Sermon Tone Analysis

After reading Daniel chapters 7 and 8, we’re used to Daniel’s weird visions of animals—leopards and goats and bears, oh my!

Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 are focused on visions Daniel has and the interpretations of those visions.

Two full chapters of weird, apocalyptic visions, and then we get to Daniel 9.

As we come to Daniel 9, we take a sharp left and we’re in much different territory.

It’s like riding in the car when Meghann’s driving: you’ll experience all kinds of whiplash and, just as you think you’re heading in one direction, you get jerked to this side or that and all of a sudden, you’re heading in that direction.

She can’t help it; she was raised in Johnson County where they’re instructed to be really bad drivers.

Daniel 9 is a like that.

It’s quite the departure from where we’ve been.

Just as we start to get used to all the weird visions and apocalyptic imagery, just as we’re getting our “sea-legs” under us, so to speak, Daniel pulls the rug out.

Daniel 9 is not another vision; it’s a prayer.

And I think we will be glad for this break in the weird, not only because it’s a break from the weird, but because what Daniel does here is teach us how to pray.

Daniel's prayer consists of worship and confession and pleading.

Daniel’s prayer in grounded on God’s promises.

He prays with a spirit of humility.

And, in many ways, Daniel teaches us how and why to pray.

This is good for us.

It’s almost as if God knew what He was doing, giving us this Book, arranging this Book the way He did.

We need examples of God’s people—in the best of times and in the worst of times—praying to their God.

We are a praying people, this I know.

A sermon on prayer to people who pray is like preaching to the choir.

I’ve never understood that expression, really.

“Barrett, you’re preaching to the choir.”

“Well, of course I am! That’s the whole point!”

>If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Daniel 9. Keep your Bible open in front of you and follow along as we look at and learn from Daniel’s prayer.

Babylon has fallen.

There’s a new ruler in town.

And Daniel is praying and reading from the scroll of one of God’s prophets, a fellow named Jeremiah.

He reads (in what would be Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 29 in our Bibles) and notes that seventy years is the period God has marked out for Babylon’s domination and Jerusalem’s desolation.

Daniel isn’t confused by what the Lord spoke through Jeremiah.

He gets it.

And he’s excited, because if Babylon’s rule is at an end, then Jerusalem’s restoration is about to begin.

Daniel is praying for the restoration of Jerusalem.

He’s praying that he and his fellow exiles get to head back home after all these years.

He’s listening to what God has already said, he’s trusting in His promises, and praying that this comes to pass sooner rather than later.

The Lord’s promises drive Daniel’s prayers.

The Bible is our prayer-book.

Let the promises of God fuel your prayers.

For instance, God has promised to complete the good work He began in us (Phil.

1:6).

In the midst of trials, we can pray that God will use these trials to further His work in our hearts and lives.

God has promised to give us peace, a deeper peace than the world gives (John 14:27).

Therefore, in conflict and in the middle of turmoil, we pray for peace that only He gives.

The Lord has promised to be our Shepherd and to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with us (Psalm 23).

We should pray for His care over us and for Him to hold onto us in darkness and the storm.

God has promised to bring in a new heaven and a new earth where He will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21).

We pray, then, for that day to come quickly, for the trouble and pain and sorrow of this world to be replaced by the unending joy of God’s eternal kingdom.

We pray the Bible.

On the back of our weekly bulletin, the reasons we exist are listed there for us: We exist to worship, proclaim, and serve.

Under worship, we read that we exist “to worship the Triune God—we read the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, sing the Bible, and see the Bible (in communion, offering, baptism).”

We pray the Bible.

The Bible and the promises of God within the Bible inform our prayers.

We don’t have to guess what to pray.

If you’re ever stuck in a prayer-rut, of if you find yourself not knowing what to pray, find a comfy chair in a quiet place, open your Bible, and let the Word of God guide your praying.

Daniel prayed that God would do what He had promised, and He prayed with confidence because he was praying for what God had promised.

So it should be with us.

Daniel’s prayer is grounded on God’s promises.

God’s promises drive Daniel to prayer.

In his prayer Daniel teaches us that:

Prayer is Worship

Notice how Daniel begins his prayer: by worshipping; he begins with adoration.

It’s not exhaustive or extensive, but it’s there.

Dale Ralph Davis is right when he says, “Sometimes Bible pray-ers are under such pressure that they immediately rush to their burden, but almost all the time, there is a deliberate, explicit address (Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name) or rather extended adoration as in Daniel 2.”

As we’re praying, some sort of adoration is absolutely right.

We should, like Daniel, stop and consider Who it is we’re speaking with, the One with Whom we are speaking—and we should worship Him.

The Lord is great and He is awesome.

He keeps His covenant of love; He loves us.

Starting out with something that acknowledges, even briefly, who God is and how amazing He is—that’s absolutely the proper way to pray.

Daniel teaches us how to adore and to rejoice over our God—and this is something we can do in our prayers in spite of circumstances or feelings, because God is Who He is, and that doesn’t change.

Regardless of the mess I’m in, no matter how I’m feeling, our God is always great, always awesome, always loving.

And He’s always worthy of our praise, our adoration, our worship—this is the most important aspect of our prayer.

As we pray, we need to think about Who it is we’re addressing.

Wednesday Night at Bible Study, my good friend Carla Schmidt sits in the chair next to me.

This week, like most weeks, I tried to take Carla’s cup of hot chocolate from her (you’d understand if you’ve ever had any of Dixie Vodry’s hot chocolate; you’d try to steal it, too).

I reached for her hot chocolate, and Carla rightly smacked my hand…and as she was smacking my hand away said, “Goober!”

I said, “That’s Pastor Goober, thank you very much!”

You see, she forgot for a moment who it was she was speaking to and smacking.

I might well be a goober, but I’m also her pastor.

Who is it you think you’re speaking to when you pray?

God’s not your servant, there to do your bidding.

God doesn’t owe you anything.

He is not beholden to you.

The One to Whom you’re praying is the One you should be worshipping.

At some point this week, set aside the list of needs and petitions and requests, and, as you pray, spend the entire time worshipping Him, praising Him, adoring Him.

It will be good for your soul, I promise you.

Learn this from Daniel: Prayer, before it’s anything else, is worship.

In his prayer Daniel teaches us that:

Prayer is Confession

Notice the pronouns.

This is so important.

Daniel isn’t praying like the Pharisee, thanking God that he’s not like other people.

Daniel puts himself in the midst of all of this.

Daniel is confessing, not just the sins of his fellow Israelites; Daniel is confessing the sins of the people, his sins included.

The words we and us and our dominate his prayer.

Daniel isn’t saying “They have sinned.

Man, he messed up.

She is the worst of all sinners.”

No, no.

Daniel realizes how messed up they all are.

Daniel realizes that they are scumbags, the whole lot of them, himself included: we, us, our.

Daniel 9 has been a good tutor for me, a good teacher in this whole confession thing.

One of my favorite prayers in the Bible is simply, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”