How to Pray When "It's Not My Fault"

 Exile How to Pray When “It’s Not My Fault” Daniel 9:1-20 Pastor Pat Damiani October 22, 2017 One morning during our vacation this summer, Mary and I went on a snorkel cruise. When we first got on the sailboat that morning we had a safety briefing during which time the entire crew was introduced. Among the crew was a young man named Jonah, and for a moment I thought that perhaps we should get off that catamaran, because the last time a bunch of people went sailing with a guy name Jonah, the seas got rather rough and they were about to die until they finally threw him overboard. Those other men on the boat with Jonah that day weren’t doing anything wrong. They just happened to go to work one day when a prophet who was fleeing from God got on their boat. It wasn’t their fault that their lives were in danger. It was Jonah’s fault. To some extent we all experience something similar in our lives where we suffer the consequences of someone else’s sin. Maybe you’re in a marriage where you’re doing your best to follow God but your spouse has rejected or rebelled against God and you have to bear the consequences of that. Maybe you’re doing the very best you can in your job to work for the Lord and not for men and you’re a model employee. But because you work for a boss who wants nothing to do with God, you’re ridiculed or even persecuted for your faith and you hate going to work every day. For some of you kids, you have probably missed recess at school sometimes because a few kids in your class aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing even though you haven’t done anything wrong. As we saw last week, the same can be true for a nation. When God brings His judgment on a nation because they rebel against Him, the righteous often suffer right along with the wicked. And that ought to concern every one of us here this morning because we live in a country that increasingly forsakes God every day. So the question that we’re going to deal with this morning is this: How do I pray when it’s “not my fault”? In order to answer that question, we’re going to look at a prayer of the prophet Daniel. Hopefully you’ll remember from last week that Daniel was taken captive and brought to Babylon during Nebuchadnezzar’s first campaign into Jerusalem in 605 BC when he is only a teenager. And most of us are probably at least somewhat familiar with his life there in Babylon. At a minimum, we at least know he was thrown into the lion’s den for his refusal to quit praying to God. But when it comes to studying the book of Daniel, I generally find that most people are primarily interested in his prophecies that shed some important light on future events in the history of the Jews – and for good reason. Many of those prophecies were fulfilled exactly over the next 600 years of so, including one that predicted the exact date of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem just a few days before His crucifixion. I know I’ve always been fascinated by a study of those prophecies. So I’m afraid that a lot of times the passage that we’re going to study this morning becomes nothing more than just some background information that gets us to the “meat” at the end of the chapter. But, as I hope we’ll see this morning, this passage probably has a lot more relevance to our lives, and especially to our prayer lives, than the more sensational prophecy that Daniel is given in response to his prayer. Pastor John MacArthur calls Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9 “the single greatest model of prayer in the Old Testament” and compares it in importance to Jesus’ model prayer – what we usually refer to as the “Lord’s Prayer” - in Matthew 6. I’m confident you’ll see why as we study that prayer this morning. [Read Daniel 9:1-3] Daniel’s prayer takes place in the first year of the reign of Darius, which would put it around 538 BC. Just as Daniel had prophesied earlier, the Medes and Persians have now replaced Babylon as the major power in the region. Daniel is now an old man – probably in his 80’s. Somehow, he is given access to Jeremiah’s prophecy that we find in Jeremiah 29, one that indicates the captivity is going to last 70 years. When he reads that, Daniel realizes that the exile is going to end in just a few years. But he looks around him and sees that the people of Judah have become very comfortable in Babylon. For the most part, nobody could really tell them apart from the rest of the culture. They had adopted the customs of the land. Many of them had opened their own businesses and conducted commerce there. And most of them took part in the pagan worship that was a part of that culture. Discerning that the people are in no condition to return to Jerusalem and to the Lord, he fervently prays to God on behalf of his people. While Daniel, just like any other man, was not perfect and was a sinner in need of God’s grace, he may very well be one of the most righteous men who ever lived. Unlike pretty much every other figure in the Bible, we find nothing negative written about Daniel in the Scriptures. But even though to a large extent “it’s not his fault”, Daniel puts on sackcloth and ashes and fasts and prays fervently to the Lord. Before we read that prayer, I want to suggest two important truths that undergird Daniel’s prayer: Prayer than makes a difference with God is prayer that first makes a difference in me One of the problems with reading the written word is that it’s often difficult to detect tone. That is one reason that texting and emails can often cause problems because it is often difficult to convey the emotions and attitudes behind the words. But as I read Daniel’s prayer here I definitely get the feeling he is not merely praying through his prayer list as some kind of obligation or duty. He is genuinely concerned about his fellow Jews to the extent that he becomes personally invested in interceding on their behalf. Daniel understands that prayer is not something that God has given to us as a means of getting Him to do something for us, but rather it is His way of involving us in what He intends to do. When Daniel prays, he does that with the anticipation that God is going to make a difference in him as he prays. The second thing we learn here is how to pray in a way that my prayers will make a difference in me… Prayer that makes a difference in me begins with God’s Word and ends in God’s glory We’ll talk about this idea more after we read Daniel’s prayer, but I wanted all of us to have that idea in mind as we do that. [Read Daniel 9:4-19] As you read that prayer, don’t you get the feeling that we could almost pray that prayer word for word here in the Tucson in the year 2017? About all we’d have to do is to change the word “Jerusalem” to “Tucson” and “Israel” to “the United States” and we’d be set. So let’s look at five things we can learn from Daniel’s prayer about… HOW TO PRAY WHEN “IT’S NOT MY FAULT” While we’re going to specifically focus on praying in situations where I’m not necessarily at fault, most of these principles can be applied to all of our prayers. 