Text: Daniel 9:22-36

Dear Young People,

PRAYING WITH A DEEP AWARENESS OF SIN
Few have a deep sense of awareness of sin in life. Yet, this awareness of sinfulness before a Holy God is such an important thing to cultivate. Let us take time to study carefully how Daniel made confession before God.

1. "We have sinned and committed iniquity…" Daniel 9:5
It is not enough to just merely confess that "we have sinned". It is important of course that there is an admission of having sinned against God. However, general admission by itself is inadequate!

Daniel understood this truth and then went on to confess that there had been the commitment of iniquity as well. To commit iniquity is to confess actual transgression of God's laws and the practice of wicked deeds.

How we must move away from verbalizing the general fact that we have sinned against the Lord. How we need to confess the actual deeds of iniquity as well!

2. "We have done wickedly and rebelled…" Daniel 9:5
Daniel did not spare himself when he confessed the sins of Israel. Note how he identified himself with the nation (this is well captured in the use of the personal pronoun "we"). How did he see the sins of Israel? He confessed that they had been wicked before the Lord. He confessed that their sin was nothing short of the sin of "rebellion".

3. "Even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments" Daniel 9:5
What was that particular sin that was so offensive to God? Daniel knew the answer. To depart from God's Word, here described as "precepts and judgments", was a grievous sin indeed.

Israel had departed from the Law of God a long time ago. The nation had still not confessed this sin and Daniel felt that he must confess this sin on behalf of the nation.

THE CHALLENGE TO PRAY ALONG A SIMILAR VEIN
How do we make our confession before God? Do we confess our sins before the Lord at all? How badly we need to learn how to pray as Daniel did.

Somehow, Daniel knew that one of the reasons why he could not understand the Word of God at a deeper level was the fact that he had to make right with God first. Nothing could be more important than making a full confession of sins before God! There is no offering of any excuses to God. There is just complete confession to the Lord, believing that God is full of mercy to those who truly love Him.

This was Daniel's hope and trust. He was not afraid to confess fully, because he knew that God was full of compassion and mercy. Let us learn how to pray along the same vein as Daniel did. Our prayer life would truly deepen significantly!

Prayerfully,                                                                             

Pastor Charlie

First released 24th March 2002, © Bethany Independent-Presbyterian Church, Singapore