6. Daniels Prayer of Confession
Daniel’s Prayer of Confession
"In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land...... And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved; therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." (Daniel 9:1-6; Daniel 9:20-23)
Very often when we are praying we are quite unaware of what is going on. At the same time as Daniel was praying, God was working on the spirit of Cyrus. Cyrus was giving instructions as to the return from Babylon of a section of the people who were held in bondage. The king was giving a decree that the people could move out from captivity and go back to Jerusalem. Daniel did not know this, but one thing he did know was that God had said precisely that after 70 years of captivity, there would be a remnant returning. Daniel knew this from the book of Jeremiah (25:11). This indicates to us that that book was in circulation then, Daniel read it and he knew God’s mind.
There is a principle for us immediately. Doweknow God’s mind? How are we going to get it, from the philosophers of this world? It is not there. There is one source where we can find it, that is in God’s word, not the law as it pertains to Israel, not even the history of Israel and the lessons that we learn there, but in the New Testament, where it specifically speaks of the Christian’s position in this world, the privileges and the responsibilities. This is where we learn God’s mind, and as we learn it and seek grace to obey it then the blessing of God comes. So immediately Daniel knew that the time had arrived. He had always been in accord with the mind of God, but now he knew that a specific moment had arrived, and so he set his face with earnest diligence to pray to God about this specific matter.
It is beautiful that he started his prayer with wholehearted confession. He did not exclude himself, he did not specifically blame others, but he took an overall view of the picture, the absolute failure and weakness, and he freely acknowledged to God that this was the case. Along with that he knew that God was a merciful God, a forgiving God, a God who had not deviated from His covenant with Israel, a God who was ready to bless, ready to forgive, ready to hear. We have not time to enter into the specific details of the prayer, I commend the study to you, but the thread that is running through is ’We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have failed, we have been unfaithful’.
I want to ask this company, individually, would any of us dare to stand up and say that we have not failed? I do not think so. And I can assure you I would immediately take my place along with you if you stand up and say that you have failed. I have failed. I regret that. Every failure of ours, morally, ecclesiastically, or any other way adversely affects the Christian testimony. Do not let us think that we can sin or fail in any way whatsoever with impunity. It is a definite truth that our failure affects the Christian witness in this world. This is very solemn. We might think, ’Well, I do not do this, and I do not do that’, and we might pat ourselves on the back and say, ’Well, I have not failed’ (I am talking individually), but oh, my dear friends, let us examine ourselves in the light of God’s presence. This is the measuring stick, just to be in God’s presence. Let us tell Him that we have not failed, and see what He says to us. Oh, what a solemn thing it is to be in the presence of God! So when we consider the weakness of the Christian position do not let us blame others. Daniel said, ’I confess my sin’. And having confessed our sin, let us look for understanding to follow the right way and to follow the word of God, that there might be better conditions. Oh, what a prayer it was, and God answered by addressing Daniel as "Oh, man, greatly beloved". Daniel was a man whose heart was yearning for the prosperity of God’s interests first.
Notice that Daniel said, "the kings have failed". Who are the kings? (I am now referring to the Christian company). They are the persons who are leaders, the persons who should tell forth the mind of God without any partiality; the kings are to enforce the word of God. I do not use the word enforcing in the sense that there are leaders who say, ’You must do this or you must do that’, I mean enforcing by presenting the word of God to the people of God, and what it means to do the will of God in our day. Daniel said, ’Our kings have failed’. Is this true of the Christian profession as we know it? I think it is true. Then consider the princes, the influential men amongst the people of God, the men who occupy places given to them by God. We often read in the book of Numbers of princes brought forward as persons who are given direction by God to accomplish things for Him. The princes have failed. Not only have the princes and rulers failed, but the people have also - individually, every one of us. Peter was certainly a king. He failed, he led the saints astray, so that even Barnabas was carried away by assimilation (Galatians 2:11-14). When we view the history of the revival over 150 years ago, and we see the break-up by continual departure from the truth, we must bow our heads in shame. We say, ’How well it could have been if the truth had been preserved.’ And all must bear responsibility for the failure. The failure in Daniel’s day did not happen just at the time that Daniel was at Babylon, and the declension that we are facing today just did not happen overnight, and the reason is very simple, the word of God has been neglected. ’We have not listened to the prophets’ said Daniel. ’When the word of God was proclaimed in clearness and in power nobody paid any attention, they were so occupied with their own affairs instead of listening to the word of God’. Covetousness was seen in Achan as they entered into the land (Joshua 7:1-26), a desire for materialism, and also, at the beginning of the church period, in Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:1-42), and then a complete ignoring of the word of God as to gathering together and following the principles connected with it. We cannot wonder that God’s chastising hand is upon us. So, let us confess, let us take this attitude of humiliation upon us. If we can, then this meeting will not have been in vain. It is not a case of looking over our shoulder at someone else, but of taking it home to our own consciences, our own hearts, and working it out in humility before God.
I want to tell you a story by way of encouragement, to show how we can make things better. When I was in Germany I was introduced to a young man and he was described to me as a brilliant student. I was told the different things he was interested in, and he had been breaking bread for about a year amongst the brethren. His parents were practising agnostics. I asked how it was that he found his way amongst brethren, and I was told a story that touched my heart, and that is why I am passing it on to you. When he was at college he noticed a young woman who was different. He watched her carefully and he had to acknowledge she was different, different in appearance and different in her habits. So at last his curiosity got the better of him and he asked her ’Why is it that you are different? I notice that your hair is different from the others, and I notice too that your clothes are different from the others.’
’Well,’ she said, ’I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.’
’Oh,’ he said, ’Are you compelled then to do this?’
’Oh, no,’ she said, ’I do it because I love the Lord Jesus.’ And that was the means of his conversion. Conversion can not only come about by campaigns (thank God for them), but salvation can come about in a person’s life by faithfulness to the Lord. That young lad is going on, he is making advances in his spiritual life, he has seen faithfulness, it was the means of his conversion and it is governing him in his life. Dear brethren, young and old, oh that the Lord might help us to be faithful! We will influence those who are beside us and we will influence them in the right direction. May the Lord help us then to be more and more exercised in this tremendous matter of prayer. The right attitude, the right desire, and the kind of life that gives power to our prayers, as we wait for the Lord to see Him face to face.
Frank Wallace