Some 9:3 Lessons for us ALL on This 9/3

Some 9:3 lessons for us ALL on this 9/3

(I do not apologize for the long read.)

 

Daniel 9:3

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 

 

This chapter of Daniel opens with a reference to Daniel studying the scriptures. He knew the writings of the prophet Jeremiah - that because of their unfaithfulness to God, the Jewish people would be taken into captivity in Babylon for 70 years, but because he knew the scriptures, Daniel also knew the promise that had also been spoken through Isaiah – that God would deliver his people from their captivity and set them free through King Cyrus of Persia.

 

Lesson 1 – to claim the promises of God, KNOW the promises of God by studying His word.

 

When Cyrus took the throne, Daniel recognized the significance of that event and went to work in prayer, and that bring us back to 9:3.

Here, we see a model for prayer.

 

Daniel 9:3

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 

 

Let’s consider the words used here:

9:3 begins with a deliberate and intentional action.

It says:

Then I set my face toward the Lord God…

Lesson 2 – too often we tend to casually speak AT God rather than seeking to enter into His presence by setting our faces toward him – setting on Him our full, undistracted and undivided attention. In other words, Daniel didn’t just pray while looking around the room, he fixed his eyes on the Lord.

 

9:3 continues:

….to make request by prayer and supplications

Lesson 3 – What Daniel did here was more than just casually ask God for something.

The word prayer as it is used here in the Hebrew language tells us that Daniel prayed emphatically. His prayer was energetic and fervent, not casual. And he felt a stirring in him that told him that he HAD to pray and all he could do WAS pray. He prayed with urgency.

The word supplication tells us that Daniel was humbly entreating - almost begging - for what he sought. When our young children want something badly enough, they will ask and keep asking, they will tug at our pantleg and beg for the thing they want, and they do it with expectation.

When we pray, we need to pray with the same urgency and expectation.

 

9:3 concludes:

with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 

These are pictures of a man humbling himself in every way he could before the Lord.

As we see in the earlier parts of this 9:3, Daniel knew that he HAD to fix his eyes on God and pray. But we see here that he was leaving nothing to chance. He was taking every action to empty himself of self fully so that he could receive from God fully.

He went to God not just seeking what he needed, but sacrificing through fasting.

Effective relationship works that way – not just seeking to receive, but being willing to give.

Putting on sackcloth and ashes was a way of showing repentance and humility. It was an outward showing of an inward change. It demonstrates an awareness of who we are and our need for God.

 

Lesson 4 – Prayer has to be more than just seeking what God can do FOR us. He wants relationship – a two-way-street.  We have to be aware of our need for God and put on humility – again, emptying ourselves.

 

Let this 9:3 be an example we all follow.

Like Daniel, we all have needs that God knows and that only God can meet. Daniel set out to meet with God in prayer here in 9:3, but he began by seeking God’s promise through His word and then standing on those promises.

Let’s do the same when we pray.

Daniel didn’t just pray casually or conveniently; he didn’t keep his attention on the world around him and just stick his hand out expecting God to fill it. He locked on to the Lord and humbled himself, praying with urgency and recognizing his need and God’s ability.

Let’s do the same when we pray.

In the verses that follow 9:3, we see the rest of Daniel’s prayer.

Daniel doesn’t just hand God a wish-list through a quick prayer. He begins by praising God and acknowledging who He is. He continues in confession and repentance. In fact only the ending verses of Daniels prayer were about what he wanted or needed. Daniel went to the Lord with praise, confession and with a humble, repentant heart before he spoke a need.

Let’s do the same when we pray.

Today’s the day.