The fiery furnace and the lion’s den were yesterday’s news when the Old Testament prophet, Daniel, found a precious answer to a heart wrenching question. The question was one many of us have asked at one point or another, perhaps in a moment of weakness or hopelessness or discouragement or despair. It is the question of slaves who know no kindness; exiles who know no future; champions who know no end.
It is the cry of the soul under duress, “How long, O LORD, how long?”
Reading through the books he had with him, Daniel found within the writings of the prophet Jeremiah the number of years that “must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years.”
God set a limit to ancient Israel’s exile! God set parameters on punishment! God circumscribed the circumstances! The events that propelled Daniel and the people of Israel from their native home to once again dwell as aliens and strangers in a foreign land had quantifiable limits set by the hand and heart of the Almighty Himself!
Daniel 9:3 records Daniel’s response to this revelation, “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God . . . .”
It was not the situation of his times but the revelation of his God that drove Daniel to prayer. Daniel prayed because he understood from his reading of God’s word that God is merciful, that the judgment the Lord declared for Israel was not permanent, nor without compassion. It was necessary and it was bounded, limited by God, and thus revealed God’s merciful inclination toward his beloved people.
Daniel interceded for himself and his people not because of the desperate nature of their circumstances but because of the gracious nature of their God!
Daniel turned to God’s word. What he found in God’s word led him to turn to God. He did not begin to pray on the basis of the situation at hand. He turned to God’s word as a response to the situation. He turned to God in response to the word.
The point here is this: how often do we pray and intercede for ourselves, our church, our community, our country, or our world based on our perception of the need rather than our perception of the One who meets our need? Do we seek mercy because we perceive we need mercy, or do we seek mercy because we perceive God is merciful? Do we seek peace because we are restless and anxious or do we seek peace because God is omniscient and omnipotent? Do we pray because of who we are and what we need, or because of who God is and what he desires? Is God both the source of our prayer and its answer as well?
Your situation and circumstance is not irrelevant to God, but He is more relevant to you than your situation. Let the environment and events of your life lead you to find God in his word, then let the revelation you find of him lead you to pray.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer spiritual reflections. This month’s s contributor of The Good News is Pastor Dale McIntire, who has served as pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Grand Marais since April of 1995.
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