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Intercession for a Beloved People
Dan 9:1-15
What a prayer is this! In many respects it is a model for us all. It was based on the divine Word. The fact that God had promised to restore the desolations of Jerusalem after seventy years, did not restrain, but prompted and inspired Daniel’s prayers. God’s promises are not independent of our faith, but await our appropriation. The blank checks are drawn and signed in our favor, but they must be presented at the bank for payment. It was very humble. Fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, were the outward habiliments, but notice the tone. We have sinned… and have rebelled…; unto us [belongeth] confusion of face. He confessed his sin and the sin of his people. There is such a thing as vicarious confession, in which some holy soul takes to himself the task of bearing the sins of his people, and pouring out the story before God, as though the sins were his own. But we hardly need go to our country or people for sins to confess, for we have plenty of our own, and the nearer we come to God’s infinite light and holiness, the more we abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes.