When Daniel, a very wise and highly placed Jewish captive in Babylon, finally came to understand why his nation of Judah had been severely punished by the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, and Jewish captives were carried off to Babylon for 70 years (including him), he I prayed this unique prayer in earnest to The Lord, His God:
O 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 and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 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.
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. O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To The Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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!
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. 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. 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.
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. 1
Friends, Daniel prayed as the entire city of Jerusalem, where he was born, laid in ruins for nearly 70 years - God’s predicted punishment for centuries of un-repented sinfulness. Today, economies of nations across our world are shuttered by a novel virus - pestilence, one of the four judgment henchmen God iteratively promised to use against un-repented, long-term sinfulness of nations. Correlations between God’s promises (good and otherwise) are undeniably revealed in world history.
So what will and should we do?
How does Daniel’s fervent prayer strike your heart?
What now will you do??
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1 Daniel 9:2-19, NKJ Version
