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Broken Hearted Prayer for a Broken Nation With a broken heart for his broken nation, Daniel asks God to shine on the ASHES of the desolate temple, that HE would revive the ruins and the rubble and restore it as a place of praise! Have you lost the sweetness to life, and now it seems all is bitter? Or have you lost a joy to live, and life seems boring and dead? Are you asking WHY is this or that happening, for it seems nothing is going right? As we enter Daniel 9, God’s people had sinned repeatedly and were sent to another country as a direct result of their disobedience. The temple lay in ruins, desolated and devastated. But, God never forgot about them, did He? He had plans to bring them back, plans to prosper them and to give them hope again.
Daniel shows his heart for God by what he is reading and what he is wearing! A. What is he READING? Daniel had been taken in captivity in 605 BC; it was now 538 BC so Daniel had been in captivity for 67 years. They are just 3 years away from returning to Jerusalem, but he knew that much had to transpire to prepare their hearts for such a move. Daniel realizes Israel was taken into captivity according to God’s Word, and now they could be released from that captivity by the same word. Studying and searching out Scripture causes our hearts to boil and burn with a passion. Jeremiah wrote that “His Word was in my heart as a burning fire; I could not stay!” Daniel’s prayer is a humble response to Scripture; God’s Word is the foundation for true prayer, and truly God’s Word gives us pleading hearts. Prayer is really a result of listening. Before we can speak a language, we must have understanding in the language. Before we speak, we listen. The best prayers arise out of the reading of God’s Word. Prayer is a response to what God has said. Salvation prayer is a response to what God has written about Jesus Christ. We call on the name of the Lord out of brokenness over our own sin. B. Where is he LOOKING? C. What is he FORSAKING? D. What is he WEARING? DL Moody used to say, “Be humble or you’ll stumble.”
Daniel’s prayer and worship rises with TRUE CONCEPTION or VIEW of God, v.4 It was Tozer that said the most important thing about you is your concept of God: how do you perceive or view God? A. Daniel sees God’s GREATNESS: B. Daniel sees God’s FAITHFULNESS: At the heart of the COVENANT is the PERSON and work of JESUS CHRIST in the Gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection. The blood Jesus Christ shed on the cross is the blood of the everlasting covenant! (2 Samuel 23:5; Hebrews 13:20). In verse 14, Daniel sees God as absolutely righteous. God is righteous and good; God has not messed up, we have. God is not someone to be angry at, or disappointed in. Who do we think we are? Daniel does not ask, “WHY has all this happened to us?” In fact, Daniel expresses that God has said these things would happen because of their disobedience! Verse 11-12: “…He hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil.” We have sinned, and done wickedly, v.15
Daniel makes no excuses; he does not blame anyone for their misery. Daniel completely identifies himself with the sins, and the judgment of his nation, as if the sins belonged to him. Four times Daniel confesses, “WE HAVE SINNED.” He takes personal responsibility for the judgment they experienced. (v.5,8,11,15) We have gotten off the path of righteousness and forged our own sinful direction. He confesses that they committed “INIQUITY.” (v.5, 13, 16). We have perverted and twisted God’s straight path. (This words means to pervert, twist, and make crooked.) He says they had “DONE WICKEDLY.” (v.5,15): Daniel does not plead INNOCENT! We are guilty of breaking your law and we are condemned and guilty. He says they have REBELLED. (v.5,9): To revolt or completely turn against. HE says they have DEPARTED (v.5,11) They have NOT HEARKENED to God’s servants, v.6 They have CONFUSION of face, that is, they are ASHAMED. Like a thief or person who is arrested and handcuffed, and they are ashamed to look up, they hide their face from being seen. Jeremiah 3:25; We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God. Daniel 9:13: All this evil is come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Think of America during the past ten years. We have experienced 9-11! Tornados! Earthquakes! Tsunamis! Flooding! Multiple wars! 10 % Unemployment! Homosexual marriage legalized in the name of freedom! Millions of babies killed in the womb in the name of choice. Ought we not be broken hearted for the brokenness of our nation? He confesses the sins of the nation in a personal way, as if he had done them, and in a collective way. Daniel takes responsibility for the captivity. It is time for us to be broken over our sin and the sin of our nation in which we have a part. We must put away our self-righteous “holier than thou attitude” (Isaiah 65:5). We Christians are good at crying that they have taken PRAYER and GOD’s WORD out of the schools, yet we do not pray in our own homes and churches! We preach against homosexuality but commit adultery and fornication when it is convenient. Or like the Pharisee who prayed WITH HIMSELF and said, “I THANK Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this (smelly) publican! I fast…I give..!” We are better at making excuses than taking responsibility. We live in a “no-fault” culture. People want to claim a “no fault divorce.” Hey, its not MY fault!
We have forgotten that our God is a consuming fire. God is a rock, all His ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.
We are a nation in gross disobedience to God, drunken with pride and self-sufficiency, in a spiritual stupor of selfishness and sin. We need to mightily return to the LORD. We are a nation of literal drunkenness as well, like Israel of old, we are “swallowed up of wine, …out of the way through strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” (Isaiah 28:7,8). Daniel concludes his prayer, pleading for God’s mercy, based on: A. God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS, Cause Your Wrath to Cease, v.16 B. God’s GLORY, Cause Your Face to Shine, v.17 Not for us, but for the glory “the LORD’S sake…for thine own sake…thy name!” Cause YOUR FACE TO SHINE upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord’s sake. Daniel is asking God to shine on the ASHES of the broken temple, that HE would revive the ruins and the rubble and restore it as a place of praise! The sanctuary was the place where God dwelt and had fellowship with his people. Remember that the place for which Daniel prayed was IN RUINS. Yet he had hope. Today, what is this sanctuary? Where is the place where God has fellowship? With his church! Right here and right now. A church is not a building of brick and mortar; but it is the congregation where we meet in His name. The true church is not a particular denominational label, but it is when those like us gather in the name of Jesus Christ, fulfill His ordinances, and obey the Great Commission. Are we in ruins? Do we need REVIVAL and RETURN to the Lord? Do we need to realize there is something more? Maybe you feel broken and beaten down, desolate and devastated. May I offer you this prayer: “Shine on me, O Lord! Raise me up from ruin.” God’s face shines upon His sanctuary, though it is not, it will be! God can shine on us, as His people. He shines upon the believer in their dying bed, breathing their last. He shines upon the workplace of a Christian, serving for Christ in their job; He shines upon the dear parents who kneel with their children before bed; He shines upon us as we gather to glorify and love the name of Jesus Christ. |