Thursday 24 April 2014
- Bible Book:
- Daniel
“While I was speaking, and was praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God.” (v. 20)
Background
In Daniel we read amazing visions and miraculous events butmaybe we sometimes miss the background of prayer. After all it wasprayer that got Daniel into the lions' den (
There have been many attempts to match the vision to history,either using the timetable of the vision (for example translatingit into seventy weeks of years or 490 years) or to map the eventsin the vision onto history or historical figures.
There are also many attempts to fit these visions with otherapocalyptic writings such as the book of Revelation and then mapthem onto events in modern history, usually to make predictionsabout the return of Jesus.
None of these seem to captivate, excite or challenge manyChristians today. Non Christians appear to find these unconvincingand even weird. So maybe there are other ways to learn from andsubmit to this text.
Perhaps we could start by considering Daniel's commitment to andinspiration through prayer. This is something we also see in Jesuswho is frequently described in the Gospels as disappearing to prayalone, in a quiet place, up a hill or mountain. A pattern of prayeris also seen in the lives of many Christians who have gone beforeus as well as today. John Wesley, too, has long been celebrated forhis commitment to time in prayer and to his variety of prayers.Note though Daniel is not criticising those who are not able topray as he is.
A second challenge to us from Daniel might be the very visionsthemselves. These visions are one of the fruits of a disciple whoselife is fuelled by prayer. We can imagine the power of thesevisions for an exiled people lacking everything, including prayer.The visions reminded them that they were not forgotten by God, andthat despite oppression and disaster they were loved by God andGod's kingdom was coming.
To Ponder
- What builds and encourages you in prayer? And what hinders ordiscourages you?
- What experiences of prayer and its connections to vision do youhave?
- How might prayer lead us to a vision of God at work and God'skingdom coming for us today?
- What vision(s) have you heard for the world today? How havethey encouraged God's people?