"Oh Lord, great and awesome God, Who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned...." (Daniel 9:4, 5a)
Or, he could have said, "'Who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,' we have not "love[d] Him, and...kept] His commandments."
One of the outstanding characteristics of Daniel's prayer is that the person of whom nothing evil is said takes on ("owns") the sin of his nation. The Jews were in captivity because, "we have sinned." It was not Daniel's sin which took him there; it was the sins of, "the men of Judah,..the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel" (v.7). But Daniel did not stand aloof in some self righteous attitude, "Well, it wasn't me; but I pray for these poor lost sinners," no. This is the heart of a true intercessor, one in whom Jesus Christ lives, "we have sinned."
No one wants to admit that the reason humanity suffers is, "we have sinned." I can hear a, "Oh, that's Old Testament." Just read the New Testament without trying-to-build-a-big-church glasses and one will see there too that sin has consequences. This is not an issue of forgiveness or the Love of God or mercy or anything of the "kind." Just as it is for children, adults pay for disobedience, or, as our text declares, they pay for, "we have sinned." Any person who responds to adversity with, "I don't deserve this," is a person who thinks his/her righteousness is self obtained.
The United States of America has been descending into an abyss of, "we have sinned," at an alarming rate. There has always been sin in America, just as there has always been sin in any, nation, tribe, people group on Planet Earth since the Garden. Yet the rate and expanse of sin in America today is a result of government "sponsored" rebellion against, not King George, but King Jesus. If there is any of the "spirit" of Daniel in the Church today, in any nation, there will be the same determination in us as there was in Daniel, "Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes....O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord listen and act! Do not delay for Your sake, my God...."
Father, in Jesus' Name, people talk so much of "David's heart." Yet what a heart in Daniel. I thank You that in Jesus Christ I have such a heart, but I pray it would manifest more and more. Amen.
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Unreached People Group: www.apfunreachedpeoples.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
