Cry for Mercy

  Therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine. – Daniel 9:17

 If you have interacted with a child, you know that sometimes it is necessary to take hold of their chin and direct their eyes toward yours in order to get their attention. “Are you listening?” you may ask. Hearing, yes… listening, maybe not. So it was with Israel. God had commanded that every seven years they were to allow their land to lie dormant; He would provide in the sixth year enough to carry them through to harvest in the eighth year. But they did not listen. Their 70 years in Babylonian captivity would equal each year they had failed to observe.

The prophet Daniel realized that they were nearing the end of this time of restitution. He turned to the Lord, “seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes,” confessing the wicked acts and rebellion toward God by the people of Israel. “To us, O Lord, belongs open shame… for we have rebelled against [You]” (Daniel 9:3-9). After including himself with the people who had disobeyed the Lord, Daniel pleads for mercy and asks that the Lord hear his cry.

“To us, O Lord, belongs open shame” could be uttered today. This past year has been difficult. However, upon evaluation, are there ways you did not follow the Lord? Anger at situations, despair during difficulty, or distrust of God’s sovereignty are reasons to cry out for His mercy, for yourself and the people of this nation. Do not doubt God’s purposes or His discipline; rather pray and seek the Lord, repent, and plead for mercy for the United States, that His will may be done in this land.