The God Who is Merciful

When you think about prayer what comes to mind? Has prayer been a struggle for you or are you eager to pray each day? Do you wonder if your prayers really matter or do you believe that God uses your prayers to accomplish His plans and purposes? Are you eager to grow in your prayer life or are you content to remain where you are? Prayer is a gift from God. Therefore, believers should delight in talking to God the Father through the Son by the power of the Spirit. It’s good, then, that the Bible teaches us how to pray. Some chapters in the Bible record for us the prayers of God’s people. Daniel 9 is one of them. Through Daniel’s prayer we especially learn that God is merciful to those who confess their sins and seek Him. 

            While Daniel was living in exile in Babylon he discerned from Jeremiah’s prophecy that Israel would be in exile for seventy years (see Jer. 25:11-12). Therefore, he would have recognized that the seventy years were approaching their end. To put his prayer in context, remember that in 539BC Babylon fell to Persia. It was during this year that Daniel humbly prayed to God to be merciful to His people.

            Daniel began his prayer by confessing who God is, “the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments” (Dan. 9:4). It is because of God’s faithfulness to His covenant that He is present with His people, even through exile, preserving them until the day of restoration (see Deut. 30:1-10).         

            The second matter Daniel addressed was their sin. He confessed, “we have…rebelled, turning aside from your commandments” (Dan. 9:5). Significantly, even though Daniel had been  faithful, he recognized he too was a sinner that had fallen short of God’s glory.

            Third, Daniel confessed, “we have not listened to your servants the prophets” (Dan. 9:6). God’s people had refused to listen to God’s word and remained in rebellion. Therefore, God sent them into exile.

            The fourth concern of Daniel’s prayer contrasted God’s righteousness with humankind’s sinfulness. “To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame” (Dan. 9:7). To the Lord also belonged “mercy and forgiveness” but to God’s people rebellion and disobedience (vv. 9-10).

            Fifth, Daniel recalled God’s law that revealed there would be blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Dan. 9:11-14). Therefore, he acknowledged God’s justice in bringing calamity upon His people (see Deut. 28:64-68). Sadly, they refused to repent and gain “insight by [God’s] truth” (v. 13) so they went into exile.

            The sixth matter Daniel brought before the Lord concerned their sin in light of the exodus. He prayed to the Lord “who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand” (Deut. 9:15). In light of such a great salvation, God’s people should have obeyed Him. Likewise, Daniel’s generation should have obeyed the Lord. But instead they too found themselves in need of deliverance.

            Seventh, Daniel confessed God’s people had not fulfilled His purpose. They were to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6), but instead they had “become a byword among all who are around us” (Dan. 9:16). Sadly, Israel did not shine brightly for God. However, in exile, His faithful servants, like Daniel, were bringing light to the nations.

            That the Lord’s sanctuary was desolate was a painful reminder of the state of God’s people. No wonder, then, that Daniel prayed, “make your face to shine upon your sanctuary” (Dan. 9:17). Significantly, Daniel didn’t present their pleas before the Lord “because of [their] righteousness, but because of [His] great mercy” (v. 18). Then, in staccato-like form, he prayed for the Lord to “hear” and “forgive” and “pay attention and act” and “delay not, for your own sake…because your city and your people are called by your name” (v. 19).

            Daniel’s pleas for mercy were answered in part during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when the temple was rebuilt. But the blood of animal sacrifices could never secure an eternal redemption for the people of God. That’s why the gospel is such good news. God forgave “us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14). Therefore, God the Father hears us because we go to Him through the Son, our “great high priest who has passed through the heavens” (Heb. 4:14). 

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It is not because our prayers are great, but because of God’s greatness, that He uses our prayers to accomplish His plans and purposes. If we don’t believe that prayer really matters or that God uses prayers as a means to bring about His purposes, then it’s unlikely we’ll pray. Daniel was a great prophet of God who depended upon prayer. But Jesus, the greater and final prophet, also depended upon prayer throughout His life and ministry (see, for example, Luke 5:16; 6:12; 11:1-4; 22:42; 23:34, 46). Therefore, we should avail ourselves of this means of grace and spend more time praying, especially for the gospel of God to go forth across the lands, so that all peoples will come to know Christ, the better prophet, priest, and king.