Daniel 9:19 “Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
There are times when it feels like all my academic training has done is ensure that I am never fully convinced of anything, that no matter what my stance on a topic is that I will have failed to cover all my bases.
I feel like this when I pray. God, if it be your will…God in taking into account x, y, and z, please…God, if this and this are fine, then maybe this thing too if I am…
It’s exhausting.
Or worse, I only let these endless caveats fill my mind when I’m outside my devotional space and never confess them to God. It may be helpful to actually ask God what to do with the complications I’m feeling about how and when to extend mercy to a student, the best way to discipline my daughter or how best to talk to my wife.
What a bracing tonic, then, to encounter this passage from Daniel where the prophet uses the imperative in his prayers and calls for God’s immediate action.
What a progression! First that God would listen, then that God would forgive, then that God would act on our behalf…
This is the confidence of a believer certain of his own incapability and equally certain of God’s power.
Not every moment demands this kind of prayer. I pray that I am ready to pray this kind of prayer when the moment comes.