To Be Highly Esteemed
What does prayer mean to you?
“Thank you Lord for my Mommy and my Daddy and my sisters and my friends and my crayons and my cookies and my”... that’s what many of our first prayers sounded like. At 4 and 5 years old, that was the best most of us could do really.
“God please help me pass this class! I really really really need an A on my paper. OK if you let me get an A, I’ll wash the dishes for one week straight without Mom having to ask”. At 13 and 14 years old, we were big bargainers with God. You do this first, I’ll do this next (and sometimes never). Nice try.
“God if you can please get me off this floor and toilet seat, I promise I will never do this again.” At 19 and 20 years old, I am positive this was the least we could do, but this was our version of praying anyway. Okay, let me speak for myself! That was the strongest, most fervent prayer I was praying at one point. Some of us lose the gratefulness we had at 5 and turn up the bargaining tactics (which never works in ways you think it does) from our early teenage years.
Prayer is not fluid in definition but is very fluid in practice for the majority of people. Prayer is the intentional communication between us as creation with our Creator. It is the open door for us to be in communion with the One that breathes life into us. The rocks cry out but they don’t pray. What an opportunity and obligation we have.
As we delve into Daniel, think about what prayer means to you.
“We ask but little, and God gives it.”
The History Behind Daniel 9 and 10
The events in Daniel 9 and 10 take place during a time when the Jewish people were living in exile under foreign rule. Before this, Israel had repeatedly turned away from God, breaking their covenant with Him by worshiping idols and ignoring the warnings of the prophets. Because of this disobedience, God allowed Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar, to conquer Jerusalem in 605 B.C., taking many Israelites—including Daniel—into captivity. Over the next few decades, Babylon destroyed the city and the temple (in 586 B.C.), leaving Jerusalem in ruins.
By the time we get to Daniel 9, Babylon had already fallen to the Persians, and King Cyrus was in power. Daniel, who had spent most of his life in exile, was studying the prophecies of Jeremiah and realized that God had promised to restore Israel after 70 years of desolation (Jeremiah 25:11-12, 29:10). This led him to pray a deep, heartfelt prayer of confession and intercession for his people. In Daniel 10, we see him receiving a vision during the reign of King Cyrus, where an angel reveals to him intense spiritual warfare happening behind the scenes—battles between heavenly beings that influenced earthly kingdoms. This vision set the stage for a deeper understanding of God’s plan for Israel and the future.
Now that you have some historical context on the content of today’s post, let’s start with Daniel 9 and Daniel’s petition to the Lord about the 70 years of exile. I encourage you to read the Word of God for yourself, before, after, or while you read this.
While I was in prayer
“So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed…” (Daniel 9:3-4). Daniel understood full well what the Scriptures said about the length of Israel’s exile in Babylon. He understood the words of the prophet Jeremiah so well that he turned to God and pled with Him to “turn away” His anger from the ‘holy’ city of Jerusalem (Daniel 9:16). Before Daniel pled, however, he prepared himself spiritually before the Lord. Daniel turned to the Lord. Other versions say that he set his face towards the Lord. No matter the language, it is clear that Daniel was determined to reach the ears of God through prayer and fasting. David Guzik said it best: he approached God as a man who would not be denied. Daniel adjusted his heart posture to be that of humility, not humiliation. It should never be humiliating to come before the Lord with sincerity. After Daniel’s heart was fixed on humility, he began his confession.
Pause. Why is Daniel confessing? What did he do?
Well, a nation is only as strong as its faith. Just as a nation is as weak as its worst actor. We know there are almost always good people amongst one too many bad actors. In Genesis 18, Abraham bargained with God requesting that He spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if 50…no 40…ok fine 20… erm maybe 10 righteous people could be found. Unfortunately, not even 10 could be found, but the Bible never said none were found. Ultimately, that group had very little faith and they were judged accordingly. But how essential is it to have a man of God advocate for you? In that same way, Daniel confessed the sins of Israel to the one true God. He prayed to the Lord and confessed, “We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We 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” (Daniel 9: 5-6). Note that Daniel never complained or pulled at straws to justify Israel’s actions. He was in full-on confession mode. He knew God’s judgment was just.
Understanding the sin of prayerlessness and unrepentance
In Daniel’s confession, he identified the sin of prayerlessness and unrepentance. “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth” (Daniel 9:13 NKJV). How often do we forget to head to the Lord in prayer when things get tough? All of a sudden we think our muscles are strong when a 4-month-old child with his eyes set on pulling the hairs on your head is 10 times stronger. Prayer, everyone, is the key to repentance. It’s the key to true confession. Even in your attempts to negotiate with God, prayer is essential. Do you think Abraham was able to communicate with God on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah without being a man of prayer? Do you think Daniel was able to receive an answer from the Lord without being a man of prayer? Spoiler alert…no.
When we face hardships, our first reaction should be to pray immediately. Even small, fruitfly prayers are welcomed by the Lord. What is truly telling of your faith is your immediate reaction. Your spiritual micro-movements. A heart turned towards prayer is one that has made a declaration that it is ready for repentance. Repentance is making that 180, not 360, towards righteousness. Repentance is the act of saying, “Ah! I know what is on the other side and it did not work out for me. God’s way is obviously better and I will stick to believing that”. There should not be a timer on your repentance or 15 amendments and clauses. God’s ways, laws, plans, and words, are better. There can be no argument there.
