“I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. 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. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has disobeyed your instruction and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice. “So now the solemn curses and judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down on us because of our sin. You have kept your word and done to us and our rulers exactly as you warned. Never has there been such a disaster as happened in Jerusalem. Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses has come true. Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth. Therefore, the Lord has brought upon us the disaster he prepared. The Lord our God was right to do all of these things, for we did not obey him. “O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by rescuing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. But we have sinned and are full of wickedness. In view of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn your furious anger away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. All the neighboring nations mock Jerusalem and your people because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors. “O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary. “O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair. See how your city—the city that bears your name—lies in ruins. We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy. “O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, do not delay, O my God, for your people and your city bear your name.””
Daniel 9:4-19 NLT
After having a vision of coming judgment and doom upon Israel, and knowing that the time of the exile is coming to the end, Daniel begins to plead with God. Yet, his plea is not a desperate plea. It is not an empty plea, or an irrational plea. Instead, as Moses before him, he makes his plea about the future of Israel by God, on the basis of God, for God’s glory. This starts with acknowledging who God is in his absoluteness. He places no blame upon God and affirms his character and faithfulness. It includes confession and recognition of their corporate wrong. Daniel doesn’t distance himself from the crimes of his nation, though he is not personally guilty of them. He acknowledges that a clean piece of a dirty body is still part of something dirty. He accepts what this means for his fate. Lastly he begs that God show his character more and that Israel be turned into a moment of great narrative for God’s cleverness, and character as he writes a story into history that glorifies himself. He prays that God show his unending mercy to those he loves, now that his justice has been shown. This prayer is not simply a blueprint for prayer but the mindset we should adopt about the sins of our nation, churches and families. May we be so bold.
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