DANIEL 9:15-19 LORD, COMFORT YOUR PEOPLE

Written by , Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia
 

¹⁵ “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. ¹⁶ O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
¹⁷ “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

St. Matthew records Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as proclaiming, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (5:4). We all know what it is like to mourn. Loss is the cause of mourning. Whether the loss is our security, freedom, possessions, relationships or the death of a loved one, our mourning only varies by degree. We are somehow dependent upon the object of our loss at some level and we mourn the empty hole that it leaves in our lives. Our mourning-driven search is for that elusive “comfort.” We try to fill the void with could or should have beens, blame, anger, activity, replacements, food, drugs, alcohol and more, but nothing satisfies. There is no comfort, just loss.

Daniel was in Babylon mourning the loss of Jerusalem and the Temple. But more than that physical loss, the Prophet mourned the loss of the peoples’ identity as God’s people. The loss of the Temple and the Holy City were symbolic of their lost relationship with God. He dismissed anger against God as an option, or God being culpable for his problem. He placed the “blame” for their circumstances firmly on the iniquity, the rebellion of the people, in which he included himself.

All have turned from God and gone astray (Isaiah 53:6), therefore there is a void in our souls where God should be. We were created to be in relationship with God, but we have excluded him from our lives by the choices we have made. We all, in one way or another, experience that loss, but only those who come into a knowledge of God can know that they are mourning. In order to truly mourn we must know what it is that we have lost. Daniel has demonstrated that we come to the point of supplication through adoration, confession and thanksgiving. Those three exercises remind us of who God is, what we have become and the promises that God has made for us. It is here that we recognize our loss and the most fundamental supplication can be made. That petition is that God comfort us in our loss. “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” The essence of repentance is mourning for the loss of our relationship with God. The only comfort that will heal us is the restoration of that relationship. As the wronged party, only God can forgive, and thereby, restore our relationship with him. God has promised to do just that.

I have squandered the inheritance of your saints, and have wandered far in a land of waste…Therefore, O Lord, from [my] sins, I turn to you in sorrow and repentance. Receive me again into the arms of your mercy, and restore me to the blessed company of your faithful people. Amen. (BCP, p. 450)

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