4I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying,
‘Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, 5we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances. 6We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
7 ‘Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.8Open shame, O Lord, falls on us, our kings, our officials, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. 9To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, 10and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
Human nature makes it is hard for us to admit that we are wrong. We know that before we can truly change, we have to admit to ourselves that we have done something wrong and we need a change in our life. In Christian terms, the word for this is repentance. True repentance begins with admitting to ourselves and to God that we have sinned and we are in need of forgiveness. It also means that we desire a change in our lives and are willing to work to make that change occur.
Daniel is admitting the sins of the people of Israel. The people have sinned against God and are in need of forgiveness. We know that time and time again God forgave them and they continued to sin. Looking back on the history of the Hebrew people it is easy to say they failed to change their hearts and lives, but their failure reveals to us a loving, patient God. We too continue to sin and to fail as individuals and as the Christian church. God continues to forgive us when we fail. God is loving and patient as we seek to change our lives and our hearts. When we fail and sin, God wants us to admit where we have been wrong, to seek his forgiveness and to change our hearts and lives. May we see clearly, as Daniel did, our failures so that we can make a lasting change.
God bless,
Pastor Mandy