Penitent Prayer for Mercy and Grace

Daniel 9:1-19 

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

8 "O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

13 "As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

16 "O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 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 do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

Daniel was given understanding of the seventy years that Jerusalem would be abandoned in desolation with God’s people in Babylonian captivity, just as Ezekiel had spoken God’s word and inscribed it to be read and reflected on.  Therefore, Daniel prayed and fasted while looking toward the holy city in rubble.  He was penitently making intercession for himself and his people for their sin of walking away from adherence to His word and righteous ways which they had been called to in covenant with Him.  Having broken that covenant of works time and again, they had been carried off in bondage to the godless Babylon where idols were plentiful and which were reminders of their own idolatry and immortality.  He confesses their sins of leaving Him who had chosen them and praised the great and awesome God who is faithful when they were not and shows great mercy to those who truly love Him.  He confessed their wicked ways of leaving His word to live by and their cosmic rebellion in turning a deaf ear to Him speaking through the prophets who were the mouthpiece messengers of the LORD, calling them to holiness through repentance and faith to follow Him.  Yes, he confessed their shame in the face of His righteousness and admitted their unfaithfulness which led to their banishment from His presence and bondage to their sin under foreign godless masters.  They had reaped what was sown in unrighteousness and unbelief as they worshipped lifeless gods and lived unholy lives in spite of Him and His word of life, choosing death instead according to the terms of His covenant with them.  Such judgment and destruction of Jerusalem was truly worse than ever seen before, leaving shock and awe to all onlookers.  Yet he also confessed that it was their leaving God which brought this judgment on themselves as it was written by Moses (Leviticus 26:14-17, Jeremiah 44:2-3) because they had not turned in repentance and prayer to understand the truth of these things and live righteous lives again in obedient response to all He said.  He admitted that they deserved their consequences of judgment for their sin as divine justice and shamed His name after bringing them out of the bondage of Egypt which they seemed to have forgotten or disregarded.  Then he prayed for mercy according to His righteousness that God’s wrath on their sin might be turned away just as it is forever in Christ who interceded for all His chosen people now.  He prayed for light to shine on the sanctuary for worship to resume in the place chosen to honor His name as holy through atonement of the sacrifice, pointing to the atoning sacrifice of Christ to come which completely covers all our sin forever.  Daniel cried out for this mercy and forgiveness to reconcile the people of God to Him because of His great mercy alone and not according to any works they had done or could ever do.  He prayed in this grace for God to hear, forgive, and act quickly to save those who were called by His name.  We also now pray for this reconciling grace of merciful forgiveness to bring the chosen children back from sin to Him in faith and repentance by grace.  This is our penitent prayer for mercy and grace for all God’s people in Christ Jesus our Lord.  God forgives because He shows mercy.  Even when we were still lost in our sin and living by lies, He gave us truth and called us to understand His grace and mercy.  We suffer under the curse of our sin until we believe this truth fulfilled in Jesus Christ alone.  Only then can we be changed and then find the way to live as He tells us and listen His truth with understanding for life both now and into forever with Him.  God's nature never changes; He still can be called upon and pleaded with as our broken and contrite hearts lead us to the throne of mercy and grace to find help for our ever-needy souls.  For His glory we cry out, leaning on His great mercies.  We are called out by Him and so for Him, and prayer keeps us focused on and following Christ in us, the Hope of glory.  O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Amen.