DO NOT DELAY
After identifying Israel’s prayerlessness, Daniel requested that God remove His hand of wrath from the people of Jerusalem and that He does not delay in doing so. How brave of Daniel right? Reminds me of being 19 again: “God… this hangover... I can’t… I’m sorry… DO NOT DELAY.” Daniel’s petition came from a much more righteous place, so forgive me for being reductive. Daniel knew that the Lord was gracious and had all the authority and ability to hear his cry. Why let prayers go unsaid? Daniel said, “Lord you’ve heard my heart! Please do not let this go by!” What is also important about Daniel’s prayer is that he repeatedly took the seat of humility in his approach to God. Daniel was aware that he, nor the people of Israel were in a position to request things from God due to unrighteousness. But maybe Daniel was ahead of his time and knew that God’s position is that His “grace is sufficient for you for [His] power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Because of the Lord’s grace, we can boldly say “Lord DO NOT DELAY FOR GREAT IS THY MERCY AND FAITHFULNESS”.
A Word went out
Here’s what’s amazing about this chapter of Daniel, and is the revelation that sets the tone for this post. While Daniel was praying to the Lord, interceding on behalf of Israel, his prayer was intercepted by none other than Gabriel. Yes, that Gabriel. Gabriel had a message for Daniel which is recorded in Daniel 9: 22-23 stating “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed”.
Whoa. How wonderful must it be to pray and be intercepted with an answer while you were still in prayer?
Seriously, think about this: you’re on the floor of your bedroom deep in prayer, maybe sobbing, maybe speaking in a holy tongue, and an angel is standing over you tapping his foot waiting for you to pick your head up. Instead, he elects to tap you on your shoulder to get your attention because your answer is ready to be heard. Firstly, I want to be that ‘unattainable’ during prayer that I must be interrupted. Secondly, I want to be so highly esteemed by God that a word is sent to me without delay. Thirdly, I want to be highly esteemed by God, period.
Interesting. Daniel did request for God to move without delay. Maybe God’s wrath wasn’t removed so quickly, but his response was sent without delay.
Another powerful interpretation could be that God prepared Daniel’s answer before he even opened his mouth to pray. Matthew 6:8 says that our Father knows what we need before we even think to ask. Should we think that an unanswered prayer is one rejected by God or maybe our message got lost in the mail? No. As Guzik reminds us, “There is a reason for the delay”. I’ll add an emphatic “always” to the end of that. There is a reason for the delay, always. God’s timing is the only thing that makes sense. Our timing can never be supreme because we can’t see the world in the way God does. God is outside of time and space. He sees our needs, our prayers, and the necessary answers at the same time. There is no real delay when God’s timing is the only timing we are concerned about.
The word that Daniel received gave him a deeper revelation than what he expected. Although our focus is on the power of prayer, it is worth it to breeze over the vision Daniel received. As an answer to his prayers, Daniel received a vision that represented the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, in 69 ‘weeks’ from the start of Jerusalem's restoration. Now, one ‘week’ prophetically meant 7 years. Using simple math, the coming of the Messiah was prophesied 483 years from the time of the decree of freedom. Oh, how beautiful is God in his provision that he gives us more than what we’ve bargained for?
“It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
Persistence in prayer can summon an angel... again
So now we progress to Daniel 10. Daniel is again in prayer and fasting mode, but he is mourning. By this time, King Cyrus allowed the first wave of Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Two floating reasons why some sources believe that Daniel was in mourning are because 1) Only a few thousand Jews returned to rebuild the temple and 2) Jewish leadership faced incredible opposition in rebuilding the temple from their enemies. Without majoring in the minor details, we know that Daniel is fasting and mourning and we know the events of Ezra have begun.
And Suddenly…
Daniel has a vision of a man standing on the banks of the Tigris River. He was dressed in fine linens and had the appearance of lightning (Daniel 10: 5-6). This vision could only be seen by Daniel, despite there being other men around him. He was stunned. Who could this be? What does this mean? Daniel grew weak and felt powerless (Daniel 10: 8). What an experience this is! I can only wonder what sheer glory and power came through a vision like this to send a holy man like Daniel spiraling.
“Suddenly a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. He said to me ‘Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I am saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.’” (Daniel 10:10-11). Usually when God enacts a “Suddenly”, the person encountering that phenomenon will forever be changed. Daniel was a man “Treasured by God”. Daniel always made God king over his heart and mind since he was a young boy who refused to eat the king’s food in Daniel 1. Let’s put the pieces together: Daniel was treasured by God so an angel was sent to him by the Lord.
On the very first day
Daniel was in prayer for 21 days or 3 weeks. For those of us who have fasted before, three weeks can feel like 40 days. Daniel didn’t waver. He pressed on. And what was Daniel’s reward? An answer from the Lord. Verse 12 is my favorite part: “Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them”.
From the very first day, Daniel set out to pray humbly before the Lord, again an answer was formulated. The persistence Daniel had in prayer and fasting earned him a quick answer from the angel of the Lord. Yes, how highly esteemed he was! There is a pattern here: deep faith, earnest prayer, and an upright heart posture were met with a holy answer from the Lord. I think we can all learn something from this.
Daniel approached God as a man who wouldn’t be denied. I challenge you to do the same. Be a woman that refuses to be denied. Be a man that refuses to be denied. God likes that.
Think again about the prayers you used to pray when you were 5, 13, 20, and even now. Has your faith progressed? Has your desire for earnest prayer increased? Is your heart posture upright? Are you willing to be on your knees and press in? Are you worthy enough to be known as a man or woman who is “highly esteemed”? Let’s all sip on that.
“‘Do not be afraid, you are highly esteemed’, he said. ‘Peace! Be strong now; be strong’.”
Sources:
All Enduring Word - Daniel 9 - David Guzik https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/daniel-9/
All Enduring Word - Daniel 10 - David Guzik https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/daniel-10/
Daniel 9 & 10 NIV Bible
Daniel 9 & 10 NKJV Bible
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