SCRIPTURE: Daniel 9:1-19

OBSERVATION:
Daniel has read Jeremiah’s words about Israel’s exile (Jeremiah 25:11-12), and is praying for the end of the exile.
The right response before God is always humility and repentance, and Daniel demonstrates this.
Honesty about our failures is hard, we usually minimize or justify our failures, yet Daniel is very explicit about their collective failure.
There is no sense of blaming God or doubting His goodness, even after 70 years of exile (Daniel was in Babylon until the first year of Cyrus, 1:21, when the Jews were finally free to return home).

APPLICATION:
How big of a place does repentance and confession have in my prayers?
Am I guilty of minimizing or justifying my sinful attitudes or behaviours; do I blame God or question His goodness when bad things happen to me?
Repentance is not just a one-time act, it is a frame of mind, an attitude, a way of existing before God. I sense the Lord challenging me to deepen my honesty and awareness of my guilt, my pride, my sin.
To spend less time talking to God as my “Servant” in heaven, and to recognize His awesome greatness and my smallness before Him.

PRAYER:
Lord, I sense my sin and smallness a little, but not enough. Help me to be honest and humble and Daniel, and to base my prayers on Your mercy, not on my desire or deserving. Amen.