Wednesday, May 6, 2015

A man of Scripture, a man of prayer - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Daniel 9:1-3,

"In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— in the first year of his reign, 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 had given himself to the studying of, the reading of, the meditating in, the ruminating in the Scriptures. While a member of the Jewish community in captivity in Babylon, he read in Jeremiah's prophecy, Jeremiah 25:11-12, that the period of the captivity he was caught in was coming to a close. This prompted him to pray in fasting, sackcloth and ashes for the nation of Israel, and during his prayer, while in the midst of it, Gabriel was dispatched to bring a message to Daniel.

Daniel's prayer is remarkable in how he identified himself with the sinful rebellion of the Israelites as he pleaded with God for his forgiveness for the nation. "We have sinned and done wrong", "We have been wicked and have rebelled", "we have turned away from your commands and laws." "We have not listened to your prophets..." Daniel 9:5-6. Daniel is one of the individuals in Scripture where no record of any wrong-doing is recorded, unlike Abraham, unlike Jacob, unlike David, etc. While we can be assured he was a sinful man as all mankind is, he is not presented to us in his sinful condition. And, yet, here he is, identifying with all the guilt, all the sinful rebellion, all of the wickedness of the nation in his appeal to God on behalf of the nation. A man of true humility, a man whose interests were not preoccupied with the self-absorption so many prayers today are filled with. As the NIV Study Bible points out, a prayer filled with humility, worship, confession, as well as petition (request).

Gabriel reveals to Daniel there will be a series of weeks of years relating to the rebuilding of the temple, the coming of Jesus Christ, and events to transpire at the end of this age (heralding the coming of the Son of God for the second time to set up his rule from Jerusalem.)

I can't help but note it was Daniel's devotion to the Scriptures, taking them a face value, studying them diligently, and then through heartfelt and honest prayer of faith that he had his visit with Gabriel, learned about his current state of affairs (when the captivity would be over), and the timing of future events. While I don't assume any of us will ever have a similar experience as Daniel, I do believer there is much for us to learn from this man, Daniel, from his devotion to the Lord and his people, his devotion to Scripture and his prayer of faith.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

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