in Daniel nine as Daniel now confesses the national sins of his people.
Daniel
9:5 We have sinned, and have committed
iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy
precepts and from thy judgments:
It
appears that Daniel couldn’t find enough words to describe the sins of the
people.
Daniel
includes himself with the rest of the land. He says, “We have sinned. “ Think about some of the words he used in
verse five.
·
Sinned.
They had missed the mark and were blame worthy.
·
Iniquity.
They were crooked and perverse.
·
Wickedly.
They acted with impiety, ungodliness and lawlessness.
·
Rebelled.
They had broken God’s word.
We
could look at our own land. Have we not an epidemic of immorality,
homosexuality, drunkenness, adultery, abortion, crime, drug abuse and
premarital sex? What a state we find the nation in. Would we need to pray?
Daniel
9:6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in
thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of
the land.
In
verse five they had turned away from the word of God in disobedience. In verse
six they didn’t even listen. They were marked by disbelief.
Daniel
9:7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth
unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and
that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them,
because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
Daniel
says, “confusion of faces” belongs to Israel. We hang our heads in shame.
Daniel
9:8-11 O Lord, to us belongeth
confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we
have sinned against thee. [9] To the Lord our God belong mercies and
forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; [10] Neither have we obeyed
the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by
his servants the prophets. [11] Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even
by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured
upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because
we have sinned against him.
Daniel
doesn’t have enough words to describe the sin of the people. Have we run out of
words to describe the sins in our land?
The
world sees sin as fascinating, God sees it as fatal
The
world sees sin as trivial, God sees it as tragic.
Surely
here is a land and the only answer is prayer.
Daniel
had been taken from the royal household into a land that was foreign and
hostile. He had spent his life there.
Did he blame God for this? Did he get annoyed with the Lord? No, he realised
that the nation deserved the punishment.
Daniel
9:11-13 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they
might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath
that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned
against him. [12] And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us,
and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for
under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
[13] As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet
made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our
iniquities, and understand thy truth.
God
was right. Israel had been warned in the Law of Moses about the consequences of
disobedience. Israel deserved the punishment of God.
Deut.
28:36 The Lord shall bring thee, and
thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor
thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Daniel
realised that the nation was unjust and God was just in punishing them.
As
God’s people do we recognise the slippery slope that this land and nation of
ours is on? Do we see our land getting
further and further away from God?
Perhaps
we see no blame attached to us. You and I perhaps would say, “They have
sinned,” but not, “We have sinned.” Look at verse thirteen.
Daniel
9:13 As it is written in the law of
Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the
Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
“Yet
we made not our prayer before the Lord our God,” God’s people were prayerless.
We must be honest and say, “Lord we have sinned in our prayerlessness, and
self-centeredness.” While the church
argued, souls went to hell.
Daniel
could see from God’s word that change was coming. Daniel got down to pray so that God would bless his people.
A
God who only is able to answer prayer.
Prayer
is the soul’s occupation with its need; worship is the soul’s occupation with
God.
Daniel’s
prayer had both. Let’s see what Daniel says about his God.
Daniel
9:4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O
Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that
love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
The
character.
He
is a great God, How great thou art! He is a dreadful or awesome God deserving
of reverence.
He
is a faithful God.
“Keeping the covenant and mercy to them that
love him, and to them that keep his commandments;”
He
is a righteous God.
Daniel
9:7 “ O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, “
He
is merciful and forgiving.
Daniel
9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercies
and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
He
is a powerful God.
Daniel
9:15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the
land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day;
we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
The
cry.
Daniel
9:16 O Lord, according to all thy
righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from
thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the
iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to
all that are about us.
Daniel’s
people had become a reproach, a disgrace.
Daniel
9:17-18 Now therefore, O our God, hear
the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine
upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. [18] O my God,
incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and
the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications
before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
Look
at Daniel’s cry, “Cause thy face to shine, incline thine ear and hear, open
thine eyes to see.” Why should God
bother? “For the Lord’s sake, for thy great mercy,” Daniel realised nothing was
deserved, it was for the Lord’s sake that his name would be glorified
Daniel
9:19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O
Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and
thy people are called by thy name.
Lord
don’t defer, please do it and do it now for thine own sake.
What
should we pray for the church?
For
a deep cleansing work of the Holy Spirit.
For
a return to faith in the authority and inspiration of the Bible.
For direct clear
gospel preaching resulting in repentance and renewal.
For
the holiness of life in its members.
What
should we pray for this land?
For
men to be raised up to call the nation back to God.
For
those in high places to be converted.
For
the rising tide of iniquity to be stemmed.
For
repentance and faith for many.
Sir Isaac Newton said that he could take his telescope and look millions and millions of miles into space. Then he added, “But when I lay it aside, go into my room, shut the door, and get down on my knees in earnest prayer, I see more of heaven and feel closer to the Lord than if I were assisted by all the telescopes on earth.”
2
Chron. 7:14 If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn
from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their
sin, and will heal their land.