ON THE VANGUARD

DANIEL’S PRAYER AS MY PRAYER
“O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.”
Daniel 9:16

As we continue to be within the forty days of Teshuvah, I find myself drawn to the prayer of Daniel found in Daniel 9. It was Jeremiah who received the word from the LORD saying that the captivity of His people in Babylon would last seventy years. It is in Daniel 9 that Daniel accounts for being reminded of Jeremiah’s prophecy. So, with these words fresh in his mind, Daniel prayed to the LORD in petition and fasting, in sack cloth and ashes. These are the words of his prayer.

"Please, Adonai, great and fearsome God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvoth (commands)! We have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled and turned away from your mitzvot and rulings. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our leaders, our ancestors and to all the people of the land.
"To you, Adonai, belongs righteousness; but to us today belongs shame - to us, the men of Y'hudah (Judah), the inhabitants of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and all Isra'el, including those nearby and those far away, throughout all the countries where you have driven them; because they broke faith with you. Yes, ADONAI, shame falls on us, our kings, our leaders and our ancestors; because we sinned against you. It is for Adonai our God to show compassion and forgiveness, because we rebelled against him. We didn't listen to the voice of ADONAI our God, so that we could live by his laws, which he presented to us through his servants the prophets. Yes, all Isra'el flouted your Torah and turned away, unwilling to listen to your voice.
“Therefore the curse and oath written in the Torah of Moshe the servant of God was poured out on us, because we sinned against him. He carried out the threats he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us disaster so great that under all of heaven, nothing has been done like what has been done to Yerushalayim. As written in the Torah of Moshe, this whole disaster came upon us. Yet we did not appease ADONAI our God by renouncing our wrongdoing and discerning your truth. So ADONAI watched for the right moment to bring this disaster upon us, for ADONAI our God was just in everything he did, yet we didn't listen when he spoke.
"Now, Adonai our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, thereby winning renown for yourself, as is the case today - we sinned, we acted wickedly. Adonai, in keeping with all your justice, please allow your anger and fury to be turned away from your city Yerushalayim, your holy mountain; because it is due to our sins and the wrongdoings of our ancestors that Yerushalayim and your people have become objects of scorn among everyone around us.
“Therefore, our God, listen to the prayer and pleadings of your servant; and cause your face to shine on your desolated sanctuary, for your own sake. My God, turn your ear, and hear; open your eyes and see how desolated we are, as well as the city which bears your name. For we plead with you not because of our own righteousness, but because of your compassion. Adonai, hear! Adonai, forgive! Adonai, pay attention, and don't delay action - for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people bear your name!"
Daniel 9:4b-19

I find these words becoming my words. I have sinned. I have not lived according to the Law that God gave Moses. And the Law was never done away with simply because the Messiah came, but rather is still in effect today. We are required to follows the commands of God, and failure to do so is sin. As such, I am a sinner. So to God I pray the words of Daniel. It is because of my wrongdoings that God has turned away. And it in my pleading for forgiveness that I ask for His ear to turned back to the words I speak. God, with all that is in me, I turn, I teshuvah, and I come back to you. Do not delay in hearing my prayer of forgiveness, Adonai.