Daniel: Does God Reign? Does God Care? - Reading Planნიმუში

Start with prayer, then watch the video and read Daniel 9.

What’s the biggest issue we face in our world today? Is it political? Is it social inequality? Racial injustice? Economic problems? The environment?

All these things matter – but none of them is our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is sin and alienation from God.

When Daniel prayed this prayer the practical issues facing his people must have seemed almost insurmountable. Their nation was in exile, their capital in ruins, their temple destroyed, and their kings overthrown. Practically, things couldn’t have got a whole lot worse! And yet Daniel’s focus is spiritual, his focus is on sin, and he prays for forgiveness, mercy and restoration.

Our circumstances are obviously very different, and yet that same truth still holds. Humanity’s greatest problem is not practical, but spiritual – we need forgiveness and restored relationship with God.

For Daniel, the answer he received must have been a bitter one to hear. While the physical exile would soon end, the fuller restoration and resolution he longed for would take another “seventy sevens.” There’s lots of debate and controversy over exactly what the “seventy sevens” represent – but however you read them, it would be centuries before Daniel’s prayer would at last be fulfilled.

For us though, things are a bit different, because we can look back and see that much of this is fulfilled in Jesus. At the cross he did “put an end to sin” (v24), and enable us to be forgiven and made righteous. There are still many elements of the prophecy which won’t be completely fulfilled until his second coming – but even then, we can look forward with hope and confidence, knowing that we are made right with God now.

In the meantime, this passage inspires me to do three things. The first is to acknowledge my own weaknesses and need for God – repentance. Daniel was one of the godliest and holiest men in the Old Testament, and yet even he knew he needed forgiveness.

The second is thanksgiving and rejoicing. As Christians, repentance always leads to life and joy, because God always forgives us when we ask.

And the final thing this inspires me to do is pray. Daniel cries out to God for his nation and his people, asking God to forgive and restore them. Why not take a moment to pray that over your nation now?