Daniel's Prayer for His People
Daniel 9:8 "O Lord, to us [belongeth] confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee."
confusion of face... Their loyalty was to no god. They wanted to worship God, but all at the same time they worshipped false gods. Their confusion was obvious to everyone, but themselves.
Romans 6:21 "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death."
What a prayer is this! In many respects it is a model for us all. It was based on the divine Word. The fact that God had promised to restore the desolations of Jerusalem after seventy years, did not restrain, but prompted and inspired Daniel’s prayers. God’s promises are not independent of our faith, but await our appropriation. It was very humble. Fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, were the outward habiliments, but notice the tone. We have sinned… and have rebelled…; unto us [belongeth] confusion of face. He confessed his sin and the sin of his people. There is such a thing as vicarious confession, in which some holy soul takes to himself the task of bearing the sins of his people, and pouring out the story before God, as though the sins were his own. But we hardly need go to our country or people for sins to confess, for we have plenty of our own, and the nearer we come to God’s infinite light and holiness, the more we abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes.
God is just in disciplining Israel for her unfaithfulness, for which she was covered with shame (Dan. 9:7-8) and dispersed (scattered) into foreign countries.
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