February 26: Daniel’s Prayer for His People
♫ Music:
Day 13 - Monday, February 26
Title: Daniel’s Prayer for His People
Scripture: Daniel 9:1-19
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
“Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
“And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. 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. 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. 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. 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.”
Poetry: Kindness
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept
him alive.
Before you know kindness as
the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as
the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that
makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day
to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you
everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
DANIEL’S PRAYER OF CONFESSION FOR HIS PEOPLE
Daniel was passionate in his determination to seek mercy from the Lord for himself and for his people. When he says, “I gave my attention to the Lord God,” the underlying Hebrew has “I set my face towards the Lord God.” That determination and upward glance towards God is captured in Morris Broderson’s self-portrait. The colored light coming out of his temple and slanted upward reveals the direction of his thought towards God, and his facial expression shows determination. In his prayer Daniel makes his plea in different ways and always with intensity. The discomfort of his body as he hungers and rough burlap garments and sits in a pile of ashes only furthers the sense of desperation Daniel feels. He has waited long enough; after seventy long years surely the Lord will act. Seventy years for the desolation of Jerusalem—Daniel feels the full weight of the sinfulness of the people, his people, that has brought about God’s righteous anger.
But the nation as a whole must turn wholeheartedly to the Lord, and while Daniel takes that role upon himself, one repentant individual is not enough. Would four be enough if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were included? When Abraham bargained with God for Sodom and Gomorrah, the place could be spared for the sake of ten who were righteous.
In one last, desperate plea, Daniel reminds God of the shameful state of the nation that God brought forth from bondage in Egypt. As the nations gloated over the fate of Israel and continually mocked God’s people, would that mockery not be a reflection on God’s own merciful and righteous character?
The nation had suffered long, but Daniel’s requests could not be consummated yet. Daniel himself was “greatly loved” by the Lord, but now another seventy periods of seven had to be endured before the Lord could bring in everlasting righteousness. In His mercy the Lord would preserve a remnant that would continue to love Him, esteemed servants like Daniel and his three friends. But hard times lay ahead, though thankfully punctuated by a return from Babylonia to the land and the appearance of the Messiah sent from God. A “desolate landscape” between “regions of kindness” is how Naomi Shihab Nye describes it. For now Daniel “must wake up with sorrow” and be content to know that the Lord has a plan that will someday bring to a close “sorrow” and overspread the world with “kindness.” And in the meantime God will act with deeds of mercy, and He will always abide with Daniel and with all who wait longingly for the bus to arrive at its final destination.
Do Daniel and his people hang their heads in shame before the Babylonians and the Medes and the Persians? God himself will endure a deeper shame through the Son who would die and know the bitter shame of death on a cross. Be patient, Daniel, and wait for the Lord to work His sovereign purpose in the world.
Prayer:
“May the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
for wisdom and might belong to Him.
He changes times and seasons;
He removes kings and sets up kings.
He gives wisdom to the wise,
and knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals the deep and hidden things.
He knows what is in the darkness,
and light dwells with Him.”
(From Daniel 2:20–22)
Dr. Thomas J. Finley
Professor of Old Testament and Semitics, Emeritus
Biola University
About the Artwork:
Self-Portrait with Hearing Aids
Morris Broderson
Oil on canvas
Date and size unknown
Artist Morris Broderson attended the California School for the Deaf and his passionate paintings reveal his concern with man's emotional response to the world around him. This painting shows his hearing aid with stripes of colour that suggest sound and listening. Today’s passage of scripture begins by saying that the people have not listened to or obeyed God and ends with a prayer that God will listen to the people, that He will incline both His ear and His heart. The painting, like the act of listening, is intense and focused and the figure seems intent to hear, to know, to be enlightened.
About the Artist:
Morris Broderson (1928–2011) was a Los Angeles-based artist. Deaf at birth, he attended Berkeley School for the Deaf where he started making art and won a scholarship to study at the Pasadena Art Museum. He then attended the University of Southern California where he focused on drawing. Broderson's work ranges from oils, watercolors and pastels, to lithographs, embroidery, Asian motifs, porcelain, lace, and floral designs. His watercolors and oil paintings are in hundreds of private collections worldwide, as well as in the permanent collections of The Joseph Hirshhorn Museums in Washington, D.C.; The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Guggenheim Museum in New York; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
About the Music:
“Chasing Cloud Nine” from the album Chasing Cloud Nine
About the Composer/Performer:
LUCHS is an anonymous ambient music producer whose music has become popular across streaming platforms such as Spotify and Amazon. Ambient music focuses on creating moods and atmospheres rather than on traditional musical forms or structures. The genre was first explored by French composer Erik Satie, further inspired by Minimalist composers such as Philip Glass, and pioneered by British producer-composer Brian Eno in the 1970s. Creating an ambient musical atmosphere requires many steps. Producers today use a wide range of technology to collect and combine synthetic and acoustic sounds, exploring tone and timbre while creating complex layers. Ambient music is intended to elevate the spatial characteristics of music, allowing the listener to explore how a musical space is filled and emptied over time.
About the Poet:
Naomi Shihab Nye (b. 1952) is an American poet. Her father was a Palestinian refugee and her mother was of European descent. Her rich experiences with varied cultures have influenced much of her work. Known for poetry that lends a fresh perspective to ordinary events, people, and objects, Nye has said that, for her, “the primary source of poetry has always been local life, random characters met on the streets, our own ancestry sifting down to us through small essential daily tasks.” Characterizing Nye’s “prolific canon” in Contemporary Women Poets, critic Paul Christensen noted that Nye “is building a reputation…as the voice of childhood in America, the voice of the girl at the age of daring exploration.” Nye received her BA from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and continues to live and work in the city. “My poems and stories often begin with the voices of our neighbors, mostly Mexican-American, always inventive and surprising,” Nye wrote for Four Winds Press. In addition to her poetry collections, Nye has produced fiction for children, poetry and song recordings, and poetry translations.
About the Devotional Writer:
Dr. Thomas J. Finley taught for forty years at Talbot School of Theology in the department of Old Testament and Semitics at Biola University. He retired with Emeritus status in September of 2016. He worships with his wife, Anita, at Granada Heights Friends Church in La Mirada, CA.