SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
11/23/2013 10:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Intercession: Praying for God’s Mercy PT-4
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
9:16-19
Message of the
verses: We will be looking at the
last sub-point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline in this SD, and then we will move on
to the third and last main point from this ninth chapter which we will see
about the seventy-week prophecy.
Asking for mercy on
Israel (Daniel 9:16-19): “16 "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let
now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from
Your city
Jerusalem, Your
holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.
17 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
18 “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 are not presenting our supplications before
You on account of any
merits of our own,
but on account of Your great compassion.
19 “O Lord, hear! O
Lord, forgive! O
Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people
are called by Your name.’”
We see the word “Your” seventeen times in this short
passage. We saw the words that were
personal pronouns describing Daniel and the people of Israel at least 16 times
in verses 5-15, and so we can see that this is a turning point in Daniel’s
prayer as he now focuses on what is the Lord’s, as we see in this section that
it is the Lord’s anger and wrath, along with the Lord’s city and people to name
a few things that belong to the Lord. We
know that all things belong to the Lord, but Daniel is talking about specific
things in his prayer that belong to the Lord.
Dr. Wiersbe begins his commentary on this section with
the following words: “God in His grace
gives us what we don’t deserve, and God in His mercy doesn’t give us what we do
deserve.” Daniel is asking for
forgiveness in this section, forgiveness from God for the things that he and
his people have done, but we see in verse eighteen that Daniel does not ask
because of any righteousness that the children of Israel have, for they have
none, but he asks the Lord because of His great mercy. Daniel knew that the children of Israel were
to go back to Israel at the end of seventy years, but that did not stop him
from asking God to accomplish what He has written through Jeremiah the
prophet. Daniel knew that there was God
Messiah coming and that He would come through the line of Israel, for all of
this is seen in the Scriptures beginning with the passage in Genesis 3:15 which
takes place right after the sin of Adam and Eve. This verse speaks of “the seed of the woman”
which is not the way that we usually hear this as the seed of the man is
usually how we hear this, however this speaks of the fact that there would come
a time when the Messiah would be born to a virgin woman, and that is what
happened. When we look at the third
chapter of the Gospel of Luke we see the Messiah’s “roots” from Mary all the
way back to Adam. Daniel had to know
that Israel would go back to their land in order to have the Messiah born
there. Another reason Daniel prayed for
Israel to return was to glorify the Lord, for that is something that Daniel
desired in his life. I want to include a
verse note at this time that is similar to what I wrote in the beginning of
this SD, which has to do with the number of times Daniel uses the words “You
and Yours.” “Note how often Daniel uses
the pronouns ‘you’ and your’ as he refers to the Lord: ‘your commands…your people…your Name…your truth…your
holy hill.’ The prayer emphasizes the character of God and not
the suffering of the people. This is
God-centered praying.”
It would be in a year when God would answer Daniel’s
prayer, although he would now what the answer would be, as we will discover in
the next few SD’s. Daniel was a
wonderful man of God who served under four kings and was able to testify to the
One True Living God to all of those kings, and to bring glory to God in all his
life.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary on this section with
the following words: “Daniel now knew God’s immediate plans for the nation of
Israel, but what about the distant future?
He has already learned from the visions God gave him that difficult days
lay ahead for God’s people, with a kingdom to appear that would crush
everything good an promote everything evil.
Would God’s people survive? Would
the promised Messiah finally appear? Would
the kingdom of God be established on earth?
“Daniel is about to receive the answers to those
question.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have mentioned
that prayer has been the dominant subject for me this week in my devotions, our
Sunday School class, and also in our Wednesday evening prayer meeting message,
and what I can take out of this lesson today is what Dr. Wiersbe wrote about
Daniel’s prayer that I have highlighted above:
“The prayer
emphasizes the character of God and not the suffering of the people. This is God-centered praying.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Lean
to pray like Daniel prayed that my prayers may bring honor and glory to the
Lord.
Memory verses for the
week: 1 John 5:13a and Titus 3:5a
These things I have
written…that you may know that you have eternal life.
Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy He saved us.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Philemon.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “What did God promise Solomon
besides wisdom?
Answer in our next SD.
11/23/2013 11:31 AM
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