1. By responding to God’s Word Daniel didn’t wake up that morning and pull out his prayer list and just start mechanically praying item by item through the list. Nor did he just randomly decide that would be a good day to pray a prayer on behalf of his people. Please make sure you hear me carefully here. I’m not saying that there isn’t great value in having a prayer list that we pray through on a systematic basis. Nor am I suggesting that we shouldn’t pray for those things that God brings to our minds throughout the day. Those are important aspects of our prayer life. But I think it’s important to note here that before he ever started praying, Daniel spent time reading the writings of Jeremiah, where Jeremiah, or more accurately his secretary Baruch, had written down the words that God had spoken to Jeremiah. And then Daniel prayed based on what God revealed there. Have you ever had a one-way conversation with someone – you know one where you know the other person isn’t listening to a single word that you said. Like last Sunday when Ryan came in bragging about how his Dodgers beat my Cubs and my response was “Did you see the football game last night where Arizona beat your UCLA Bruins?” Isn’t it frustrating when someone does that to you? Well just imagine how frustrating it must be for God when He speaks to us through His Word and then we start praying and immediately start asking for “stuff” that has absolutely no connection to what He has just revealed to us. We ignore what He has just revealed about His character so we don’t take time to praise Him for that or to ask Him to develop that same kind of character in our life. We miss where He tells us about the blessings that He has bestowed upon us so we fail to thank Him for those things. We gloss over the sins in our life that have been revealed to us in the Scriptures so we fail to confess them and repent. We skip right over the commands that we find there so we don’t ask God to help us apply them in our lives. As I said earlier… Prayer that makes a difference in me begins with God’s Word... But that only happens when I allow what I read there to guide how I pray in response to what God reveals. 2. By reflecting on God’s character Daniel doesn’t begin his prayer by immediately asking for things. Instead, he focuses on God’s character: “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments…” (v. 4) But Daniel doesn’t just stop there. You’ll notice that throughout the rest of his prayer, he continues to focus on who God is. He primarily gives attention to God’s righteousness that requires Him to judge the sins of the people. But he also speaks of God’s mercy and forgiveness. So we see here that Daniel has a very healthy balanced understanding of God’s character. God is a loving God who keeps His promises and extends mercy and forgiveness. But at the same time, He is a righteous God who requires judgment for man’s sins. Almost every passage of Scripture has something to teach us about God’s nature and character. And when we reflect upon those traits as we pray, it helps change our focus from what I want God to do for me to what God wants to do in me to help me develop those same traits. Or as we put it earlier, it helps me pray in a way that first makes a difference in me. 3. By refusing to blame I think this is the one characteristic that is most unique to praying when I’m not at fault. As we pointed out earlier, Daniel was possibly the most righteous man who ever lived. And if we were in his shoes, I’m pretty sure we would have prayed something like the Pharisee in the parable Jesus told in Luke 18: God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12 ESV) It would have been so easy for Daniel to look around and put himself on a pedestal and complain that all the problems that Judah was facing were a result of what everyone else had done. But Daniel doesn’t do that. Even though it wasn’t his personal sin that had caused Judah to go into captivity, Daniel understood that he was part of that whole. So 32 times in this prayer he associates himself with the people of Judah. Beginning In verse 5, he prays “We have sinned…” In verse 6 he prays “We have not listened”. And he continues to pray “we”, “us” and “our” throughout the rest of the prayer. This is an especially important lesson for Christians right here in the United States. We have a tendency to blame the non-Christians for all the problems in our country. So to an increasing degree, it seems to me that we have become angry and bitter. Far too many times we have been guilty of adopting the exact same tactics that the world uses to fight back against the culture. There are some extreme examples of that like bombing abortion clinics or killing doctors who perform abortions that most Christians would never advocate. But there are some more subtle ways that seem to be much more acceptable. Just this week someone who claims to be a Christian, and who from everything I know seems to be a genuine believer, posted what she knew was a photoshopped picture that showed something that had never happened in order to make some political point. I couldn’t help but think of the old adage that when you point your finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you. It’s no wonder that in our culture Christians have large come to be known by what we’re against rather than what we’re for. We have all done things to forsake God in our lives, but even if we had never done that, we’re part of a nation who has. So when we pray, we shouldn’t come to cast stones but rather pray like Daniel and say “God we have sinned.” The same is true in other areas of our lives as well. When we have troubles in our marriage what if instead of trying to blame each other, we came before God as a couple and prayed “God, we have sinned. We have not obeyed your commands about marriage in our lives.” What if as a church, we quit trying to blame others for the problems in our community and we came together and prayed, “God we have sinned. We have not been faithful to make disciples as you have commanded.” 