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Have you prayed desperately? How did you pray? And how should we pray desperate prayers? Daniel 9 contains one of the most desperate prayers in the Bible.
Let’s consider the conclusion of this prayer. . .
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name (Daniel 9:19, ESV).
There are three “O Lords” and one “O my God” in this verse. Can Daniel be more desperate? Several times in my life, during prayer in a difficult situation, the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “‘O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O God, please hear my prayer.”
The context of this prayer began with Daniel’s realization that the 70 years of the Jewish dispersion in Babylon had ended. It was time for God’s people to return to their Promised Land.
Have our lives taken an adverse turn? Is it time for the restoration of God’s promises?
O Lord, hear!
Trials can cause enmity in our hearts. We shout, “Where are you, God?” with the intent of our words as a raised fist of complaint. Daniel’s “O Lord, hear” wasn’t anger but agreement with God’s righteousness.
The sins of the Israelites caused their problems. And Daniel knew that when we are faithless and turn back to God, we find a faithful God, a God who hears us.
O Lord, forgive!
Forgiveness forms God’s heart. He is compassionate and gracious. Bitterness keeps our anger bottled up as we seek self-justification. Humility breaks the barriers, allowing the mercies of God to flow back into our lives.
God always listens to repentance!
O Lord, pay attention [in many translations, “listen”] and act!
What does God hear when we pray? Daniel prayed, “Your people are called by your name!” Daniel knew the secret of “calling,” that God intertwines His purposes with our calling.
Calling brings covenant. God had previously said to the Israelites, “Do this, and I will bless; do that, and I will curse” (my version of Deuteronomy 11:2-29). And Daniel knew that the 70 years were over, and so he prayed. . .
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate (Daniel 9:17).
Amen!
With our desperate prayers — what sanctuary violated, what goal unreached, what relationship ruined, what prayer unanswered?
Let’s pray desperately this week, “O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, and O my God!”