Page 8 - October 2024 - Truth & Tidings

Its Practice holding a conversation with deity, with

“Daniel was a man of prayer” is what the throne that rules over the universe!
we sing with the children in Sunday Its Pattern
school. The chapter that we are considering
portrays a man of prayer. Prayer was His Attitude of Heart
the secret to Daniel’s life. Upon reading We are told that he set his face unto the
Jeremiah’s prophecy, Daniel fell to his Lord. Everything else was to take second
knees in prayer. The wording suggests place as he was wholly committed to lay-
that he sought to seek the face of God by ing hold of God in prayer. His fasting,
his supplications, fasting and prayers, sackcloth and ashes revealed his honesty
possibly over a period of time. It was in the presence of God and his intention
certainly not a one-minute prayer before to sacrifice the legitimate for the sake of
he went to bed that night. Here was a man supplicating on behalf of the nation. Life’s
for whom prayer was a habit of his life. necessities and niceties are forgotten. A
There obviously was prayer linked with crisis demands commitment. To his suppli-
his resolve in chapter one and with his cations was added “confession,” according
interpretative ability in the next chapter. to the demands of the prophet Jeremiah.
His commitment to prayer in the face of His Approach
the threat (and reality) of the den of lions is He began his approach to God with
legendary, to the point that even in a secular worship, ascribing glory to God for His
society men speak of being “in the den of faithfulness, love, mercy and greatness. The
lions” when faced with danger. cynic may label this as flattery, but Daniel
A consistent life of prayer is a life that can is going to make requests from God based
touch the throne in times of emergencies. on these very virtues that comprise the
The value of such a sister or brother in character of God.
an assembly cannot be measured. Notice He confessed that God had been righ-
how Daniel speaks of his intercession: teous in all His dealings with the nation.
“While I was speaking, and praying, and And then Daniel linked himself with the
confessing …” (v20). He speaks of “my nation and took their sin upon himself as a
1
God” (vv4,18,19,20). Here was a man mediator for the people. Note how in verse
on speaking terms with heaven. He was 20 he says, “confessing my sin and the sin
of the people.” This same solidarity with
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the the nation is seen in his words earlier in
KJV. the chapter (vv5,8,11,15). There was no at-

296 TRUTH kTidings October 2024