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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have
rebelled; we have turned away from Your commands and laws. We have not listened
to Your servants, the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our
princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.”
“Lord, You are righteous, but this day we are covered with
shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both
near and far, in all the countries where You have scattered us because of our
unfaithfulness to You. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are
covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against You. The Lord our God
is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him; we
have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws He gave us through His
servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away,
refusing to obey You.”
Daniel 9:5-11a
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Preparation and opening with words that glorify God.
These were the first two elements of prayer we discover when
we study Daniel’s prayer in Chapter 9. Today, we continue this six part
devotional series by looking at the matter of repentance, an aspect of prayer
critical to maintaining and sustaining a positive relationship with the Lord.
Before we turn to our scripture verses, let’s set the
backdrop. The people of God, those occupying both the northern kingdom of Israel
and the southern kingdom of Judah, had willingly and willfully turned away from
their Lord, abandoning Him as well as His word, will, and way to worship false
pagan gods and idols. All this after God had fundamentally commanded the
Israelites generations earlier to worship no other God but Him and Him alone.
God tried to get His people to turn away from their sins and
return to Him, sending prophets to speak on His behalf and warn the people of
judgment that would come if they persisted in rebelling against Him. But the
people ignored those warnings and did what they wanted to do, chasing after the
desires of their hearts instead of seeking to become the people the Lord wanted
them to be.
And so God sent judgment on His people. They really left Him
no other choice.
We know He sent the Assyrians against the northern kingdom of
Israel and after the north was destroyed and left in ruins, the people were
taken into captivity, never to return again.
As for the south, they were attacked by the Babylonians who
demolished everything including the beloved city of Jerusalem, hauling off the
riches of the land as well as the people to Babylon and we know Daniel was
counted in that number. It was in the midst of that captivity, after the
Babylonians were overthrown by the Medes and Persians that we find Daniel
bringing these words of confession to God:
“We have sinned and
done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from Your
commands and laws. We have not listened to Your servants, the prophets, who
spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the
people of the land.”
“Lord, You are
righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the
countries where You have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to You. We
and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because
we have sinned against You. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though
we have rebelled against Him; we have not obeyed the Lord our
God or kept the laws He gave us through His servants the prophets. All Israel
has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey You.” Daniel 9:5-11a
Here we find Daniel clearly stating the obvious but as we
will discuss, it is nonetheless of the utmost importance when it comes to the
matter of confession.
The Israelites had sinned and done wrong. They had been
wicked and rebelled against God, turning away from His commands and laws. They
had ignored the messages delivered by the prophets and chose their will over
God’s. All of Israel had transgressed and turned away from God in disobedience.
All of this was evident in the actions of God’s people,
actions that were done in plain sight of Him.
So why was it necessary for Daniel to detail all the
iniquities committed?
Because one of the most essential components of confession in
prayer is acknowledging that you are the problem.
Look at any twelve step program in existence today, whether
it is Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, etc.
What is the first primary step? Isn’t it openly confessing that you have a
problem and are powerless on your own to overcome it?
Sin is a problem like that and confession is the first step
in the right direction in turning away from it, a way of saying to God that I
am a sinner and I am powerless against it unless I have Your strength and power
and direction to get me through.
Call it “Transgressions Anonymous”, if you like.
This is what Daniel is up to. He is coming clean on behalf
of all the Israelites, becoming their spokesperson before God. Note where he
tells God that he and the rest of the Israelites are “covered with shame” and
that they know they were “scattered” because of their “unfaithfulness” to Him.
In other words, Daniel is confessing that he and the rest of
the Israelites deserved the judgment they received because God is always right
and righteous. And since God is never wrong, this left the Israelites as the
lone guilty party.
That’s called accountability in confession.
Before I close, there’s one more thing to note. For look at
these words as Daniel professes a vital truth about God in his confession
prayer:
“The Lord our God is
merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him.”
Daniel knew that when confession is sincere and from the
heart, the outcome is that God can and will show mercy and forgiveness to His
people. We know this happened when God allowed the Israelites to return to
their homeland at the end of their seventy year exile to rebuild their homes,
their lives, and their relationships with Him.
Friends, God’s word is speaking to us powerfully about this
element of prayer today, using Daniel as a model. We are all sinners and so
there is no one who can say they don’t have something to confess and repent
over.
Won’t you come before God today to admit your wrongs and
that you are the problem, not Him or anyone else?
Won’t you acknowledge before Him that you are powerless
against committing transgressions unless you have His strength and power within
you?
Won’t you declare Him as the Lord of grace, mercy, and
forgiveness before you seek those things from Him?
Won’t you trust in this word of God and embrace it in your
life?
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
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Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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