4. By requesting God’s mercy Daniel knew that Judah completely deserved their exile. In just verse 5 alone, Daniel uses five different verbs to describes how his people had sinned against God: • We have sinned • We have done wrong • We have acted wickedly • We have rebelled • We have turned aside from your commandments and rules And throughout the rest of the prayer he continues to acknowledge the sins of his people. And then in verse 14, he declares that because of their sin, God is righteous in His judgment on them. Daniel never tries to explain, ignore, justify or rationalize either his own sins or those of the nation of Judah. As righteous as Daniel had been during his entire time in exile, he never thought God “owed” him. He understood that every good thing that had happened to him during his entire exile in Babylon was strictly the operation of God’s mercy in his life. So all he can really ask from God is that God will treat he and his people with His mercy. And in verses 16-18 that is exactly what Daniel does. He pleads for God’s great mercy. This is another important lesson for us. We deserve absolutely nothing from God. We have done nothing to earn His favor. And yet I see so many Christians pray as if God is some “genie-in-the-sky” who is there to grant our wishes. This seems to be especially common when we’re in a situation where we think “it’s not my fault”. When we’re in those situations, we tend to think that God owes us something because we’re more righteous that everyone else. So we get mad at God when He doesn’t remove us from difficult circumstances or heal our disease or give us more money or provide a new job or whatever else we think we deserve. But believe me, none of us want what we deserve. So that is why like Daniel, what we need to be praying for is God’s mercy. 5. By relishing God’s glory As we come to our final idea, I want you to think for a moment about why Daniel prayed this prayer. What was his motivation? Was it so he could go back home to Jerusalem and retire and buy a motor home and travel around Judah? Was it so he could get wealthy or have a better life for himself? As far as we know from historical records, Daniel never di accompany his fellow Jews back home to Jerusalem, so his prayer was clearly not about how he was going to benefit personally. Daniel’s request here is that God would act in His own best interest so that He would get the glory. According to verse 16, Daniel understood that the people of Judah had become a byword to the surrounding nations. This people and the city that were called by God’s name no longer had an effective testimony for God. To the surrounding nations their exile made it look as if God had either abandoned them or was too impotent to take care of them. So Daniel’s prayer was that God would forgive, not so he or his people could have a better life, but rather because that would restore the testimony of God’s people. Today, we certainly have people praying for God’s mercy. But I wonder how much of the time that prayer is prayed for self-centered reasons – so that we can have an easier, healthier, more affluent life. The fact that a “Christian” book titled “Your Best Life Now” was a bestseller for over two years and has sold over 8 million copies worldwide since it was published in 2004, is a pretty good indicator of the fact that many of us tend to pray for our own self-interest rather than for God’s interests and God’s glory. If we’re going to pray for God’s mercy for ourselves and our families and our communities and our church, let’s just make sure that we’re doing that for the right reason – so that our testimony for God can be restored. Prayer than makes a difference with God is prayer that first makes a difference in me Prayer that makes a difference in me begins with God’s Word and ends in God’s glory I think we would all agree that this is not a natural way for us to pray. But what if we all began to work on praying more like Daniel - beginning not with my own needs and desires but rather with what we find in God’s Word? And what if that prayer ended like Daniel’s – by focusing not on my own desires, but rather on God’s glory? Do you think that kind of prayer could really make a difference in our world? Me, too. [Prayer] I’ve intentionally shortened the message this morning so that we can apply it right now. Here’s what we’re going to do: APPLYING THE MESSAGE 1. Read Daniel 9:4-19, paying particular attention to what it reveals about God’s character. 2. Pray (either silently or out loud), thanking God for who He is based on what you just read. 3. Confess sin (either silently or out loud) using “we” language. 4. Pray (either silently or out loud) asking for God’s mercy so that our testimony for Him might be restored I’ll guide you through this time and let you know when we’re moving on to the next action. Questions for the Bible Roundtable 1. What are some ways that prayer changes us? (Think about some of the prayers in the Psalms.) 2. What are some ways that we can do a better job of incorporating God’s Word into our prayer life? 3. Do you think that it is true that in our country Christians are known more for what we’re against than what we’re for? If so, why is that and what can we do to change that? 4. Why is it important to include both personal (I) and corporate (we) confession in our prayers? 5. What are some practical ways to focus on God’s glory as we pray?