Scripture Reading: Daniel 9: 1-14
Focus on the Word
Judah had rejected the Word of her God again, and she was sent into captivity in far away Babylon. In the captivity, God raised up Daniel to speak God’s Word into their lives and to intercede for the people. There came a moment when Daniel realized that God was on the move and drawing His people near to the time when their captivity would end. This discovery drove Daniel to prayer. He said, “I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes” (Daniel 9:3, NLT).
Some issues are so serious that the people of God slow down the pace, bend down before God, and plead with God for guidance, direction, and divine intervention. This is the time for fasting, the time for “sackcloth and ashes” (NASB). This is serious business.
In his praying and fasting Daniel identified himself with the people in the sin and rebellion. When he spoke to God about the issue he didn’t speak about THEM. He spoke about US. This was a people problem and Daniel knew that it wasn’t time to divide the haves and the have-nots. The people needed God and whereas he was one of the people he got down on his knees and prayed, “We have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you… We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land… “Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame.” (Daniel 9:5-7 NLT).
Daniel was a solid rock man of God but in this action our admiration for him soars. He was one of the folks and all the folks needed God. Lent is like that in a way. It isn’t a time to debate God on who is in or who is out. It is a time for all of us to humble ourselves and confess that God's community is standing in the need of prayer. Too easily, we can drift away for the sweet sound of His voice, and get caught up in the way things are in the world. Once in a while, though, God finds a man or a woman who will stand in the gap, get a hold of the horns of the altar, and plead with God for His patience, compassion, and forgiveness.
Today’s Prayer
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen. (Episcopal Book of Common Prayer)
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