Day 6: Praying the Promise
"I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:2-3).
Sovereign Lord, the prophet Daniel knew You as a trustworthy God. He knew to be true what the psalmist says, Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You (Psalm 9:10).
So when he understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years, [he] turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:2-3).
Daniel understood that the promise for return from captivity was written in the Scripture, and that according to the faithful word of the Lord, the timing was for seventy years from the date of exile. He longed for home—felt the call of home—so as the time approached he began praying the promise You had given Your people.
What an amazing lesson for us! What an amazing model for our prayers and petitions! What a hope and an encouragement to know that even as we learn of and study Your trustworthy promises in Scripture, we can use them as the basis for our pleas, our entreaties, and our supplications!
Father, You alone are the Supreme God who has clearly said, I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God…there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other (Isaiah 45:5-6). But we live in an age and time steeped in the deep-rooted humanistic philosophy of the Babylonian superpower of old—the philosophy You warned against through the prophet Isaiah:
“Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, I am, and there is none besides me...You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me’ (Isaiah 47:8, 10).
Now, as then, the cords of bondage and captivity reach far and wide with strangleholds on lives and hope all around us. Help us to come in humble confession, like Daniel, sincerely acknowledging our wrongs, and seeking Your grace. Help us to come in humble intercession, like Abraham, asking for deliverance and mercy for those around us.
O, help us to come in trembling audacity before the Sovereign God of the universe, so bold as to speak to the Lord, knowing that in Your loving character and Your great mercy, we can petition You, Will not the judged of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:25, 27).
Lord, may we search Your word diligently, seeking Your face, seeking Your promises, seeking Your way. Help us to pray the promises You have given us, confident that they are according to Your faithfulness, Your plan, Your purpose, Your will.
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