Daniel's model of prayer

Daniel 9:17-19 (NASB)

So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.  O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

A good friend whose family is going through many trials and tribulations wrote how much she loved Daniel 9:18.  The emphasis of verse 18 is that believers pray knowing that God has great compassion on us even if we are not righteous, i.e. have any merits of our own. 

The 9^th chapter of the book of Daniel contains Daniel’s prayer for himself and his people.  Daniel writes in verse 3 that “I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”  I’ve written, taught and preached several times that I’m fascinated by the meaning of the word “seek” and the phrase “seek the Lord”.  Here Daniel gives the key to seeking the Lord by praying and fasting.  The wearing of sackcloth, a rough cloth made of camel or goat hair with hemp, cotton, or flax and the sprinkling of ashes on one’s head, were done to express humility over the need for repentance, being deeply remorseful for sins and wrongdoing.  And, indeed, Daniel’s words recorded in verses 4-16 show his confession and remorse for all of his nation’s wickedness and rebellion against God. 

Then verses 17-19 describe Daniel’s final plea for God to hear and accept his prayer of confession and repentance for his nation and for God to demonstrate His compassion sooner rather than later to shine upon His “desolate sanctuary”.  Yes, he is referring to his city, Jerusalem, that has been in captivity by Babylon for 70 years, but his prayer can be applied to any individual situation.   Yes, your life might be like a “desolate sanctuary”.  If God was willing to answer Daniel’s prayer for a city that had been so rebellious and unfaithful for decades, don’t you think that he is willing to answer your prayers even if you are like a desolate sanctuary?  He does not look back at what you have done wrong, no matter what it is, He looks at the condition of your heart right now.  If He sees sincere remorse, regret, confession and a willingness to repent, He will answer your prayers.  Why?  Because He is a compassionate God, a loving and caring Lord who wishes all His human creation to love Him and serve Him.  He calls sinners to repentance (Matt 9:13), He desires humility in recognizing and confessing your sins (Luke 18:13),  He desires to forgive you (Matt 18:21-22, I John 1:9) and He wants you to flourish in your life through your faith in His Son (John 10:10). 

In verses 20-27, Daniel’s prayer of confession and petition is answered but not what he expected.  The angel, Gabriel, came to give Daniel “insight and understanding” about the vision he had received, a vision that prophecies the coming kingdom of God on earth.  This prophecy includes the first coming, suffering and death of the Messiah (verse 26).

May this example of Daniel’s prayer for his city be a model for your prayer if you know in your heart that you need to change your life.  It also serves as a model for prayer whenever you are needing God to help you through any circumstance you are bearing without worrying about anything you might have done against Him or needing to do anything to earn His favor.  He will hear your prayers if you pray like Daniel did with all sincere humility and remorsefulness. 

“Ask God to work, not because we deserve anything, but because of who He is and what He is committed to.”--Bob Stone